The city of Shawano is working on getting its next list of capital improvement projects ready for approval later this year by the Shawano Common Council, with the biggest road projects being West Green Bay Street, all of North Main Street and a significant part of South Main Street.
The council got its first look at all of the proposed projects, which total almost $4.7 million over the next two years. Public works projects are taking up two-thirds of the list, whereas parks and recreation projects usually take up a significant chunk of the CIP list.
According to Matt Hendricks, parks and recreation director, his department has made it through a lot of priorities in recent years, including the recent renovation of the Shawano Recreation Center, the creation of the Naberhood Plaza, improvements to Kuckuk Park and more. As a result, now is a time to reexamine the parks and see what should become priorities in future planning stages, so those costs are dropping for the next years.
Green Bay and Main streets are two main thoroughfares through Shawano, so both will be major projects, with Green Bay Street in 2027 and Main Street in 2028. Fortunately, a lot of the costs for the two streets will be covered through outside funding.
For example, West Green Bay Street, which will cover from Main to Bartlett streets, is expected to cost more than $2.5 million, with design, street construction and utility construction all to be completed. However, the city only has to pay out $72,000 for the design of the project and $457,943 of the street reconstruction. The other 80% is paid for through grant funding.
“That is a street that we, in no way, could do on our own in one year,” said Eddie Sheppard, city administrator. “That would probably be a three- or four-year project. The last thing we want to is interrupt West Green Bay Street for multiple years, going back and forth, so this is a huge gift for us.”
When it comes to Main Street a year later, which will cover from Zingler Avenue to the bridge for the channel between the Wolf River and Shawano Lake, the city anticipates only spending $220,000 for street construction and another $135,000 for designing, with the latter being done in 2027.
Other street reconstruction projects in 2027 will include the extension of Willow Wood Drive, which will cost an estimated $300,000, along with repaving Madison Way and Industrial and Eberlein Park drives. Public works will also be spending $70,000 reconstructing business district alleys next year in anticipation they will be experiencing heavy use when Main Street is under construction in 2028. Reconstructing Smalley Street is also planned for 2027.
In 2028, other street reconstructions will include Maiden Lane and Hamlin, Union and Maurer streets. Simple repaving projects will involve work on Arlington and North Franklin streets, Teddington Lane, Pickadilly Circle and Lieg Avenue.
“I’m very excited for the next two years with the amount of road reconstruction projects that we have,” said Mike Mahloch, public works director.
Along with other annual maintenance work like relining culverts, crack filling services, sidewalk replacement and rail lead maintenance, public works will also replace equipment and reconstruct traffic signals at Fairview Way and Lincoln Street.
The total estimated expenses for public works projects is more than $3.45 million.
Other CIP work for the city in the next two years includes the following:
• Parks and recreation department: Lift and chair for the pool at the Shawano Recreation Center, master plan for a park in southeast Shawano, replacing the trail at Kuckuk Park, rehabilitating ball diamonds, improving cemetery roads and providing better connectivity at Memorial Park to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The total estimated cost for the projects is $367,000.
• Police department: Replacing three squad vehicles, replacing cameras and equipment, and the second phase of renovating the police department. The estimated cost for the projects is $369,097.
• Fire department: Purchasing a new fire truck and replacing radios. The estimated cost for the projects is $379,320.
• City hall: The second phase of renovating the facility, purchasing Badger Books for elections and a GIS project. The estimated cost for the projects is $92,091.
• Airport: $30,000 for capital contributions.
Sheppard noted that the amount of work wouldn’t have been possible if city staff hadn’t searching for additional funding through outside grants and resources.
“There’s about $7.3 million in road projects, and the city’s only expensing about $3.4 million,” Sheppard said. “We’ve done a really good job of seeking out opportunities for funding when it’s available and putting it into this. We’ve been able to leverage this to double, or in some cases triple, our money. That’s why we’ve been able to keep up on this stuff.”
Even with the massive amount of outside funding, Sheppard said a couple of things might need to be trimmed or pushed back, as the city is only planning to borrow $4.6 million short-term to cover capital projects.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
The Shawano Police Department will be replacing three squad cars over the next two years under the city of Shawano’s capital improvements plan. Two will be replaced in 2027, and the third in 2028. (Lee Pulaski | NEW Media)
