WEST BEND, Wis. — At least 275 Washington County community members spent nearly three hours voicing their opinions about the future of the empty UW-Milwaukee campus in West Bend, showing passion to see the 80-acre property become "something more than wasted space."
"Whatever decision you guys make, please make sure that you're taking into consideration all of Washington County!" one resident urged officials at the packed meeting.
The county owns 74% of the property while the city of West Bend owns the remaining 26%. Both the county executive and mayor attended the meeting, taking questions and listening to over 60 people share their thoughts.
"I think it's a tragedy," Dennis Degenhardt said. "This building closed and the quality of life in Washington County dropped."
Watch: Washington County community packs into old gym to discuss empty UW-Milwaukee campus' future
The building has been empty for over a year after UW-Milwaukee closed the satellite campus, prompting the county to form a task force to hear proposals from entities interested in purchasing the property.
Three main options have emerged: proposals from an out-of-state charter school, a local Christian school and conservancy, or keeping it as public property.
Most of the 60 community members who spoke out during the meeting said they do not want to see the charter or private school purchase the property.
"Our leadership has a lot of questions to answer for. I think that we need to meet them with some hard hitting questions tonight and learn a little bit more about their thoughts behind this process," Ann Knetter said. "I think that any low ball offer from a private entity should be rejected. There's a lot of value in this space. I think the taxpayers see the value in this space."
LeaAnn Odekirk from Slinger emphasized the importance of strong community resources. "I think that families who want to move in to Washington County," she said. "Young families, they want strong schools, strong libraries, strong recreation departments and this is an opportunity to make Washington County stronger."
Some community members who spoke at the meeting said they would like to see a charter or private school purchase the property.
"I'm here simply to say Ozaukee Christian School is a wonderful treasure that you have here in West Bend," Impact of Christian Schools executive director Chuck Moore said. "If they had the opportunity to do the purchase that's been discussed, it would be an ongoing blessing to this city and county."
Matt Ferno, a longtime Washington County resident, expressed enthusiasm about private ownership: "Because one, it takes it off the tax rolls," he said. "But also it provides opportunity with additional space to rent it out to charter schools."
No decision has been made yet. The county and city will host another meeting on Monday at 7:15 p.m. at City Hall. This meeting is open to the public but not for public input.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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