Stori Field and other topics at the Richland Center City Council meeting

RICHLAND CENTER, WIS. (WRCO / WRCE) – Residents were once again voicing their objections to developing Stori Field at the Richland Center City Council meeting held last night (Tuesday). Statue 9.20 was brought into focus. The group resubmitted its petition to have the decision go to a vote of the public. According to Attorney Michael Windle submitted in brief, 9.20 describes a process by which a defined number of individuals can submit a petition, along with a proposed ordinance, to force the council to act on that legislation. Both the petition and ordinance must meet certain statutory and regulatory requirements but once certified as having done so the clerk is obligated to forward the matter to the council for a decision. Per statute, the council must, within 30 days, adopt the ordinance as presented or refer the matter to the electors at the next spring or general election. Either means adoption are proof against a mayoral veto. Emphasis is added on per statute, because existing case changing the applicability of 9.20, which means a reading of the statute itself and on its own may cause one to reach a misleading conclusion based on the statute alone, the council may select only one of those two options. The court has decided that, for cities at least, there are four exceptions wherein the council does not have to act on a petition, even when properly submitted under this statue. In order to change the decision, the council must repeal or amend the original ordinance granting the sale of Stori Field. No action was taken.

The city continues to focus on housing.  In 2024, the city was awarded a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Project Funding Grant in the amount of $2.5 million to support municipal infrastructure expansion. The grant was originally submitted to extend utility and roadway infrastructure on and around the future hospital site. Due to an extended project start timeline, the city needed to reallocate the funds. Several potential reallocation projects were discussed, including Hive Drive improvements in collaboration with the High School, the Jefferson Street Redevelopment Area, and the Lamont Housing Subdivision. In a July Special Session, the Council approved allocating additional funding for housing infrastructure toward the Lamont project. Due to unforeseen delays with the Lamont Housing Subdivision, the city council was asked to shift the subdivision efforts to explore a collaboration with the County on developing a portion of the Old Campus site, a concept that was originally considered in 2021. Mayor Coppernoll and Director Jason Glasbrenner reintroduced this concept to the County Campus Reconfiguration Committee at its November 19th meeting, where it was well received, though no official votes or decisions were made. A cost estimate prepared by Vierbicher Engineering indicates that the supporting infrastructure required for the Campus Subdivision would be approximately $2.1 million. The Campus Reconfiguration Committee has indicated that they would like this item discussed further at its Dec. 17 meeting. The city council approved moving forward with this request.

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