Wausau Current: Lead service line replacement initiative underway, Foundry on 3rd nears construction start date

Wausau Current is a regular column in the Wausau Daily Herald by Service Journalism Reporter Erik Pfantz that covers a range of topics in city and county governments and local school districts to highlight the many items that flow past our local decision-makers.

If you have items you would like to see highlighted in this column, please reach out to Erik at epfantz@gannett.com.

Wausau lead service line replacement program underway

Wausau city leaders and community members heard an update on the city's initiative to remove lead service lines, which carry water from the supply at the street to the meter in a resident’s home, in a Tuesday meeting of the Wausau Water Works Commission.

In February, the Wausau Common Council approved a contract with Community Infrastructure Partners (CIP) to carry out a novel community-based public-private partnership program utilizing funds authorized by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and distributed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

About 2,885 properties in the city that have already had the “public” portion of the service line replaced are eligible for funding throughout the potentially five-year program. These properties are among the most at-risk for lead leeching because the line was partially replaced. CIP has verified 1,253 of these properties in the last several months and 440, or 35%, have been found to have service lines eligible for replacement through the program.

“There are whole block groups within Wausau where we’re not finding any lead at all so that’s a good thing for Wausau,” Sean Agid, CIP’s chief business officer, said in the presentation.

A combination of higher-than-expected funding from the DNR and a favorable bid from Five Star Energy Services of Milwaukee, which locks in rates for both partial and complete replacements for the next three years, has allowed CIP to increase their expected amount of first-year replacements from the 533 predicted in the city’s 2023 application to the DNR program to more than 700, according to Agid.

Wausau homeowners may perform a "self-verification" to determine whether their home has a lead service line by submitting a photo of their water meter and service line through leadfreewausau.com/self-verification. This project is expected to boost the local skilled workforce and expand over the next five years as the city pursues total removal of lead service lines citywide.

Foundry on 3rd 'on pace' to meet June 1 construction start date

Middleton developer T. Wall Enterprises and Wausau Opportunity Zone planned to close on the sale of the land for the Foundry on 3rd project last week.

"They're on pace to meet their June 1 commencement date, so everything is looking good," Wausau Economic Development Manager Randy Fifrick said Tuesday during a meeting of the Economic Development Committee.

The five-story 154-unit apartment and retail complex will be built on the southeast corner of North Third and Washington streets, on a portion of the former Wausau Center mall property in downtown Wausau. The over $40 million project will include studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units, over 17,000 feet of commercial space, underground parking, an interior courtyard and coworking spaces.

Changes in broader economic conditions and concerns over contaminated soil at the site caused an extended debate over an extension of the start date of the project in October. The project would have netted T. Wall nearly $6 million in tax incremental finance incentives over the 20 years following completion. The change in start date gives T. Wall one fewer year to gain this full incentive.

The agreement with the city gives the project a completion deadline of Nov. 1, 2025.

Revaluation results in over 50% residential property value increases

Wausau taxpayers were alerted to the results of a city-wide property revaluation last week which, on average, raised residential property values by more than 50% and commercial by about 20%, according to a news release from Mayor Doug Diny.

Wisconsin statutes require taxing districts in the state to maintain property values within 10% of market rate. Wausau has been outside of the 10% range for two years, which triggered the revaluation process. The last revaluation was completed in 2020, according to an October 2023 notice of revaluation by the assessor’s office.

It is important to note, the total amount the city levies, or asks for, in property taxes will not change because of this revaluation. What will change is the burden will slightly shift more toward residential taxpayers since the two property classes did not increase in value at the same rate.

Moderately priced homes along with older and rental homes have seen increased demand in recent years, according to Diny’s release. These types of homes, on average, are likely to receive a higher share of the increased residential tax burden compared to higher-cost homes.

Mosinee Elementary School receives fab lab grant

Students and their families in the Mosinee School District will gain access to new tools for learning science, technology, engineering, art and math after the district received a $25,000 grant for an elementary school fabrication laboratory from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), an economic development arm of the state government.

Fabrication laboratories, or fab labs, give students direct access to high-tech production equipment, which they may encounter in future careers. In Mosinee, the grant will fund an elementary school fab lab. Eighty percent of WEDC fab lab grants go to middle and high schools, according to an April 30 news release from the WEDC.

“The earlier kids experience the joy of learning and having fun with their classmates as they explore these new technologies, the more engaged they will be as they advance in school and the more open they will be to careers in STEAM fields,” Missy Hughes, WEDC secretary and CEO, said in the release.

Middle and high school fab labs typically have computer-controlled manufacturing equipment such as 3D printers, laser engravers, computer numerical control routers and plasma cutters. The Mosinee Elementary School fab lab will have a 3Doodlers classroom set, an AquaSprouts aquarium garden system, a weather station, and 3D and Bambu printers. This equipment will be on wheels to be more easily moved when needed.

To be eligible for the grant, the district needed to commit to providing matching funds equal to half of the grant award. The WEDC awarded more than $493,000 in 18 grants to districts across the state.

Local road construction information: Here's how road construction will impact your travel plans in Wausau and Marathon and Lincoln counties

More education news: Here's how statewide reading reform is impacting the Wausau School District

Erik Pfantz covers local government and education in central Wisconsin for USA-TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin and values his background as a rural Wisconsinite. Reach him at epfantz@gannett.com or connect with him on X (formerly Twitter) @ErikPfantz.

This article originally appeared on Wausau Daily Herald: Wausau Current: Lead service line replacement, Foundry on 3rd, fab lab