By Shereen Siewert
Wausau Opportunity Zone, Inc., is proposing another development for the city’s downtown, a project up for discussion and possible action Tuesday. But so far city leaders have not publicly released information about the proposal or its cost.
An agenda item for Tuesday’s Economic Development Committee meeting reads “Discussion and possible action approving Wausau Opportunity Zone (WOZ) Condominium Declarations and Plat,” with no information about the details including potential cost to taxpayers. Early drafts of the project, reviewed by Wausau Pilot staff, show a high end condo development proposed for a portion of the former Wausau Center mall property.
The discussion comes on the heels of the City Council’s approval of The Foundry on 3rd, an apartment complex that relies on up to $10.8 million in tax increment funding, inclusive of principal and interest.
Taxpayers have so far spent millions to support redevelopment on the former mall property. In October 2019, the Council approved a proposal by WOZ to purchase the Wausau Center with $1.6 million in taxpayer-funded incentives that included a $1 million forgivable loan and transfer of city-owned assets to the LLC for $1. Those assets include the former Sears building, which the city purchased in 2017 for roughly $650,000. Then in November 2020, the Wausau City Council approved a proposal to spend an additional $4.7 million to help fund demolition and redevelopment of the mall space.
Wausau Finance Director MaryAnne Groat in December wrote to state lawmakers – without input from the Wausau City Council – requesting legislation that would allow for a new tax increment district at the site. That legislation, which passed the state Assembly, was subsequently pulled from consideration by the state Senate after strong public outcry.
Along with The Foundry on 3rd project, the property for the condo proposal lies within one of several Wausau areas identified as a federal “opportunity zone,” part of the federal tax cuts and job acts of 2017. The 2017 tax law created a tax break to encourage investment in low-income areas (“opportunity zones”) that prompted high-profile real estate investors to rush to profit from them – with no requirements to ensure that local residents benefit from investments receiving the tax break. Critics say that means the tax break for the original purchaser can amount to a “subsidy for gentrification” in many areas instead of, as intended, for providing housing and jobs for low-income communities, according to the Brookings Institute.
Development Director Liz Brodek called the Tuesday agenda item a “placeholder” and defended the lack of information in an email to Wausau Pilot & Review, noting that the omission does not violate state open meetings laws.
“As you know, we’re required to give at least 24 hours’ notice for topics to be discussed in an agenda, but there is no packet timing requirement,” Brodek wrote. “We sometimes opt to put items on an agenda that may be pulled if they’re not ready, rather than add items at the last minute. We do this to provide adequate notice, and because staffing (and therefore posting) can be problematic for last-minute updates.”
Brodek also said work continues on “a condo declaration, articles of incorporation and bylaws” and said a previous draft of the plat was recently revised.
The state’s open meetings law doesn’t require all information to be included in a packet prior to a meeting, but policy experts say municipalities should err on the side of openness, rather than secrecy, when such matters are at hand. More, even early versions of documents should be released when requested, according to the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.
“Once a document is shown to anyone besides the originator or a person working on his or her behalf, it is no longer a draft,” WFIC states. “Records custodians should also release early versions of documents, to show how they were changed as the result of review, reconsideration or outside pressure.”
Some council members have been repeatedly critical of the city’s lack of transparency on issues related to downtown projects that require significant taxpayer incentives and backing and have called for greater participation from the general public. In a 2021 opinion piece, Dist. 3 Alder Tom Kilian said “I have made it a priority to have robust public participation processes when it comes to government policy decisions for District 3, along with District 10 and its alderperson, Lou Larson.”
Wausau Pilot & Review reached out last week to Economic Development Committee Chair Sarah Watson, Mayor Katie Rosenberg, Council President Becky McElhaney and Dist. 7 Alder, Lisa Rasmussen asking when information about the project would be made public, but none have responded.
The Economic Development Committee meets at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 407 Grant St., Wausau. See the full packet here.
