Mayor Hopes Shorewood's Small Step Starts Something Big

The drastically reduced costs for builders during its meeting Tuesday night, but Mayor Rick Chapman said the move was aimed at doing much more than merely jump-starting development in town.

"People think we just want to build — we want to put people back to work," Chapman said. "If you build, we put people back to work."

The village board agreed to slash fees for capital improvements, sewer and water tap-on and residential building permits for the next three years. The time of payment for the fees and school and park land/cash contributions were also altered to make them more attractive to builders.

"It gives the builders tremendous leverage with the bank where they can put up spec houses without tremendous cash outlay at the beginning," Chapman said, noting his hope that the savings be passed on to home-buyers.

Chapman also conceded that Shorewood's actions will do little to impact the national economy, but expressed optimism that other towns will follow the village's lead and maybe make a difference.

"One village of 15,000 isn't going to change the economy," he said. "It's going to take 15,000 villages of 15,000."

Chapman said he has worked on his plan to reduce fees for the last two years.

Trustee Gary Fitzgerald pointed out that the move made sense in a more practical manner as it "brings us in line with other communities, because we were pretty high."