PEWAUKEE, Wis. — A typically popular beach area that lies alongside a busy and active street in Pewaukee is raising some concerns.
Pewaukee village board president Jeffrey Knutson says the board looked at ways to make the area safer, including lowering the speed limit and installing speedbumps. Except, he says, that may not be enough.
"There's been a lot of near misses with people jaywalking across the street and also little kids running across the street," said Knutson.
That's why the board is now looking at the possibility of removing parking spaces along a portion of Wisconsin Avenue.
"By taking out the parking we're going to eliminate people from jetting across, and jaywalking, not only from the parking area but also from the beach," said Knutson.
However, not everyone is on board. Sarah Stephenson is the co-owner of Beach Bum Bakery. She says there's a shared parking lot in the back of her shop, but she has no back entrance. If the parking spaces in the front of the store go away, the bakery could lose between 30 to 50% of its revenue.
"We are strictly a grab-and-go bakery we don't have seating available," said Stephenson. "If they were to get rid of the parking out front, my customers wouldn't be able to just run in and grab a treat. They wouldn't be able to run in and pick up their cake."
Scott Hoggatt owns VeloCity cycling. He says he's all for the removal of the parking spaces in the front of his business but acknowledges the move could hurt others.
"We have one-hour parking. It ends up getting used by people who are parked there all day long and my customers can't use it anyway plus I have this huge parking lot," said Hoggatt. "I don't know if there's a one size fits all answer."
The village board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the proposal. No final decision will be made. But, the board says it's open to any and all suggestions.
"How can we do something to increase safety without negatively affecting the businesses? Because we don't want to do that," said Knutson.
