Edgar to spend $20,000 on Scotch Creek planning

By Kevin O’Brien

Edgar village trustees on Monday agreed to spend $20,000 on the first phase of planning for a Scotch Creek restoration project that is slated to get underway in the next few years under a plan devised by village native Gordon Krall.

Monday’s vote by the village board marks the first time elected officials have committed money for the proposal developed by Krall, who has applied for funding from multiple sources, including the Wisconsin DNR, nonprofit groups, and corporate sponsors.

Under the motion, $10,000 will be taken out of the village’s Shortner Park fund and $10,000 from the general fund and used to pay engineers at EOR (Emmons & Olivier Resources), who will be writing a management plan for Scotch Creek.

According to EOR’s proposal, $20,000 will cover the “data review and scoping” phase of the planning, which will start in the last quarter of this year and finish early next year. An “alternatives analysis” will be done in 2025 for $20,000 to $40,000, and the final phase will be the implementation plan in the last half of 2025, for another $30,000 to $40,000.

The first phase of the planning process will involve a variety of data-crunching activities, such as working with county conservation staff, doing a tour of the watershed with local officials and developing a strategy for engaging residents and others with a stake in the waterway.

“We will identify the key stressors causing the water quality and habitat problems in the watershed, determine what data are available to guide implementation planning, identify data gaps to be addressed in the next phases, and plan stakeholder engagement,” the proposal states.

In September, the board adopted a resolution in support of Krall’s grant application to the Wisconsin DNR’s Surface Water Grant

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program, which could provide $10,000 for the implementation plan. Krall is also applying for a grant through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), a federal program dedicated to restoring wetland habitats for migratory birds that could provide nearly $250,000 in funding.

At a special meeting on Oct. 7, the board authorized Grall to submit the NAWCA grant application and also approved a conservation easement in order for work to be done on seven acres of undeveloped land owned by Krall along the creek, just west of Scotch Creek Park and south of Redwood Street. The village has promised to contribute nearly $88,000 as a partner in that grant application.

Krall, who now lives in California, first spoke to the village board about his plans in August, a few months after purchasing the land from River Country Co-op. Since then, he has been providing the board with regular updates on his fundraising and planning efforts.

At Monday’s meeting, Krall told the board that he reviewed planning proposals from two firms, EOR and Cooper Engineering, and he preferred the one from EOR because of the company’s expertise with environmental projects and their inclusion of “nine key elements” for watershed planning developed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Including the nine key elements will open up opportunities for various other grants in the future, including one from the Clean Water Act fund that offers as much as $600,000. The EOR plan will address a variety of water quality issues, including phosphorus and nitrogen contamination and sediment buildup, along with wetland restoration efforts.

Krall said Pheasants Forever and Golden Sands Resource Conservation are interested in working with local students and FFA members on various educational projects related to the watershed, such as bird breeding protocols and birdhouse designing.

Besides the DNR and nonprofit groups, Krall has also applied for funding from 26 different corporate funds, four of which have declined to participate and two that have deferred their decisions until later. The remaining 20 are still reviewing the proposal.

Krall also told the board that he will handle the work and cover the $600 cost of a DNR permit needed to do controlled burns on two acres of village land, conducted by the Edgar Fire Department, in order to remove invasive trees from along the creek.

When asked if funding for the EOR contract should be contingent on whether the village receives the DNR grant, Krall recommended proceeding without that contingency so the planning process can begin as soon as possible.

“You can’t get any federal grant funding without a plan like this being executed,” he said.

Village administrator Jennifer Lopez told Krall that this is the first time the village has undertaken a project like this, which could explain why some trustees are wary about spending money.

“I can understand that there’s some anxiety to work at this type of scale,” Krall said. “This first step will allow you to make a lot of decisions with the rest of the community about what you want to do over the next three to five years.”

Other business

■ The board authorized Redwood Real Estate Group, owners of Redwood Roasters, to submit an application for a Community Development Investment grant through the state, which would help pay for a planned expansion of the downtown business. A development agreement was also approved, spelling out the village’s role as an intermediary for grant funds, which could be as much as $250,000.

“We really have zero risk,” Lopez told the board.

■ The board voted to publish the village’s proposed 2025 budget, which includes a 1 percent increase in revenues and expenditures, for a total of just under $1.1 million. This includes a property tax levy of $404,266, a nearly 4 percent increase over this year based on the amount of net new construction within the village. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled at 8 p.m. on Nov. 11, prior to the board’s final vote.

■ The board approved an introductory resolution for a proposal to vacate a portion of Sixth Avenue, between Beech and Maple streets. A public hearing will be held next month before the board votes on vacating the street, which will result in adjacent property owners splitting up the land.

■ The board took no action on increasing sewer rates for 2025, but Lopez said she is tentatively looking at an increase of up to 25 percent to cover the cost of recent wastewater upgrades. She said there’s a possibility that the rate hikes could be done in two phases, six months apart.