Alders question delay in Thomas Street housing project

Damakant Jayshi

Some city alders this week objected to a Development Department decision to delay pursuing affordable housing projects on vacant Thomas Street parcels, a move that happened after the City Council directed staff to proceed.

Speaking during Tuesday’s Economic Development Committee meeting, some council members said they viewed this as staff defying the March 12 council directive to issue requests for bids for projects on Thomas, Jefferson and Bridge Street parcels with the understanding that “shovel-ready” projects would move forward as quickly as possible.

Outgoing Development Director Liz Brodek’s update said staff issued a request for bids solely for Jefferson and Bridge Street properties on April 10 and 17. Brodek is leaving her job with the City of Wausau after accepting an employment with a state agency.

Alder Terry Kilian asked that staff’s refusal to follow council directives be addressed and said doing so is necessary for the sake of accountability.

Brodek defended the exclusion of Thomas Street from the bidding request, saying she did not want to jeopardize receiving a Wisconsin Assessment Monies grant that covers 100 percent of testing expenses as well as any future grants. Those grants come from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. But the DNR awarded the WAM grant to the city about two weeks before RFPs for the other two affordable housing projects was released. Contract signing with the DNR was expected to take about two to four weeks.

The parcels on Thomas Street need environmental testing and potential cleanup, based on preliminary data.

The Development Department recommended transferring 13 Thomas Street parcels to the Community Development Authority to apply for remediation grants if they become necessary. Brodek said the transfer to CDA is necessary because that is among the eligible entities that can apply for and receive a DNR Ready to Reuse grant.

In her memo and at the committee, she accused alders of focusing more on procedural matters than on substance.

The DNR is yet to sign an agreement with a contractor to begin testing, the development director said. If contamination is found on any of the parcels, the DNR will require cleanup before any development can begin at the contaminated sites.

Despite this, two alders – Kilian and Victoria Tierney – wanted RFPs issued as per the March 12 council directive.

But Kilian and Tierney took a different approach in May when the city’s planning staff recommended issuing an RFP for a master plan that had already been budgeted to redevelop the city’s north riverfront. Both pointed to contamination on parcels within the north riverfront and in that case, wanted to wait for cleanup before any development moves forward.

That prompted Carol Lukens to accuse her fellow alders of demonstrating a double standard. She said she is in favor of waiting for testing and potential cleanup on Thomas Street in the same vein as the north riverfront properties.

But Kilian and Tierney pushed back on that charge, saying the situation is not the same. The council had already directed a simultaneous RFP process for all parcels set for infill projects including Thomas Street properties. As for the north riverfront development, the alders said, that directive from the Council was vetoed by Mayor Doug Diny.

Staff and some alders in favor of issuing an RFP for the north riverfront redevelopment said doing so would not bear a cost to taxpayers and the money for the consultant had already been budgeted. They also said there were other parcels that could be developed under a master plan and that any development takes time. Kilian and Tierney said it did not make sense to move ahead without first knowing what could be developed there.

On Tuesday, Mayor Diny told the committee that he is committed to ensuring that the infill affordable housing project on Thomas Street also moves ahead and has directed the staff to issue an RFP.

The committee did not take any vote since it was an update. The full council is likely to decide whether the Thomas Street properties should be transferred to the CDA.