Sussex Business Park Officially Over, Village President Weighs In

The plan to begin development on a new business park in Sussex is officially dead after Village Board members voted to end the project during Tuesday night’s board meeting.

This comes after Village Administrator Jeremy Smith announced the cancellation of Wednesday’s public hearing pertaining the project, as well as . The swift end to the potential corporate park comes after preliminary costs came in more than $1 million more than anticipated.

Sussex Village President Greg Goetz spoke about the project during the meeting, explaining that while TIF districts run by the village have meant hundreds of millions of dollars in tax base, jobs and economic diversity, this project fell short.

“While this particular deal doesn’t make sense for the village to continue to consider, there will be other deals and opportunities that the village should be ready to explore as they arise,” Goetz said. “It is essential that the village continue to look for ways to diversify our economy so that no one single employer or one segment of our economy has too much impact on the financial stability of the community.”

"...I for one am all about ensuring we continue to grow our tax base so my children and grandchildren can say the same thing about Sussex in the future."

Goetz went on to thank everyone from Sussex and from developer MLG who worked hard on the plan.

The official end to the development project comes as good news to Pete Meissner, the farm owner who if the deal was approved. Meissner is currently trying to buy back the property after selling it 2002.

But Goetz, along with other Village Board members, were adamant about continuing to look for future development locations. Trustee Jason Wegner says it’s very important to keep looking toward the future as these projects present themselves, and Goetz agreed.

“We have a great quality of life in Sussex, and I for one am all about ensuring we continue to grow our tax base so my children and grandchildren can say the same thing about Sussex in the future.”