Public Hearing Held For Madison Street Property Owners On Assessments Resulting From Possible Annexation

(Beaver Dam) The Beaver Dam Operations Committee this week received feedback from the public on the possible annexation of a stretch of Madison Street at the south end of the city. In 2019, Beaver Dam entered into a developer’s agreement with Kwik Trip to extend water and sewer mains along Madison Street to their new gas station at County Road G. Kwik Trip took on 100-percent of the upfront costs with the understanding that the company would recoup 50-percent from township property owners when and if they annexed into the city.

In accordance with state statute, the operations committee held a public hearing on Monday in advance of considering a preliminary resolution to exercise special assessment powers should the property owner’s chose to annex into the city. If Madison Street property owners choose to annex into the city, they would have to tap into city water and sewer and pay the related costs.

Several property owners spoke at the public hearing. Some spoke of frustrations with the city because annexation had been promised before but never materialized, leaving one property owner to spend $20-thousand dollars on septic that would have to be taken out. Another resident commented on concerns raised by callers on WBEV about the lack of sidewalks and streetlights, and what those potential assessment costs would look like. Questions from the public included the costs of taxes in the city versus the township and if this annexation process is being forced to repay Kwik Trip for their costs.

Director of Engineering Todd Janssen emphasized that annexation is up to each property owner.

“It’s your choice to annex at this point, we’re not forcing,” he says, “a lot of this is for informational purposes at this point. If you do decide to annex, you will have to connect to sewer and water and that’s when these assessments would come into play.”

The Operations Committee will consider the resolution for the assessments at their meeting one week from Monday.