Schofield City Council. MWC file photo by Mike Leischner
SCHOFIELD, WI (WSAU) — The Schofield City Hall sits on some prime real estate in the city, and now leaders are thinking it may be time to cash in on that.
“It’s lakefront property,” said Mayor Kregg Hoehn. “It’s the most expensive land left on the lakeside that’s owned by the city.”
Earlier this fall the city moved the property into a Tax Increment District, which gives them the freedom to issue a Request for Proposals to gauge developer interest for the land. Hoehn says they have some ideas about what could go there, but the developer interest has to be there. “We have the ability to say what [could] come up here and what wouldn’t as long as we have enough developers that show the same interests that we are looking for. But right now we don’t even know what we would like up here. We will have to do the studies on it and figure out what’s best for the city,” he added.
Hoehn also noted that the land is some of the only developable space in a city that has little to no room for growth. Their boundaries are locked in by Wausau and Weston to either side.
Just a handful of residents showed up for the open discussion. One resident expressed concerns about losing the feel of the neighborhood if a multi-family housing development were to go up on the property, and also losing access to a nearby kayak launch.
Hoehn added that selling the property could also help the city’s bottom line for several years by adding cash to reserves and funding additional projects without a large tax increase for residents.
Council President Joan Joss emphasized that Tuesday’s discussion was just the start of what will be a longer process. She said for her the matter does have its pros and cons- saying it makes sense to consolidate city departments into one building or area, but for some moving city hall to an industrialized area such as the city garage may not make sense.
Hoehn added those are all points that will need to be hammered out before a decision is made. “Most people probably don’t care- the city is only two miles wide and wherever we put it [City Hall] will only be a short distance from wherever they live. Especially since people do a lot of things online now anyway.”
The city is not yet ready to issue the requests for proposals for the property, meaning the discussion will continue into 2022.
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