By Kim McDarison
With passage of a third reading Tuesday, the Fort Atkinson City Council gave final approval to the annexation of a 75-acre territory along Banker Road, making the territory officially part of the city of Fort Atkinson.
Several council members expressed their satisfaction in seeing the process come to completion, noting that many council members, staff and city managers, both current and former, had engaged with the project.
The city purchased the acreage in three parcels in 2019. The vacant land was formerly part of the town of Koshkonong.
During discussion, City Manager Rebecca Houseman LeMire offered a recap of some recent events, reminding council that officials from both the city and town had worked together to execute an intergovernmental agreement, which, she said, would “pave the way for us to annex this land without conflict with the town.”
Included within a memo to council on Tuesday was updated information, denoting a temporary zoning classification for the new territory of SR-2, single-family residential district 2, and a ward designation, placing the land within the city’s newly established Ward 11.
The temporary zoning classification, LeMire noted, was a “placeholder zoning district” until such time when the council determines an appropriate zoning based on an approved Neighborhood Plan which is still under development.
Looking at ward and district designations, LeMire said the city’s Ward 11 currently has no electors living within it.
Using current districting information, she said, the land falls within Jefferson County Supervisory District 23, State of Wisconsin Assembly District 33 and Senate District 11, and U.S. Congressional — House of Representatives District 5.
All of those districts could change, she said, because a redistricting process, based on 2020 Census data, will be occurring this fall.
“All we can do is use the information we have right now.” she said.
Expressing his thoughts about the final passage of the annexation, Councilman Mason Becker said: “This has been a long time coming for the city of Fort Atkinson. I’m extremely proud of the work that the previous city manager has done on this, the current city manager has done on this, city staff has done on this, and our entire city council, both past and current. So much work and research went into this. I want to remind the public again, because I think it doesn’t get talked about enough: this land had previously already been purchased by a contractor who was planning to develop this land, so it was going to be developed one way or the other. I think it’s much more beneficial for our community, and frankly as well as the surrounding townships, that that development happens within the city of Fort Atkinson, and I’m just so proud and happy that this is going forward and I hope that it will, indeed, offer many more options for people for both rental housing as well as owner-occupied housing. We know that’s an identified need in our city and our community and I’m really excited for this day and the possibilities that it’s going to bring going forward.”
Echoing those sentiments, Council President Chris Scherer said: “It’s exciting to note that we are able to share everything great that our community has built in Fort Atkinson with potentially more people by acquiring this land and annexing it in Fort, and it has been countless number of hours put in by city staff, as well as city council, to make this happen.”
As earlier reported by Fort Atkinson Online, Some history of the project follows:
In August of 2019, the Fort Atkinson City Council approved the purchase of 75 acres of land east of the high school. At the time, then-City Manager Matt Trebatoski wrote in a memo to council that the owner of the land “has been planning to annex the land into the city and develop it into a residential subdivision.”
That owner later expressed an interest in selling the land to the city would the city have interest, Trebatoski wrote.
After meeting in closed session, the city determined that acquiring the land was in the city’s best interest and noted its use for “current and future residential growth.”
“The land is immediately adjacent to the city and is designated as a Planned Neighborhood on the Future Land Use map of the Comprehensive Plan,” Trebatoski stated.
At the time, Trebatoski reported, a multifamily housing study conducted by Baker-Tilly showed vacancy rates in the city were as low as 0 to 0.5%, and there was a demand for an additional 200 housing units.
In addition, he wrote, the assessment identified the location of the Banker Road property, on the city’s northwest side, as an “ideal spot for housing due to its proximity to the high school, MATC, a grocery store, convenience store, healthcare, restaurants, and other service-oriented businesses,”
Trebatoski further cited a study produced by the Fiscal and Economic Research Center (FERC), a research branch housed at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, which indicated a need for new single-family residential lots over a 5-10 year period in order to keep up with demand and population projections.
“The city was actually in the process of planning for additional multifamily housing on the former Kmart site and had developed some concept plans that were well-received by the public, however that unfortunately fell through with U-Haul purchasing the site, compelling the city to look elsewhere for opportunities for residential growth,” Trebatoski wrote.
A previous story regarding the process undertaken by the city and the specifications of the intergovernmental agreement with the Town of Koshkonong is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/annexation-of-banker-road-property-moves-toward-approval/.
The above graphic, as provided within the city council packet on Tuesday, shows the newly annexed territory into the city of Fort Atkinson.
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