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Board gives conceptual approval to raised leased parking for Village 43 apartments
Summary
Trustees approved moving forward on a conceptual plan to create raised, leased parallel parking stalls along Deerwood Drive to serve Village 43 apartments, while debating lease length, enforcement, snow removal and impacts on future redevelopment.
The Village of Brown Deer granted conceptual approval for a proposal to add raised parallel parking stalls along Deerwood Drive to serve the Village 43 apartment complex, allowing staff and the developer to proceed with lease negotiations and engineering work.
Representatives for the property owner and the Village explained the concept: converting terrace/sidewalk/right‑of‑way space to raised, parallel stalls that would be leased and maintained by the apartment owner or manager. The concept would add roughly 30 to 35 stalls in the immediate plan and up to about 50–56 stalls if extended northward, according to materials in the board packet.
Staff cautioned that vacating the right‑of‑way would be a longer, more complex legal process — involving public notices, surveying, and state DOT review because the frontage abuts a state highway — and recommended pursuing a lease model first. Trustees asked whether a long lease (20, 30 or even 50 years was discussed) could create a de facto loss of village control, complicate future redevelopment to the north, and shift snow‑removal and maintenance costs to the lessee.
Nick Young, representing Village 43/F Street Development, said the additional parking is intended to stabilize rents and occupancy, noting the development's current lease‑up rate and that the company has explored purchasing or leasing nearby vacant commercial lots without success. Young said the raised parking would be signed and managed by the property manager; enforcement mechanisms, tenant tagging and no‑overnight parking rules would be written into a lease.
Trustees pressed about ownership of the curbed/terraced areas, enforcement of long‑term parking in leased stalls, how snow storage would be handled and whether nearby vacant buildings could be acquired instead. Staff reported negotiations with the three parcels to the north (single owner) have not yielded commercially acceptable terms.
The board approved a motion to advance the conceptual plan and authorized staff to work on lease drafting and further engineering; trustees will review the lease and any vacating procedure before any permanent change to the right‑of‑way is made.
