Estabrook Park dam land transfer moves forward
Abele agrees to $1 sale to MMSD
Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District Executive Director Kevin Shafer has signed an option to temporarily purchase 45.7 acres at Estabrook Park for the purpose of demolishing a dam on the Milwaukee River there, Milwaukee County officials said Wednesday.
County Executive Chris Abele agreed to the district’s purchase of the property for $1 as the next step in a multigovernment plan to remove the deteriorated, 1930s-era dam in the park, east of N. Port Washington Road.
The deal calls for returning most of the property to the county for park use at the time of the sale closing.
A public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the proposed transfer of ownership of the property and the dam.
The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. inside the Blatz Pavilion at Lincoln Park, 1301 W. Hampton Ave.
Change in dam ownership requires the approval of the state Department of Natural Resources. The county and MMSD will apply for an ownership change permit this week, officials said. If approved within 30 days, sale closing would be scheduled in late January.
Abele and David Misky, assistant executive director of the Milwaukee Redevelopment Authority, certified their approval of the deal to comply with a 2015 change in state law. The law authorizes a Milwaukee County executive to sell county-owned non-park land without County Board consent if either a municipal representative or the county comptroller approve the transfer.
The Intergovernmental Cooperation Council of suburban city mayors and village presidents appointed Misky as the Milwaukee representative for this transaction.
On Nov. 1, the Milwaukee Common Council approved rezoning of the property.
Three weeks later, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Rebecca Dallet refused to block the proposed transfer of the property to MMSD. In her ruling, Dallet rejected the claim of a group of Glendale residents that the property could not be sold since it was zoned parkland at the time the law took effect in 2015.
Under the land transfer and dam demolition plan, MMSD would hold on to a narrow 3.9-acre parcel along the river on the north end of the dam, and an island at midstream, for equipment access during demolition. Work is expected to begin in late 2017.
The smaller parcel would be returned to the county for park use when demolition is completed in early 2018. Removal of the dam would cost MMSD an estimated $1.7 million.
Shafer expects private grants, as well as federal and state grants, to pay much or all of the costs. The Fund for Lake Michigan last week announced a $250,000 grant to MMSD to help pay for dam removal.
Proposed dam repairs and upgrades, including a fish passage, were estimated to cost the county $4.1 million — $600,000 more than the project’s available budget, according to county parks department officials.
Demolishing the dam would save public funds while improving water quality in the river and reducing flood risks to 53 upstream properties in the river’s floodplain, Shafer said.
In addition to the dam with floodgates north of an island in the river, ice barriers upstream of the dam and a concrete wall south of the island would be removed.
County Emergency Management officials and Glendale’s certified flood manager have recommended removal of the dam for public safety.
Dam gates have been open since state inspections in 2008 found numerous safety problems and confirmed the need for extensive repairs. In 2009, the DNR ordered the county to remove or repair the dam.