Condo Owners Bailed Out by Realty Company

With the city agreeing to change what once was a condominium community into leased apartments Tuesday, Wimmer Brothers Realty will buy back the existing condos at their original purchase prices.

About a dozen condominium owners trapped by the fall of the housing market and under water because the condos they bought are no longer worth nearly as much as they paid for them were thrown a life preserver Tuesday. Two of them in fact. Mark Wimmer of Wimmer Brothers Realty, owners of The Orchard, a condo community, had offered to buy back the condos from the homeowners at their original purchase price, in some cases as much as $250,000, if the City of Greenfield agreed to let Wimmer change the use of the unfinished project from condos to luxury, leased apartments. The city did just that Tuesday when the Common Council voted 4-1 in favor of such a switch for the development on Forest Home Avenue just north of the Greenfield-Greendale …

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Patio Plans Approved, Modified and Ditched on Tuesday

The Greenfield Common Council heard proposals from three business owners to add patios to their establishments. Each owner experienced a different result.

Updated 2 p.m. Aug. 23 Three different requests to build outdoor patios at Greenfield establishments produced three very different results, disappointing some and pleasing many more. On Tuesday, the Greenfield Common Council said OK to Los Mariachis owner Sandra Madrigal’s proposal to construct an uncovered fenced patio on the south side of the building, 4305 W. Layton Avenue, and to expand the restaurant’s designated alcohol premise area to include the patio. Minutes earlier, alderpersons granted Mad Dog Saloon owner Dominic LaLicata permission to build a patio on the south side of the bar/restaurant, 4395 S. 76th St., but voted against allowing alcohol consumption or sales to take place on it. And after hearing complaints of several …

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Greenfield Condo Owners Could See Dip in Property Taxes

The city will study condo values over the next few months.

Haunted Attraction Owner, Officials Square Off at Council Meeting

Taj Jordan was at the meeting with the hopes of being approved for an entertainment license for HauntFest.

That the operator of a popular Milwaukee-area haunted attraction and City of Greenfield officials butted heads at a Common Council Meeting at City Hall on Tuesday was not all that surprising. What they butted heads about was. Taj Jordan, owner of Music on the Move and operator of HauntFest, appeared before the council to discuss his application of an entertainment license for his event. The license would include interactive games, DJ music, light displays, bounces houses and the haunted attraction itself, which would be held in the Ultimate Electronics building Sept. 30 through the end of October. The application for the license was on the meetings agenda. What was not on the agenda was discussion of Community Development Manager Chuck …

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Decision to Not Rezone Land Keeps Church Out of Greenfield

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints had hoped to build a church at 35th Street and Barnard Avenue.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will not have a new home in Greenfield, at least not yet. The Greenfield Common Council denied a request to rezone the property located at the southeast corner of South 35th Street and West Barnard Avenue from single family residential to institutional by a 3-2 vote at City Hall on Tuesday. The denial shot down the church’s plans to build a 16,100-square-foot church on the 4.2-acre parcel. But that doesn’t mean the church won’t stop looking for a Greenfield location that works. “We’ll keep looking,” said Antone Bonner, Stake President of the Milwaukee Wisconsin South Stake of the LDS. “We’ll keep seeing what our options are. I don’t know what that will lead to. This is a good area. Latter-Day…

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After Tweaks, Changes, Greenfield Resale Ordinance Finally Passes

A similar ordinance had business owners up in arms last summer.

One year after creating an uproar with its resale ordinance that was later rescinded, it appears the City of Greenfield got its redo done right. The Greenfield Common Council approved the repeal and recreation of its ordinance relating to pawnbrokers, second-hand article dealers and second-hand jewelry dealers Tuesday by a 3-1 vote. Alderperson Thomas Pietrowski voted against the ordinance; Alderperson Pam Akers was not in attendance. “The creation of this ordinance was kind of an unprecedented thing, at least as long as I’ve been around, which is 21 years,” Greenfield Interim Police Chief Brad Wentlandt said. “The ordinance, as it sits before you, is probably 50 percent input from the business and 50 percent regulatory issues we had …

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Gas Station Drive-Offs Fall on Car Owner's Shoulders

The Common Council adopted a new ordinance that places the liability on the owner, not the offender.

If your boyfriend or girlfriend, or son or daughter, borrows your car, goes to the local gas station to fill it up, and drives off without paying, you will be the one held responsible for the theft. Thanks to a new city ordinance approved by the Common Council on Tuesday, the owner of a vehicle involved in the theft of motor fuel, which includes, but is not limited to gasoline, diesel fuel and ethanol, would be held accountable for the violation. There are exceptions to the ordinance:

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There Will Be No Pawn Shop on 76th Street

The Greenfield Common Council denies the store's request, 3-2, at Monday's meeting.

The City of Greenfield will continue to look for a tenant for the vacated Ultimate Electronics building after the Common Council shot down a proposed pawn shop at the location at Tuesday’s meeting at City Hall. Despite pleas from the store’s owner and company representatives, the council rejected the request by Exchange Street, a Minnesota-based company, to move into the building located just off Interstate 894 and on the busy 76th Street thoroughfare. The public hearing lasted 45 minutes before the council denied the request with a 3-2 vote.  A large concern was the stigma attached to pawn shops and the kind of clientele it would attract. “It may be dressed nicely. It may be in a beautiful location. It may have whistles and bells. But the…

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Meetings Preview: Common Council to Consider Pawn Shop; School District to Look at Prelim Budget

There are four public meetings on this week's calendar.

The Greenfield School Board will take its first look at the preliminary budget for the 2011-2012 school year at tonight’s meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Greenfield Administration Center board room. The district's Business Administration Committee will meet in advance of the board meeting at 5:45 p.m. In addition, the Whitnall School Board has called a special meeting to begin contract discussions with the Whitnall Area Federation of Teachers on Monday. The meeting begins at 3:15 p.m. in the district's board/community room, but the negotiations are expected to start at 4 p.m. Also this evening, the Legislative Committee will look at amending three separate municipal codes at its meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Common Council chambers of …

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