Shorewood’s Business Community Fights Sale of Public Parking Lot

Affordable Shorewood Press Release

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱’𝘀 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗙𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗼𝘁

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘈𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘵 4450 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘖𝘢𝘬𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦.

June 15, 2026 – Shorewood, Wisconsin – “I want to note that the businesses do not object to this project. I serve on the BID board, and there is support for it” is the claim made by Shorewood Trustee Arthur Ircink in an email to a resident.* Affordable Shorewood, a grassroots initiative, found exactly the opposite when it conducted a recent petition drive. Shorewood intends to sell the parking lot for a subsidized housing project, while other locations remain available for development.

Twenty-six small businesses, which are served by the public parking lot, signed a petition that read:

𝗪𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗲𝗿𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟰𝟵-𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗼𝘁, 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝘄𝗼 (𝟮) 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝗮𝗸𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱, 𝗪𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗻.

The neighborhood, densely packed with apartment buildings, has a documented shortage of 378 parking spots based upon a Fall 2025 inventory of parking spots and apartment units.**

Village President McKaig has called these activities a “Vote No Campaign” and portrayed them as being against housing projects.*** But this defense overlooks the tortured path Village trustees have plotted, which includes the decision to cancel plans for a larger 53-unit housing project at another location (and would’ve cost the Village less)**** and approving a no-competition contract to give millions to a private developer.

These small businesses reflect the best of main street America; they serve the community with quality products and services and provide employment. Proprietors include healthcare services, dentists, barber shops, cafes, bakers, retailers, dog groomers, and a business which caters to pregnant women. The Village consciously avoided reaching out to the specific businesses affected by the sale of the parking lot. The neighborhood meetings and postcard mailers typically used to seek input for projects that remove services never occurred.

“The needs of these businesses have been willfully ignored throughout this process,” said Jay Sorensen, who is a volunteer and advocate with Affordable Shorewood. “These are locally owned shops and professional offices operated by our neighbors. These business owners and employers are hopping mad that the trustees are so callous. Neighboring communities work to help their business districts, ours is selling a critical public parking resource, and the trustees have shown no remorse for the harm being done.”
 
The proposed development has received financing support from programs administered by the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) and is seeking additional support from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. Affordable Shorewood has requested meetings with both organizations to discuss the concerns raised by residents and local businesses. Affordable Shorewood has shared the results of its outreach and research with these entities for months. As of the date of this release, neither organization has responded to a meeting request or commented on why its ignoring the needs of businesses and lower income renters.

The signed petitions will be presented to Village trustees, WHEDA, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago.

𝘌𝘯𝘥𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴:
* 16 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 2026 𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 2,800 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘈𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 2026.
** “𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘝𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘯’𝘴 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘗𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘰𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘦” 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩.𝘤𝘰𝘮 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 11 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 2026.
*** 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘈𝘯𝘯 𝘔𝘤𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘔𝘤𝘒𝘢𝘪𝘨, 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘝𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 05 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 2025.
**** 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 3900 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘈𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦, 𝘑𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘝𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘊𝘋𝘈 𝘔𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴, 12 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 2024.