Wausau City Hall. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau Economic Development Committee took nearly 30 minutes of public comment regarding future plans for 1300 Celveland Avenue, making it clear that they don’t want to see the property become an industrial site.
The reasons varied, with one resident saying the area is too loud as it is with industrial noise coming from the nearby Kolbe and Kolbe and 3M plants. Others said they don’t want to see further contamination in the soil spilling into their backyards. However, it was made clear that there would be no more manufacturing or industrial uses.
Alders agreed, including Tom Neal, who encouraged everyone to get the idea out of their minds. “There are 11 people on this Council, and there isn’t six of them that are going to say ‘oh no, let’s revert back [to Industrial zoning]. No, it’s always going to be ‘let’s do what we said we are going to do.’ That is clean up the property to make it developable, then look at the potental for development that will work for for the neighborhood.”
Alder Chad Henke agreed, saying he doesn’t see how the council could get to the number of votes required to pass a plan for industrial development on the city-owned land, let alone the eight votes that would be required to override a veto from Mayor Doug Diny.
“Let’s take that off the table. It’s not going to happen,” added Neal.
Committee Chair Carol Lukens opened the meeting by calming rumors that the Committee would consider rezoning the property back to industrial, which goes through the Plan Commission. The item was on the agenda for discussion, with the Committee instructing Economic Development Director Randy Fifrick to put together a public participation plan for the redevelopment of the land in a non-industrial fashion.
But before any of that can happen, soil contamination must be remediated to residential standards, which won’t be easy considering the property’s history. Public Works Director Eric Lindman says city leaders can expect a presentation on that during the November 11th City Council meeting.
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