The village of Mukwonago could expand its industrial park by more than 120 acres
.
The industrial park, now at 116.7 acres, is located west of Highway 83 near I-43. The village initiated its creation in early 2018, and spent $12 million on land acquisition and installing infrastructure.
Mukwonago officials will now consider acquiring roughly 124 acres of farmland immediately west of the industrial park.
The proposal calls for $68 million in new spending, which would bring total village expenditures on the industrial park to around $80 million, according to a village report.
New expenses include about $20 million to make infrastructure changes, such as eventually adding a new stoplight, in the existing business park. The other $48 million would be used on the next phase.
The money would come from a tax incremental financing district that was created three years ago to develop the industrial park.
But the village would not spend more money until the need for it arose — such as, if a developer expressed interest in building something on the undeveloped land — said John Fellows, Mukwonago community planner and interim economic development director.
Expenses specifically include acquiring property, rights-of-way and easements; relocation costs; environmental audits and remediation; demolition and site grading; sewer and water system improvements; utilities infrastructure; streetscaping and landscaping; revolving loan/grant program; cash grants to owners or developers; and more.
TIF districts enable communities to borrow money for facilitating development and later repay those debts through new property-tax revenue generated in the district. The increased revenue comes from new real estate development and rising property values.
The village estimates the investment will create $90 million in incremental value by 2025.
A public hearing on the proposal will take place on Tuesday evening, during a meeting of the village's Plan Commission. The Village Board is scheduled to take up the item on July 21, and the Joint Review Board would consider it sometime after that. The JRB meeting date is still undetermined.
The village created its
new industrial park in 2018 after its existing park filled up. The new park is also nearing capacity.
Companies located in the industrial park include
Banker Wire,
Malcolm Drilling,
Super Products, Touchpad Electronics and
Triple Crown Products.
