By the mid-Nineties, Village of Brokaw officials reluctantly began thinking seriously about disincorporation. Life in Brokaw was becoming more difficult. The Village's wastewater treatment plant couldn't operate properly because of the ever decreasing resident population and low flow to the plant. Many remaining residents were of retirement age and faced ballooning sewer and water rates.
The solution was expansion, but the Wisconsin River and the virtually un-developable granite bluffs seemed have the Village landlocked against any possible annexation to the Village of Brokaw.
(You could say the Village was "Between a rock and a hard place")
But there was a solution and that's how Brokaw's bridge became the Villages bridge to a future. Village officials looked west, across the Wisconsin River for expansion.
In 1997, a land owner in the Town of Maine wanted to develop what had previously been a clay barrow site. The developer knew water and sewer services would be necessary and approached the Village regarding annexation and began developing a business park. The petition for annexation of 52 acres was approved by the Village and the State of Wisconsin and zoned for commercial and light industrial facilities. A Tax Incremental Finance District (TIF) was created to serve as a funding mechanism to allow the extension of village sewer and water to the site, which was completed in 2002.
Several businesses have open there doors in the Northside Business Park since then and in the future.