Wochit SHEBOYGAN – A state department charged with reviewing annexations has said the Kohler Company’s contentious bid to connect new land to the City of Sheboygan is “in the public interest.” But the Department of Administration is nevertheless advising the city and the Town of Wilson, which would lose land under the proposal, to work together on resolving irregular boundaries “to avoid future disputes.” The Kohler Company is pushing for the annexation in a bid to establish a new 18-hole golf course on land it owns in the Town of Wilson along Lake Michigan.
The Press received a copy of it after requesting the letter Tuesday from a city official.
“I’m stunned that something so contrived and all about one person can be called ‘public interest,’” added DesJardins, who characterized the proposed annexation and golf course as a pet project foisted on locals by former Kohler CEO Herbert V. Kohler Jr. Sheboygan Common Council members could vote as soon as their next meeting to approve the annexation, along with a few other related items.
Besides finding the move would be in the public’s interest, the department also suggested the proposed golf course would fit better in a city than in a town.
The type of annexation in question, though, has drawn scrutiny.
(The term refers to annexations that connect a large property — the “balloon” — to cities along narrow strips of adjoining land — the “string.”) The administration department doesn’t clearly say whether the Kohler Company’s proposal would meet conditions for annexation, though it hints that the move, “while not ideally shaped,” might survive legal challenge.
(Kohler’s move would involve connecting the golf course property to the city along a stretch of land between 190 and 1,450 feet wide.)
“Additionally, we find that the proposed land use of the annexation territory and the adjacent land to the north is more homogenous with the City than it is with the Town,” the department says, noting the proposed golf course is “urban in nature.” The letter suggests the city could eventually annex other nearby parts of the Town of Wilson, noting parts of the town near the golf course that have seen housing developments in the past fit more neatly in the city than in the township.
Committee recommends approving agreement The city’s Finance and Personnel Committee earlier this week voted, 3-to-1, to recommend the Common Council eventually approve a pre-annexation and development agreement with the Kohler Company.
Among other things, the agreement, which still needs approval from the full council, would spell out how the eventual golf course would connect with city water lines.