Third Ward Riverwalk Advances at Committee

At the February 22nd, 2012 meeting of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee a previously held file was approved that will allow the City of Milwaukee to fund a short section of the riverwalk in the Historic Third Ward.  The project will utilize $420,000 from TID #34, and construct 80 feet of new riverwalk and dockwall.  The 80-foot section along Erie St., between River Renaissance and Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, is comprised of two properties, and both owners, General Capital and Hoffman, have provided the city with appropriate easements to allow for the new segment.  Additionally, the Historic Third Ward Association has agreed to manage the  maintenance of this section.  If approved construction would start in April to be finished in August of this year.

Generally, the Milwaukee RiverWalk has been funded with a 70% contribution by the city and a 30% contribution by properties owners as they develop property along the river.  This portion has from the beginning of the riverwalk system been planned to be developed by the city, as made evident by the easement obtained from Hoffman in 1998.  Further, city staff determined that the 80-foot stretch is unlikely to see new development in the foreseeable future.  Alyssa Remington, from the Department of City Development, once again explained the situation stating that, “there is no anticipated development here in the future”.

The Committee held the file at a previous meeting of the committee with the purpose finding a way to have the property owners participate in the cost of the project.  While Hoffman’s 1998 easement was contingent on not participating in riverwalk costs, General Capital, which owns a 40 foot section, committed to contribute their 30%, approximately $50,000, of the project costs at the time they connect to the riverwalk.

The file was unanimously approved, and will now go before the full Common Council.