Marathon Co. to buy three parcels

By Kevin O’Brien

Despite objections from village of Kronenwetter residents and some last-minute reluctance among a few supervisors, the Marathon County Board voted Tuesday to purchase three parcels of land along Old Business 51 as the possible site of a new Highway Department shop.

By a vote of 29 to 5, the board approved a resolution to buy two parcels owned by Wisconsin Public Service and another owned by a private party for a combined price of $794,715. All of the parcels are currently zoned commercial, and no rezoning would be needed to build a Highway facility on the 18-plus acres of land.

Prior to voting on the motion to purchase, supervisor Tim Sondelski made a motion to postpone action on the matter until county officials had a chance to discuss the proposed purchase at a public meeting in Kronenwetter. While he supports the effort to build a new shop, Sondelski said he received six emails and two phone calls from people in Kronenwetter who were upset with the lack of public involvement in the process.

“From everything these people have told me, there hasn’t been any discussion at the village board meetings or the planning commission meetings,” he said. Sondelski’s original amendment would have delayed the board’s decision until its May 15 meeting, which would have effectively killed the existing offers to purchase because they expire before then. Once the board was informed of this, Sondelski tried to amend his original proposal by requiring a special board meeting before May 1, but the motion failed on a 13-21 vote. His original motion to delay action until May15 was also defeated, 6-28.

Even though the county is moving forward with buying the three parcels, the board has not yet committed to building a new Highway shop on the site. County officials are eyeing five other smaller parcels in the same area that would give the county a total of 24 acres to work with if they were also purchased.

In the meantime, county administrator Lance Leonhard said the county will continue to work with Kronenwetter to address any concerns, including the village’s ability to provide 800,000 gallons of water or more per year for the proposed Highway facility. Leonhard and highway commissioner Jim Griesbach have already had initial conversations with village officials about possibly building a new shop in Kronenwetter, but neither the planning commission nor the village board have formally addressed the idea at a meeting.

Supervisor John Robinson said he believes there will be “ample opportunities” for the village to be involved in the site plan and for Kronenwetter to benefit by accessing the Highway Department’s brining operations and other services.

“This is a step in the process, not the end of the process,” he said.

Robinson said negotiating the purchase of properties must be done in private, because otherwise it could drive up the price the county would have to pay by attracting other offers. If the board were to allow the current offers to purchase to expire, he said the county would have to start negotiations again.

“I guarantee the price won’t go down,” he said. “If the owners think that they might have leverage, more than likely the price may go up.”

Board chairman Kurt Gibbs noted that WPS had not actually put its two parcels up for sale, but it did offer to sell them to the county following a conversation with Griesbach.

Supervisor Chris Voll, past village president of Kronenwetter, said the village’s planning commission and board don’t normally become involved with proposed developments until a site plan or certified survey map is presented.

“So, the county has not really made a formal plan to the village yet, so that’s why the village doesn’t really know what’s going on with it,” he said.

Supervisor Randy Fifrick, chair of the Infrastructure Committee, acknowledged that “no one wants the new facility in their community” because of the loss in taxable property, but he believes the Kronenwetter site presents a unique opportunity because much of the land is already tax-exempt due to it being owned by a public utility, WPS.

The other six-acre property being purchased, owned by a private party, paid $1,650 in total property taxes last year, which is “awfully minimal,” he said.

“At this point, we’re simply looking at purchasing the property,” he said. “There’s a lot of steps in this process. In the end, maybe the county board or a future county board will decide this isn’t something they want to go forward with. For what we have in front of us, in trying to find the land, I think this a unique opportunity.”

Residents voice concerns

At the board’s April 18 educational meeting, two Kronenwetter residents spoke out against the county’s plans to buy land in their village.

Sean Dumais, former village trustee, said he fully supports the county’s efforts to upgrade its Highway Department facilities, but he questioned the location.

While the village could theoretically provide the extra 800,000 gallons per day needed for the Highway shop, Dumais said he’s worried that it would force the village to pay for a new well and possibly a new water tower.

“Unfortunately, our current infrastructure can’t handle such a significant increase in demand without incurring some substantial costs for upgrades our village simply cannot afford,” he said.

Guy Fredel said the city of Wausau will benefit from the Highway shop moving off West Street and opening up new development opportunities at the intersection with 17th Street, but Kronenwetter would lose out on similar opportunities to develop land along Old Highway 51 if a tax-exempt county facility was built there.

Fredel said Kronenwetter’s strategic and comprehensive plans have both identified the Highway 51 corridor as a prime location for commercial and industrial development, but that won’t happen if a county shop is built there. Instead, he said the village will be left to pay more for keeping up its roads without any additional tax revenue.

“We don’t need more heavy truck traffic, and we certainly don’t need heavy truck traffic generated by an entity that’s not paying a dime of taxes to our community,” he said, suggesting that the county offer a payment in lieu of taxes to compensate the village.

In addressing the concerns about water consumption and traffic impacts, Griesbach said he’s had several conversations with village officials about these issues and he thinks they can be handled.

When it comes to water usage, he said the 800,000 gallons per year used by the Highway Department is less than what 11 homes consume, and because most of that water is used to make salt brine for deicing, a majority does not end up in the sanitary sewer system.

Regarding traffic concerns, Griesbach said at most 55 to 60 employees would be coming in and out of the site every day for work, as well as 200 to 250 vendor trucks. He compared this to a gas station like Kwik Trip, which brings in 1,500 to 3,000 cars per day, or a fast food restaurant that draws 500 to 1,200 vehicles on a much smaller lot.

In the winter, when it’s snowing, he said the plow trucks normally head out at about 4 a.m. when traffic is minimal.

“The traffic I don’t feel is going to be a major issue there,” he said.

The Village Church Weston Power Station Gooding Park Cemetery

THREE PARCELS PURCHASED - The Marathon County Board voted Tuesday to purchase the three parcels outlined in white. The other highlighted parcels under negotiation.