Site planned for highway facility
By Angie Landsverk
Waupaca County’s Highway Department is requesting that the approximately 42 acres of land it owns in Lind be annexed into the city of Waupaca.
Waupaca’s Plan Commission recommended approval of the request when it met last month.
Brennan Kane, the city’s director of community and economic development, said this is the “first step in a multitude of steps coming forward in the next months.”
The request will next go before the common council for two readings.
The highway department plans to build its new highway facility on the land and needs city sewer and water to do so.
The property is located on County Trunk A and is contiguous to the city.
It is currently farmland and would be annexed into the city as agricultural, Kane told the commission.
Upon annexation of the property, the city would have one year to decide which zoning classification is best for it.
Casey Beyersdorf, the county’s highway commissioner, attended the meeting.
He said the land was purchased in 2007, and the county decided last year to move forward with its plan to build there.
The department’s current facility, located in the city of Waupaca, was built in 1936.
Beyersdorf said there have been multiple space needs studies and Miron Construction was hired to be the construction manager at risk, which entails building the project within a guaranteed maximum price.
By September, the department expects to have an estimate that breaks down every facet of the facility, he said.
The county board is scheduled to vote this month on the bonding for the project, Beyersdorf said.
He said two entrances are planned for the facility and the rebuilding of County A is in the county’s five-year plan.
Everything starts with having a place to build within the city’s jurisdiction, Beyersdorf said.
Kane is targeting the commission’s June meeting for action on the facility’s site review plan.
The Plan Commission recommended approval of the annexation with one condition.
That condition is that before the city issues any permits for the project, the county will need to prepare a Memorandum of Understanding identifying its financial requirements and responsibilities to extend city sewer and water to the property’s southern limits at the county’s expense if development occurs south of its property in the future.