River Hills officials have crafted a plan to develop 53.4 acres into single-family condominium homes, an effort the village could put $9.63 million toward through tax incremental financing.
The development site is located north of West Brown Deer Road, south of West Greenbrook Road and west of North Spruce Road. It is the same site of a
proposal rejected by the village for a 154-unit apartment project that
drew heavy criticism from residents. River Hills has agreed to acquire the site to settle a lawsuit with the landowner over the village's rejection of the development proposal.
The new development plan for the site was drafted in a way that matches the desires of River Hills residents, and will also enable the village to fund its settlement agreement with the landowner, RRH LLC, according to a project summary from the village.
Although plan specifics aren't yet final, the project will have a small number of units relative to the size of the property. This would put the project in line with the overall River Hills aesthetic: Single-family homes on large lots, with no commercial properties.
Alan Marcuvitz, a lawyer representing the village, said the density will likely be around two units per acre, but under 100 units total.
"This will be something that will be probably the least-dense condominium project that I know of, particularly in the North Shore area," he said. "It's quite a large piece of land, and what's being talked about here is a number of units that would be very low in comparison to what's been going on generally."
Once completed, the project is expected to generate a property value of $36 million through private investment by 2029.
River Hills will recruit a developer to implement the specific plan that the village has created. Marcuvitz said this process will be the inverse of how the vast majority of developments occur.
"In a normal process, a developer or the prospective developer comes forward, gets a piece of land under contract, then approaches the community with various plans for development of the property," he said. "I think you will find this happens in 95% of development. This is going to be in the 1-5% of development, in which the community determines what the plan will be for this property after full presentation and opportunity for the public to express opinions on it.
"And that plan will become the fixed point of reference, and only at that time will the village reach out to the community, not to do what the developer might want to do, but what the village plans to be done on this property."
The TIF financing would cover costs associated with land acquisition, public improvements, developer incentives, financing and other expenses needed to facilitate development.
Under this plan, the village would acquire the land for $2.5 million this fall and spend about $2.95 million on public improvements, in particular the construction of a water main and sanitary sewer main extension along with potential improvements to Brown Deer Road. Construction is slated to start fall 2021.
Developer incentives would total about $2 million. The remainder of the $9.63 million in costs comes from administrative expenses, interest expenses costs of issuance.
