The Shawano Plan Commission began its review Aug. 26 of a number of actions that will need to be completed before Shawano County begins constructing its new government building to replace its current courthouse, which is over 70 years old.
According to Dave Moesch, who handles the city zoning, the plan commission and the Shawano Common Council will need to approve the new building’s site plan, rezone the properties and vacate segments of several streets where the building will go. No formal action will be taken until after a public hearing Sept. 30.
The new building and its parking lot will be zoned as campus development. The current courthouse zoning is urban mixed use, while the homes the county has purchased are zoned residential.
The city is looking at vacating segments of Second, Third and Washington streets in the vicinity of the courthouse.
“On the vacation of the streets, a lot of questions that people have asked me is that obviously there are utilities under there, and they’re going to have to be moved and rerouted,” said Eddie Sheppard, city administrator. “All of that is going to happen in coordination with this project. Everything will be removed and rerouted to continue to provide service to this area at no cost to the city.”
The Second Street vacation will not go all the way to Franklin Street like Third Street will, according to Sheppard, and that’s because there are several homes still on the corner of Second and Franklin. Property owners have been notified about the Sept. 30 hearing.
Commission member Terry Hilgenberg expressed thoughts about the setup, noting that Second and Franklin is a dangerous corner in the city. He asked where people would park without having the Third Street space currently available.
“There’s a significant parking problem along this street,” Hilgenberg said, referring to Second Street. “I live in that neighborhood, and if you go down Third Street and turn onto Franklin Street, the turn radius is bad.”
Kurt Berner, consultant with the Samuels Group, told the commission that the new government building is largely supported by the community. If the county is able to proceed with approving bids in October after getting all the necessary city approvals, he said the county could break ground on the new facility in November. Further, he said the expectation is that it could take up to three years to build the new facility, tear down the old courthouse and building maintenance facility and develop a new parking lot.
Hilgenberg expressed reservations about the landscaping plan for the courthouse, specifically that there would be no plantings in the parking lot. He noted that “better looking” projects have plants and trees somewhere within the parking lot.
“We don’t need another Walmart parking lot,” Hilgenberg said. “It’s ugly. We’ve invested millions of dollars in downtown Shawano, and I think we need to look at the landscaping plan as being excessive rather than minimal to protect our investment downtown.”
Berner said that the lack of plantings was to make it easier in the winter for snowplows to clear out the parking lot.
Moesch added that the site plan is out for review by city staff, so additional comments could come to light in September.
Sheppard said the city is trying to coordinate the Main Street renovation project scheduled for 2028 to coincide with work on the courthouse.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
