Officials again seek proposals, this time with option of selling fire station site
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
After a lengthy discussion last week, Village of Waterford officials have set a 30-day window for the sale or lease of Fire Station No. 1 with the intent of transitioning the site to a brewpub.
Village Administrator Zeke Jackson reignited discussion of the future of the station building and property, 122 N. 2nd St., at a Village Board meeting Feb. 10 with a new piece of information in how the municipality can proceed in marketing and planning the site.
In a memo, Jackson said there have been impediments to marketing the property, pointing to “several false starts related to what we believed to be a title restriction on the site.”
But Jackson also noted findings from Village Attorney Todd Terry have given Waterford a clear path forward in the road ahead.
“Following a more in-depth title search, Attorney Terry has been able to secure a clean title to the property,” Jackson said. “The Village Board can, at this point, dispose of the property as it sees fit.”
The revelation resulted in a widespread discussion, spanning more than an hour, of how the village should best proceed in determining a future use for the property, which has functioned a training facility for the Waterford Fire Department.
Based on rough figures, Jackson said, the village could receive $424,800 for the sale of the property — a figure taking into account sale proceeds and tax revenue from a 20-year tax-incremental district.
Based on a leasing option from the same 20-year timeframe, Jackson said the village could receive $960,000, based on a plan of charging $4,000 per month.
Since the brewpub proposal first bubbled to the surface two years ago, leasing has generally been seen as the less viable option by prospective business owners, but has been a common discussion point because of the unknowns with the title restriction to the property.
But with the village’s legal representation activating the green light to sell the property, if so desired, officials this week shifted their discussion toward that option.
Village President Don Houston proposed, and eventually received full support, to go back to the drawing board with the 30-day window of time for the request for proposals so all interested parties could submit plans.
Asking all interested parties — including the five prospective people the village has engaged in discussions with the past two years — is the most prudent way of pressing forward, Houston said.
Houston also said he believed the outright sale is the most logical option, prefacing his remarks by stating, “Nobody in their right mind is going to want to put their money into something they don’t own.”
Discussion also swirled around whether the board should maintain an open mind about uses for the site in the private marketplace.
But Jackson implored the board to continue pressing forward and narrowing the visioning of the property solely to a brewpub, stating the amenity will be a magnet and help spur additional changes downtown.
“New Glarus is on the map because of New Glarus Brewing,” Jackson said.
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