By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
The East Troy Village Board voted Jan. 15 to lift the moratorium on building and occupancy permits for Bielinski Homes Inc.
The village stopped issuing the permits in October of 2017 because of the poor condition of the roads in the Lake Bluff subdivision and Bielinski’s waffling on fixing the roads, which have been causing headaches for the homeowners of the subdivision and the village.
After months of negotiations, the village and Bielinski Homes have come to an agreement on how the road will be fixed and a timeline for the repairs.
In a memo to the board, village attorney, Tim Pruitt, recommended the board approve the agreement and lift the restrictions on issuing the necessary permits to allow Bielinski to continue building homes in the village.
The amendment to the developer’s agreement the Village Board approved outlines a process in which village staff will approve the removal and replacement of the existing asphalt and the repair or replacement of the curb and gutters, which have suffered damage over the years because a wedge wasn’t installed to protect them.
The agreement also required Bielinski to submit a letter of credit for $300,000 to be added to the $523,000 in surety bond they already have. The $823,000 will cover the estimated cost of the remaining improvements to the subdivision roads if necessary. In the memo, and at the meeting, Pruitt told the board had Bielinski submitted a check for the $300,000 and an executed reimbursement agreement.
The board voted unanimously to approve the amendment to the developer’s agreement and lift the permit restrictions.
In other business Jan. 15, the Village Board approved:
- Contracting it’s municipal legal services with Pruitt, Ekes & Geary, S.C.;
- Approved a request from staff to hold a public informational meeting with the owners draining to the retention pond located behind Road Ranger to discuss maintenance work;
- Renewed the village’s liability insurance with EMC Insurance for an annual cost of $126,000, close to a 10 percent decrease from last year.
- Approved Department of Public Works Director Jason Equitz’s request to include the needed sanitary sewer work on the Village Square with this year’s water main project at a cost of about $69,000. The village portion of that cost will be about $49,000 for the engineering and work; property owners will be assessed about $20,000 for the sanitary laterals in the project.
