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| Nothing Top Secret about it |
Area 51 is the common name of a
highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility
located within the Nevada Test and Training Range.
According to the CIA, the name Area
51 comes from its map designation. It was also previously referred to
as "Paradise Ranch" in order to make the facility sound
more attractive to those that would be working there. "Paradise
Ranch" was then shortened to "the Ranch." Other
nicknames include "Watertown" and "Dreamland."
“Area
51” - that's what Planning Commission member Shawn Ayers of Ayers
Tech refers tongue-in-cheek to the 39 acres at the end of Knapp
Street that the city purchased from Hormel Foods in 2018. Unlike the
Top Secret government facility in southwest Nevada, however, he does
so not because our
future plans for the property are on a “need-to-know” basis
only; rather, it's because we don't know
or can't seem to come to any consensus yet on the best way forward.
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| Council approved the purchase in summer of 2018 |
Using an outlay
account we purchased this property in 2018 because according to
Barron County Economic Development Executive Director Dave Armstrong
we have a housing need. The way Dave put it at the time, “You want
people to move to Chetek but they have no place to move to.” So,
because the price was right - $150K including the manager's home on
Knapp Street – and the location was good (right next to the high
school/middle school) we bought it but with no clear plan how to
develop it.
Since
that time both the Council and the Plan Commission have had several
meetings to kick the matter around. At the same time, we commissioned
a housing study of the county that several other municipalities help
fund. Last fall the results of that study were finally revealed at an
all day “wrap-up” session at WITC and the long and short of it
was Dave's prognosis was correct: we have a housing need. (To read
the report for yourself you can go to the website of the City of
Chetek or go to the link here: Chetek Housing Study)
The impasse among city council members comes down to how best to address that need. For a few, a
“perfect world”-solution is a developer agrees to outright buy
the property from us and undertake the project entirely. For the others,they feel
that the City needs to have some “skin in the game” in order to
attract a developer – or developers. That is, we put in the
infrastructure (sewer, water and roads) to bring down the cost of
future lots. There has also been considerable discussion as to
whether to allow strictly homes and twin-homes (two homes side by
side that share a common wall) or allow a variety of both homes and
rentals.
Right before
Thanksgiving both the Council and the Plan Commission sat down with
Cody Filipczak of C&M Builders and Sean Bohan of Advanced
Engineering Concepts for a Q&A session. Filipczak is the
developer behind the Moon Lake Development in Rice Lake and Bohan is
an engineer who has done work for the city before. For over an hour
both were plied with all kinds of questions regarding the potential
future development on Knapp Street. At the end of it, Flipiczak was
asked point blank if he would be interested in taking on the “whole
enchilada” to wit he replied: “No. But I would be interested in
putting up a few spec homes and test the market.” In their
professional opinion it would be unrealistic to expect any developer
to take the entire project on. There's just too much risk. So, if I
heard them right, if we want anyone to swim in our pool we're going
to have to sweeten the water.
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| This will have to be engineered correctly |
When we closed out
TID #2 (Tax Increment District) at the end of 2018, we took advantage
of the law that allowed us to keep the TID open one final year and
take the money captured and use it for what the state refers to as
“affordable housing”. (“Affordable housing” is not
“low-income housing”. It is anything that helps or assists people
to get into the housing market whether via the city laying down
infrastructure or offering incentives to prospective buyers.) In a
year's time we captured a little bit more than $300K which would
allow us to begin “Phase 1” that would involve the creation of a
retention pond (due to the property's location to Bailey Lake which is
considered a stressed lake not one drop of water from “Area 51”
can empty into it) as well as initial engineering expenses. Of course,
we could decide to do nothing for the time being and that $300K would
simply sit there until we can figure it out.
At next
Tuesday's city council meeting we will be putting the matter to a
vote. Will we decide to “test the market” and see if
there's any interest out there to build in this development or we
will punt and wait for a more opportune time? It seems to me like we have enough
information to take the next step which would be to officially hire
an engineer who would then work with the Plan Commission to decide on
things like the size of the lots and the lay of the roads and such.
Afraid that any future developer might not like the look of the
manager's home in a potential new development, we put it up for bid
last year which Ken Schmidt won for $1 (it will take him well over
$20K to move it). Once the house rolls down the street we have
potentially up to 9 lots on Knapp Street with ready access to city
sewer and water that could be purchased and developed sooner than
later. Every home built means another property on the tax rolls
spreading the tax burden over a wider area which is always a good
thing.
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| It's been up and ready to go since November |
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| There are lots along Knapp Street that potentially could be developed later this year |
Every one who sits
on the council wants the same thing: to see our city continue to grow
and develop and be a great place to live and raise a family. Given
the cost of things like pipes, asphalt and storm drains it behooves
us to look twice before we cross the road. But eventually, it seems
to me, that we have to do one thing or another. There's a more vulgar
way to put it but I think you get the drift.
