The Milwaukee Common Council signed off on a plan to allow Alterra Coffee Roasters to pursue tax-free industrial revenue bonds for a smattering of new projects around the countytwo projects in the city, and two in the suburbs.
The most controversial project is Alterra’s plan to convert an abandoned bank building in the heart of Bay View into a bakery and café.
So, last night, the area’s alderman, Tony Zielinski organized a neighborhood meeting to get residents’ reactions.
And the majority was in favor of it.
Most said that they welcomed a new business into the neighborhood, especially one that was locally owned and has a proven track record in other parts of the city. Others said that an ideal development was never going to happen and that this was the best proposal out there.
The deal seemed to be sealed when the owner of Stone Creek Coffee, which was a pioneer in the neighborhood (it's located just across the street from the proposed development), had posted a message on the company’s website saying that he was cool with Alterra’s plans. A message from the Diablos Rojos group was delivered last night too, saying that an Alterra across the street from its Café Centraal was fine with them.
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Others, of course, had different thoughts.
Employees of Sven’s Café, just a few blocks away on Kinnickinnic, were concerned that their business would suffer after Alterra moves in. Other attendees remarked that the area already has a ton of coffee options and another one just isn’t necessary or wise.
But, at the end of the meeting, a show of hands revealed that the “clear majority” was in favor. Zielinski said that vote mirrored the calls to his office, which supported Alterra’s plans.
Not scientific, of course, but there you go.
Zielinski said he’d support it “110%.”
One more thing: Alterra’s Lincoln Fowler acknowledged that the company had screwed up its timing on the proposal: the request for the bonds came before a community meeting, which Alterra thought it could schedule further down the road--say, before the project went before the Board of Zoning Appeals. Zielinski said he wouldn't support it unless the community weighed in on it first.
“Our bad,” “our mistake,” and “apologies for that,” Fowler said at various points about the lack of community involvement.
He also said that the city had screwed up its description of the project. The city’s documents stated that Alterra wanted to develop a wholesale bakery or a bakery/commissary--not a bakery and retail café.
