City of Schofield
SCHOFIELD, WI (WSAU) — The City of Schofield will work with North Central Regional Planning Commission to begin the process of drafting a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the property currently occupied by City Hall.
That was the decision following a joint discussion by the city’s Community Development Authority and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday. Public Works Director Mark Thuot says working with NCRPC makes sense in a lot of ways.
“That’s what they do professionally and they have means through COVID relief [dollars] that they use towards economic development,” said Thuot. “So [we’ll] work with those and city dollars we hope to put together a pretty tidy and economically smart RFP.
Both Thuot and Mayor Kregg Hoehn noted that there have been some “nibbles” at the property by developers already, but declined to provide specifics. Hoehn opened the discussion by saying it’s not a matter of if but when the property will be sold and redeveloped. He’s previously called the land the most valuable available parcel in the city, and during Tuesday’s discussion others noted that it is one of few developable waterfront parcels in the region.
“It’s partly a residental area and it’s also a very beautiful piece of high-end real estate. We are trying to be wise with the city’s property with the limited means we do have, the investment for the city, and the returns,” said Thuot.
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The city recently placed the property in their 4th Tax Increment District (TID), which does give them some control over what could go there. They do know they don’t want any sort of industrial or dense development, given the residential nature of the nearby property. “High-end, High-pressure commercial wouldn’t work in this area. I think we are looking for something a little quieter in the multi-use [range], we’re not talking about an amusement park.
“Industrial of any sorts would fail,” added Thuot.
Both Hoehn and Thuot agree that the process of getting the proposals and negotiating with developers could take up to a year, and there will be more discussions similar to Tuesday’s in the future.
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