Jul. 9--MOUNT PLEASANT -- A museum or a fire station? That is the question that is dividing Mount Pleasant Village Board and staff regarding a vacant parcel on 90th Street.
Just west of Mount Pleasant Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive, and north of West Lawn Memorial Cemetery is property owned by the village that officials are contemplating how to best use. The village bought the 10-acre piece of land across 90th Street from Village Hall in 2015 for $25,000.
The village Tourism Commission has recommended that the parcel be the site of a new home for the Racine County Heritage Museum. The museum has outgrown its current space at 701 Main St. in Downtown Racine, and the museum Board of Directors is looking for a new location.
At the Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, Village Board members discussed the possibility of a fire station or a museum for the parcel. Rob Richardson, chair of the Tourism Commission, said putting a museum on that land would help make the area more of a central destination for the village.
"It would fit in, we figured, into a downtown concept," Richardson said, noting the nearby Village Hall, Campus Park and Sealed Air YMCA as pieces of a village center already in place. "This would be another fit where we could have another thing. It would not only draw people from outside, but also residents from around the county."
However, some village officials believe that land would be best used for a new fire station.
South Shore Fire Department Chief Robert Stedman said if the village doesn't build a fire station on that land, it could cost the village between $600,000 and $700,000 to buy land for a station in the future, not including construction costs.
"Whether it's now or in the future, it's going to be too expensive," Stedman said. "We're fearful that we've got a piece of land that could work in the future and why give it up for something that we don't have and we don't know where (a new fire station) could be or should be and what it's going to cost in the future."
Future land use plan Village Trustee Ram Bhatia said the village has invested time and money evaluating village property for a "future land use plan" and should use that to make decisions on village property.
"That should be the guideline of what we want to spend and where we want to spent it," Bhatia said. Bhatia also pointed out that there are a lot of stores closing in the area that could be a more suitable location for the museum.
Christopher Paulson, executive director for the museum, said Mount Pleasant has not been officially presented with an offer from the Museum Board and museum officials are not under any deadline to find a new location. "We know our need for a new facility, that's long established," Paulson said.
"The (museum) board is taking steps to refocus and update our long strategy for achieving that (new) facility, as well as financial sustainability in the future." Paulson said he does "take encouragement that what we do is valued by (other) communities."
The Village Board took no action on the matter Monday.
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