| Additional Information: | The Village of Whitefish Bay has had a zoning code in effect since 1922, the majority of the village being zoned for single-family residential development. In 1938, the village board passed an ordinance regulating building heights, requiring single-family houses to conform in height to existing houses within 70 feet from it. The following year, in 1939, a Plan Commission was established to advise village officials on planning in the areas of streets, sidewalks, street lighting, landscaping, traffic control, storm sewers, parking, and recreational facilities. That same year, the village adopted a new zoning code, since amended, which is enforced by the village building inspector. Since 1969, the village has employed professional planning staff to advise village officials on land use and other urban planning issues.
Following the construction of Whitefish Bay’s first apartment building at 1700 E. Chateau Place in 1923, village residents were largely opposed to additional multi-family residential development in the village. This was evidenced by the attitudes of both residents and the village governance at a village board meeting in the summer of 1930 at which Village President Frank Klode strongly stated his desire for the village to remain strictly single-family residential in character. In 1934, a committee was formed to advertise the village as a residential area to promote strictly single-family residential development during and after the Great Depression. In the years that followed, the majority of apartments constructed occurred over commercial spaces in mixed-use buildings along Henry Clay Street and Silver Spring Drive. The establishment of a Plan Commission and major revision of the zoning code in 1939 were responses to a $1,000,000 apartment project proposed for the 4600 Block of Lake Drive that was not granted a rezoning and therefore never constructed.
The debate over multi-family housing in the village came to a climax around the year 1950 over a $2,500,000 proposal by the Frances J. Schroedel Construction Company to construct 320 apartments. After the Village of Whitefish Bay annexed land southwest of Santa Monica Boulevard and Fairmount Avenue from the former Town of Milwaukee, this area was rezoned from permitting light industrial to areas of multi-family residential and commercial. The Schroedel Construction Company purchased this land during the 1940s, and at the end of that decade, sought permits to construct a large apartment development there. However by 1950, due to pressure from local residents and a desire to maintain the village as strictly single-family residences, the village board rezoned this tract to prohibit multi-family residential. Litigation ensued, ending with the Schroedel Company winning an appeal to the Wisconsin State Court and being granted the permits to construct the Bay Village Apartments. The Bay Village Apartments consist of nineteen buildings located at 4801-4831 N. Anita Avenue, 4833-4863 N. Anita Avenue, 4864-4894 N. Anita Avenue, 4865-4895 N. Anita Avenue, 100-128 E. Chateau Place, 115-145 E. Chateau Place, 132-162 E. Chateau Place, 216-246 E. Chateau Place, 100-130 W. Chateau Place, 101-131 W. Chateau Place, 4833-4863 N. Santa Monica Boulevard, 4865-4895 N. Santa Monica Boulevard, 4901-4931 N. Santa Monica Boulevard, 4951-4961 N. Santa Monica Boulevard, 4932-4962 N. Shoreland Avenue, 4864-4894 N. Shoreland Avenue, 4865-4895 N. Shoreland Avenue, 4900-4930 N. Shoreland Avenue, and 4901-4931 N. Shoreland Avenue. |
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