Board Approves Affordable Housing Funding, Bike Trail, Solar Study

Rendering of 17-unit affordable housing development at 4800-4818 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Rendering by Zimmerman Architectural Studio.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve funding for three affordable housing developments Thursday.

The approval will provide a combined $6.6 million to proposals in Whitefish Bay, South Milwaukee and Brown Deer. With their vote, the board has allocated all the remaining funding from a $15 million fund dedicated for suburban affordable housing projects.

The goal of the county’s suburban housing fund was to give low-income families economic mobility, allowing them to live in neighborhoods and communities that they have traditionally been priced out of.

“We can’t concentrate everybody that needs affordable housing only in the city of Milwaukee,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in 2022 after the fund was created.

Crowley has implemented a strategic plan for Milwaukee County government to achieve racial equity and become the healthiest county in Wisconsin. Stable, affordable housing has been a major plank of the project, and Crowley frequently calls housing a public health issue during public remarks. Historically, suburban municipalities have been resistant to affordable housing projects; a legacy of the racist housing covenants that denied Black residents access to wealthier, predominantly white suburbs.

In 2022, the county set aside $15 million is received through the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to support suburban affordable housing.

The Whitefish Bay project will receive $2.9 million in ARPA funding and $232,329 in federal Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) funds. The 17-unit apartment building will be the first affordable housing project in Whitefish Bay to receive public support from Milwaukee County. In South Milwaukee, the county is supporting the development of a 62-unit affordable housing project with $2.5 million in HOME funds. And in Brown Deer, the county is providing an additional $1 million in HOME funding after awarding $2 million in ARPA funding earlier this year in 2022.

Supervisors Approve Land Deal for Bike Trail

Without discussion, Milwaukee County Supervisors unanimously approved a land deal with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WISDOT) and We Energies that will add an extension to the Oak Leaf Trail.

The board’s Committee on Parks and Culture barely approved the deal, with a majority of the committee signaling they may vote against it when it went to the full board. Supervisors were frustrated that they did no understand the deal, were unhappy with the price per-foot being charged for the parkland easements and generally unhappy that the county was working with We Energies.

WisDOT is working to resurface Highway 100 from W. Burleigh St. to W. Silver Spring Dr. Seeing an opportunity for pedestrian infrastructure, the City of Wauwatosa negotiated the construction of a new bicycle and pedestrian trail underneath a bridge in the project area, which will be paid for by Wauwatosa taxpayers. To effectuate the project, WisDOT needed some parkland from the county to build the trail on and We Energies also needed a land easement to relocate a gas main.

The county will be paid for the real estate transaction and a new segment of Oak Leaf Trail will be built thanks to the City of Wauwatosa. The supervisors initial opposition to the project subsided, and one main opponent, Sup. Juan Miguel Martinez, released a statement he would support the deal.

Read Urban Milwaukee’s earlier coverage.

County Will Study Adding Solar to New Coggs Building

The Milwaukee County Board unanimously approved a resolution that asks the county administration to study adding solar panels to the plans for a new 60,000-square-foot human services building the county is constructing in the King Park neighborhood.

The new building will replace the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services building. Construction began in October.

The resolution was sponsored by board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson and Sup. Priscilla E. Coggs-Jones.

Read Urban Milwaukee’s previous coverage.

Kletzsch Dam Overlook Approved

During their meeting Thursday, supervisors also unanimously approved $309,000 in funding for a new overlook and portage at the site of the Kletzsch Dam.

The funding proposal was sponsored by Sup. Liz Sumner, who said it would finish the project at the dam, which included repairs to the dam and the construction of a new fish passage.

Read Urban Milwaukee’s previous coverage.