Does Edgar need a business park?
The Edgar Village Board last week directed administrator Jennifer Lopez to put its sleepy business park out of its decades-long misery and, with a potential offer on the table from developer S.C. Swiderski, Mosinee, make plans to subtract land out of the park for a residential housing subdivision.
The tentative plans are the best news yet for the hilly, rolling business park land that has, over the years, done a better job of growing soybeans and field corn than new businesses. The property has one of the best views of the village and, with the Scotch Creek Woodland Preserve within an easy walk, it would be a great place to build quality homes.
The board’s directive immediately raises a question. Should the village develop a new business park?
Administrator Lopez told board members that she has already started research to find a location for a new park.
Whoa, Nelly. Our advice is that before the village starts planning for a new business park it needs to ask whether it needs such a thing and, perhaps, more importantly, at what price.
The old business park had to do with luck, more than serious planing. The village received $350,000 in an earmark from Rep. David Obey (D-Seventh) to have Cassel Gardens Cheese factory relocate in an abandoned ConAgra slaughterhouse, but, when that deal fell apart, the village agreed to use the federal money to purchase and demolish MidWhey Powder Company’s factory and drainage field. That would become the business park.
Since then, times have changed. Dave Obey is gone. Earmarks are gone. And the chances of picking up cheap land somewhere along CTH H for businesses to locate for $1 per lot are slim to none.
A quick look at a bedrock geology map of Marathon County shows that the entire corridor north of Edgar is granite. This means that the same trouble businesses have had digging foundations in the current unlevel park (the biggest reason given for firms bypassing Edgar) will likely follow the village to the next park unless, after a major investment, trustees borrow huge amounts of money to level hills and make new parcels a breeze to develop.
It would be nice, of course, for the village to have a cheaply acquired business park in its back pocket just in case Elon Musk needs to build a satellite factory in western Marathon County, but it’s a real question whether it would make economic sense for the village to spend millions of dollars to develop a park that may or may not turn into much over the next decade. The current park attracted a metal fab plant and a mini-storage unit.
Village officials need to listen to the market. Over the past couple of years, Edgar has seen all kinds of houses built and, in all likelihood, more will be constructed. There has been some industrial and commercial interest but nothing that couldn’t be accommodated with individual land transactions. Maybe the village should think about what its comparative advantage is. Is it to develop industry? Or to springboard commercial business? Right now, we’d say the village’s niche is to foster single family residential housing.
If the village accepts the Swiderski deal, the village will be able to close out the Tax Incremental District (TID) that funds the business park with a positive cash balance, but taxpayers will not be richly rewarded. The park will look nothing like its original TID plan or the revised plan after it was “distressed.” From the taxpayers’ point of view, the park has delivered a negligible return on investment. It was a dud.
The village shouldn’t repeat this fiasco. If it plans to develop a business park, it needs to establish one headed for success, not failure. It needs to look past the business parks sitting in adjacent communities and, given Edgar’s unique situation, do what’s best for village taxpayers.
