Oconto Falls officials are working with state and county agencies toward redevelopment of the long-vacant former Hardee’s restaurant and a former gas station on state Highway 22 near the northwest city limits.
City Administrator Peter Wills gave an update on the effort during the city council’s June 11 monthly meeting.
“I’m not looking for action right now, mainly trying to bring you up to speed,” Wills said. “We’re getting close to having to spend money.”
The nonprofit organization Newcap Inc. has expressed an interest in building a facility on the property if the city can acquire it, he said.
Wills recently met with the state Department of Natural Resources, the Tourism and Economic Development Corporation for the Oconto Region (TEDCOR), banks that control the property and MSA Environmental, the consulting firm that has worked with the city on several recent projects.
“What they’re recommending is that the city begin a slum and blight investigation,” he said.
A determination that the properties constitute a slum and/or blight would make the city eligible for state and federal grants to clean up the property if the city can acquire it at a sheriff’s sale, Wills said.
Alderperson Marty Coopman asked how much such an investigation would cost. Wills said his understanding is that he and building inspector Jane Meissner should be able to do as much as 90% of the work, with MSA and city attorneys handling some of the technical data.
“I’m trying trying to keep most of the work to staff as much as possible,” he said.
The main outside sources of funding would be an EPA Community-wide Assessment Grant, which potentially could pay any costs arising from the investigation, especially of the old Mobil station, where pumps and storage tanks were removed in 2021.
“The DNR kind of gave a clear bill of health for where the pumps were, and where the tanks were,” Wills said. “It’s the auto repair shop, it’s anything else that could have – we’re not expecting anything extensive, but it could be, you know, somebody changed some oil, did they spill some diesel fuel, is there anything that soaked into the soil? That’s kind of what they’re looking for.”
Beyond that a state Brownfield Remediation Grant could potentially pay for the cost of demolishing the buildings, he said.
A Newcap representative told the council the organization is in the process of finding grants to obtain the Hardee’s property at 782 N. Main St. if the city is successful in purchasing it.
“We’re trying to make sure, if we go to sheriff’s sale, to make sure we don’t get outbid,” Wills said.
The next step is probably more meetings with the various parties, he said.
“We’ll keep council updated,” Wills said. “I don’t want to move faster than our consultants and everybody else.”
wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com
