Observers at a Common Council Meeting at Sheboygan City Hall. WHBL Staff Photo
After a public hearing and nearly an hour of discussion, Sheboygan’s Finance and Personnel Committee narrowly approved a sale agreement that would give Amazon the land needed to build a Class-A logistics facility in Sheboygan.
Public comment and testimony during public hearings took up much of the meeting, but was evenly balanced by debate among committee members. Most public comment centered around the risk vs. benefit of hosting a trillion-dollar company in a community that’s based upon small business and a destination-based tourism economy, and challenged the sale price as a “giveaway”, an opinion countered only by isolated support.
Most committee members who resisted approving the agreement challenged job numbers touted by Amazon, and whether or not the local business environment could survive the presence of a giant in possession of overwhelming resources. Others objected on the grounds that the Zoning Code revisions discussed earlier in the meeting – and laid over by the committee – should be finished before signing the Amazon agreement.
Supporters claimed that the risk of losing Amazon through delays in the process was too large, especially since only one building, constructed as a “spec” building to promote tenancy, now exists after years of South Pointe development, and found enough control given to the City to approve or deny any future plans for Amazon to construct a data center on the land.
A motion to postpone committee action was defeated, and then a motion to approve the Amazon contract was passed with Chair Trey Mitchell casting the deciding vote.
The measure now goes to the full Common Council for consideration next Monday night.
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