Bay View mounted patrol, therapy stable opposed
An unusual development that would combine a new home for the Milwaukee Police Department’s mounted patrol with an equine therapy program is facing opposition from Common Council members.
Milwaukee Urban Stables is proposed for a vacant city-owned lot at 143 E. Lincoln Ave., in the Bay View neighborhood.
The 30,000-square-foot facility would include indoor and outdoor riding areas, and offices for both the therapeutic riding operation and mounted patrol. It would house up to 24 horses.
The 4-acre site would be sold for $1 to an affiliate of the nonprofit Wisconsin Preservation Fund.
The city would lease the stables for $100,000 annually for 30 years.
Also, the city would be required to provide the equine therapy space, at no charge, to a nonprofit group operating that program, under a proposal reviewed Tuesday by the Common Council’s Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee.
That drew opposition from Ald. Robert Bauman, a committee member.
“That puts us in the nonprofit equine therapy business by default,” said Bauman.
A 30-year obligation for the city is not good public policy because future officials could drop the mounted patrol, he said.
Wisconsin Preservation Fund’s initial plan was to raise funds just for a mounted patrol facility, said Bruce Block, fund president.
He said police officials asked the Milwaukee Downtown Business Improvement District to help raise the money for the stables.
The mounted patrol frequently operates downtown, but the department leases stable space around 20 miles away, in Caledonia.
Businesses were reluctant to make donations for a city facility, Block said.
So, police officials suggested expanding the facility to include the separate equine therapy program, Block told committee members.
That raises the proposed facility’s costs from around $4 million to $5.6 million — with $4.1 million raised from private donations, and $1.5 million provided by the city’s long-term lease to pay off a bank loan to Wisconsin Preservation Fund.
The zoning committee voted 5-0 to delay acting on the proposal on a motion by Ald. Milele Coggs.
Council members have questioned the value of maintaining the mounted patrol, she said, which raises questions about committing to the proposed project.
The equine therapy program would treat urban residents who have experienced trauma, such as veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Milwaukee-area veterans now travel to rural Wisconsin or Illinois for equine therapy. Milwaukee Urban Stables is planning a partnership with the Milwaukee VA Medical Center to make those services more accessible.
The therapy program also would work with Hamilton High School’s special needs students.
Wisconsin Preservation Fund hoped to begin construction this fall, and open the facility in fall 2019.