City committee OKs north riverfront “guide”

A full-fledged plan for the north riverfront was nixed by a mayoral veto earlier this year — so the city is working on the next best thing: A guide for the area. 

The city’s Economic Development Committee approved a guide for the area the city put together for the development area north of Bridge Street. 

The city earlier this year planned to spend money on hiring a firm to create a development plan for the area north of the RiverLife development area. But a mayoral veto override council approval of the plan, and that veto was upheld by the city council which would have needed a 2/3 majority to override it. 

City planner Andrew Lynch said the guide was something of an answer to that. It provides a rough guide of what the city would like to see development-wise in that area, a former industrial area. It sets guidelines such as not having more than three stories, and that the corridor would be mostly commercial with the possibility of some residential uses.

The area once housed Great Lakes Cheese, Wausau Chemical and the city’s water treatment plant. Those moved as part of the city’s plan to remove industrial uses from along the Wisconsin River.