A committee of University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents gave the green light Thursday to a deal that would let the Wildlife in Need Center build new headquarters on land belonging to UW-Waukesha.
Lawyers for the UW System and the non-profit group are still ironing out details, but the committee's approval allows the proposal to proceed to the State Building Commission.
Essentially, through a 25-year ground lease, the UW System would allow the wildlife center - a non-profit group devoted to rehabilitating injured wildlife - to build and maintain quarters at UW-Waukesha's Sherman Field Station in the Town of Ottawa in western Waukesha County and connect it to an existing classroom.
In exchange, the campus would have some access to the facility as well as the group's expertise, according to UW-Waukesha Dean Patrick Schmitt.
"This will greatly expand our capabilities of what we do at the field station," Schmitt told the regents Capital Planning and Budget Committee, meeting in Eau Claire.
So far, the Wildlife in Need Center has raised more than $700,000 for a building that would be about 6,000 square feet and include a research laboratory and facilities for handling a range of animals.
Pending full approval, Schmitt said, construction could begin in the spring.