Curtiss OK’s two more apartments

Construction will start next month on two additional apartment buildings for Abbyland Foods workers in Curtiss, after the village board approved a building permit at its monthly meeting last week.

Last fall, the board greenlit the construction of two apartment buildings to the east of El Norteno restaurant. One of those buildings has been completed and is ready to accept tenants while the other is still being built.

Joe Dolezal of Boson Construction, which is building the apartments for Abbyland Foods, came to the board’s May 4 with plans for two more buildings to be built in the same area along Plaza Drive.

Dolezal said the two additional buildings will follow the same floor plans as the first two buildings, with one of them containing 16 units and the other featuring 12 units. The 16-unit building will have one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, and 12-unit one will have only two- and three-bedroom apartments.

The site plans include adequate parking spaces, dumpsters, a playground, pavilions and two basketball courts for tenants to use, he said. A driveway will provide access onto Plaza Drive.

Also included in the plan is a four-foot chainlink fence along the southern and eastern sides of the property with breaks for safe crossings to the convenience store across the street and El Norteno.

Lighted sidewalks will also run through the site.

“It should be really attractive at night,” Dolezal said.

Village president Betty Rettig wanted to know if the village has enough water to supply two additional apartment buildings.

Dolezal said the rate of water usage among tenants has been established using data from the Northside Apartments in Abbotsford, which first went up in 2018 and 2019.

Based on these numbers, engineer Mike Voss of MSA Professional Services said the village should have enough well pumping capacity to provide for the two additional apartment buildings.

“Now, if you want to bring in additional water users into town, then I think you’re going to have to start looking for another well,” he told the board.

DPW Larry Swarr said the DNR does not want to see the village’s wells running more than 12 hours per day. Swarr said Voss took the village’s peak water usage from last year and added the consumption of two more apartments worth of tenants, and the numbers were still within the DNR’s parameters.

Each Abbotsford apartment building only uses about 1,000 gallons per day, which, when divided out, is lower than most Curtiss households use, Swarr said. Dolezal said this is the result of installing water-efficient appliances in all the apartments.

Swarr noted that the village residents and businesses already use a considerable amount of water outside what is used by the pork plant and truck wash.

“On the weekend, when all of the major industry is shut down, we’re still using 30,000 to 50,000 gallons (per day) of water for the rest of Curtiss,” he said.

Before looking at drilling new wells, Swarr said there are some mechanical repairs that can be done within the village’s water system that will increase the amount of available water. “I’m hoping to find an easy fix for a lot more water,” he said.

Eventually, though, Swarr said the village will need to do a water study before approving any more development.

Dolezal said the plan is to start construction on the new buildings in June, with the goal of opening the first one before Christmas and the second by February of 2022.

The first completed apartment is already set to be fully occupied, he said, and Abbyland employees are “begging” for more housing. Those who have moved into the Abbotsford apartments have been very appreciative, he said.

“There are women who come in and just start crying because they can’t believe they live in such a nice place,” he said.

When asked about security for the apartments, Dolezal said there will be rotating cameras to “pick up every inch of this site,” along with viewing screens in the office of the main building.

“If anything were to occur, there will film of it,” he said. “That is a great deterrent for anybody to screw around.”

Dolezal said Abbyland owner Harland Schraufnagel has been very involved overseeing the apartment project, so that “everyone’s proud that they’re there.”

_ The board is still looking for someone to appoint to the vacant trustee spot left open when Rettig was elected village president. A few names were tossed around at meetings last week, but no one has stepped forward to join the board.

_ Voss and Swarr said they are still ironing out some of the details in an updated sewage treatment agreement between the village and Abbyland Foods. The board authorized the village’s former engineering firm, Davy, to review some of the data before the plan is presented to Abbyland.

_ The board appointed former village clerk Jane Stoiber to be the village’s representative on Owen-Withee-Curtiss Fire District board. They also voted to pay her $25 per meeting to attend the district’s quarterly meetings.

_ The board was informed that Curtiss will receive $20,000 in federal money as part of American Rescue Plan, which can be used to cover water and sewer expenses.

_ The board approved a motion to send Swarr and Nick Wirtala to a pair of training seminars offered by the Wisconsin Rural Water Association.

_ The board authorized Perry Rettig to mow grass at the village’s sewer treatment lagoons, using the village’s zeroturn mower. Rettig, who is volunteering his time, will be limited to mowing areas that are not on steep slopes.

_ The board approved new addresses for Walnut Creek Foods and the village water plant on Circle Drive and for El Norteno and the apartments on Plaza Drive. New numbers were chosen to be consistent with the rest of the village’s mapping grid.

The following actions were taken at a special meeting held May 6 after the village’s board of review:

_ The board approved May 22 as the village’s annual clean-up day, when residents can dispose of mattresses, furniture, appliances and other large items. Swarr will also be picking up tires.

_ Swarr told the board about a pitbull that was loose in the village earlier that day and was acting aggressively toward him and Clark County Sheriff Scott Haines, who responded when Swarr called for assistance. Swarr said the sheriff contacted the dog’s owner.

Trustee John Unruh noted that pitbulls are not allowed under the village’s ordinances, but as of now, the board has no way of enforcing those ordinances through the court system. He said the village would have to sign up for a special software program in order to do that.

_ The board approved a couple of road patching projects, including one on Plaza Drive near the entrance and exits of the Abbyland Truck Stop, at an estimated cost of $900.

_ The board approved sandblasting and painting the village’s hydrants and curbs.

_ The board approved a motion to add Rettig’s name to the village’s bank account signature pages, and to delete former president Randy Busse.