Members of the Oconto Falls City Council said Nov. 12 that the city industrial park is probably no place for an apartment complex that could include up to 200 residential units.
City Administrator Peter Wills said he has been reaching out to a variety of commercial developers and Realtors in an attempt to market some of the long-vacant land on the edges of the industrial park, and one came back with a suggestion for apartments.
The Realtor didn’t want to identify the interested party unless the city was willing to commit about 20 acres for 200 units of multifamily residential housing.
“They believe the assessed value could be upwards of $25 million,” Wills said. “It’s not the first thought I would have for the industrial park, and there’s a lot of reasons not to, but I guess there’s about 25 million reasons to look at it.”
The city of Waupaca recently approved a housing project in its industrial park, he said.
The council felt it might be a welcome idea but not in that location, north of Highland Drive near the city limits.
“I don’t think an apartment complex in the back corner of our industrial park is a good idea,” Alderperson Devin Wirtz said, citing the amount of truck traffic and other commercial and industrial activity that entails. “There’s just going to be complaints (from the residents). I know it’s been sitting there, I’d love to put something there that we can tax.”
Council President Ashley Bahrke noted that there are no sidewalks or other residential amenities in that area and only one street to access the complex.
“There’s so many questions before we ever dive into something like this — would we want to rezone it, etc.,” Bahrke said.
“I’m all for more development, but I don’t think this is the way to go,” said Alderperson Mat McDermid. “If it’s just someone kicking the tires, we don’t want to put in that much effort. Have them come back with more information if they’re really serious.”
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