About Mee-Kwon Park

Mee-Kwon Park consists of 240 acres of land which include Mule Hill (the best hill for sledding in the county), a baseball diamond, a 3 acre fishing pond, hiking trails, and a golf course. The park has been part of the Ozaukee County park system since 1972 when it was purchased with a federal Housing and Urban Development Urban Green Space Grant. The grant "requires the property to be maintained as passive use parkland in perpetuity" (source: Mee-Kwon Park Brochure).

The Meadow

The south side of Mee-Kwon County Park is a small meadow with natural grasses and trees that sees frequent wildlife visitors such as rabbits, racoons, turkeys, deer, foxes, and coyotes. This central area of the meadow has been left in its natural state for the most part and includes many hiking trails around the perimeter. It is a quiet, hidden gem in the city of Mequon that allows one to enjoy the natural state of the land without any urban intrusions.

Industrial Solar Array

Ozaukee County Administrator Jason Dzwinel along with WE Energies has proposed a 4 acre industrial solar installation in the meadow. The county will receive about $42,000 annually in payment for participating in this program. This industrial solar array will be in place for at least 20 years, tying up the south side of Mee-Kwon park with an unsightly mass of glaring glass and metal. The surrounding property values will be negatively impacted because of this loss of beauty, wildlife, and parkland. The county will attempt to hide the ugly structure with tall trees, tall fences, and tall prairie grasses as even they don't see the beauty in an industrial solar array. The location of this project is really in question as it is not appropriate in a quiet, natural neighborhood park. To drop something as urban-looking as 4 acres of solar panels into the natural meadow will be jarring to say the least. The only benefactors of this project will be the county with the receipt of a $3,500 monthly payment (with net present value to the county of $523,412 at a 5% discount rate) and consumers perceiving WE Energies to be a "green-energy" company. WE Energies has said that it will only be placing this industrial solar array in Mee-Kwon park and no other location in Ozaukee County, forcing Ozaukee County to make not only the decision of whether or not to participate in the program but also to only have it located at Mee-Kwon Park.

What You Can Do

Attend Meetings:

The county is holding regular meetings to decide on participation in the Solar Now project. The last meeting with the Public Works committee on September 17, 2020, resulted in a "Yes" decision to participate in the Solar Now program. This is part of the archived agenda for the Public Works committee that shows some of the documentation about the Solar Now project with many maps, aerial photos, and mock-ups of what a solar array in the meadow would look like: DPW Agenda for 9/17/2020.

The next meeting scheduled on this issue is with the Natural Resources committee on Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at 8:00 AM in Port Washington, WI at the Administration building. This is the link to the agenda for this meeting: DNR Agenda for 10/6/2020. The Natural Resources committee will once again decide on participation in the Solar Now program at Mee-Kwon County Park. This committee had already voted down this resolution previously, but what with the Covid-19 pandemic, any further decisions to participate in this pilot program at Mee-Kwon Park were delayed. During that delay, an election was held and new committee members joined the Natural Resources committee, prompting another vote by the committee on whether or not to participate in the Solar Now program at Mee-Kwon Park.

After this committee votes on participation in the pilot program, the Ozaukee County Board members should have a meeting to cast the final vote on whether or not this project will proceed at Mee-Kwon Park. The agenda has not been made yet for this meeting but County Board meetings are typically held on the first and third Wednesday of each month at the Administration Center in Port Washington, WI.

Send in your comments:

Public comments are read at each meeting for the committee members to consider. It is important that the members of these committees hear your side of the story and can see the impact that this project has on the neighborhood and the surrounding area. If you are unable to attend a meeting, this is the next best way for your opinions to be heard.

Call committee members:

Committee members are listed on the Ozaukee County website with their phone numbers, addresses, and emails. County Board Contact Forms

Many of the members can be emailed by using the county's email system that works like filling out a form. It will allow your email to be actually read by the recipient and not land in their email labeled as "spam".