Two Rivers seeks community involvement as it determines what to do with the former Hamilton Property.
Last night was the first meeting on the Hamilton Community Vision, a presentation explaining the city’s desire to acquire and rezone the property and see what the community wants for redevelopment.
Community Development Director Jeff Sachse stated Hamilton means a lot to the community, including in his family, as his dad was a former employee.
During this process, the city wants to “Both honor the legacy of what was built there. But also honor the legacy of those who contributed to that growth and worldwide success of that company.”
Sachse said the city also wants to maintain the connection to the water and use the property more productively, since there’s been nothing on it for more than a decade.
The community development director then went over statistics showing that Two Rivers is an older city compared to the state average, and that the median family income is also lower than the state’s average.
Sachse explained that it means whatever is done on the property must be done differently.
“In that we can’t necessarily look at strictly market-rate development for housing markets because of again, the affordability of that housing,” he explained. “We have to look at balancing again residential with commercial applications if we choose to go in that direction because we need to provide a larger employment base. To provide family sustaining wages for those families we want to bring in.”
After giving a brief history of Hamilton and discussing the 14 acres available for development, he asked six questions of those in attendance to spark ideas about what residents want on the property.
They included what one word would describe Two Rivers, what businesses you want to see in the city, and what you would like to see on the Hamilton Property.
Residents in attendance had many ideas.
One resident asked for “quality riverfront townhomes or condos.”
Another woman said she’d like to see “a YMCA type of thing for all age, with a warm pool.”
Another group combined idea saying, I
Lastly, a woman suggested “an educational center where we can support the local businesses and training.”
All their ideas were written on Post-It Notes and posted on boards, so city staff can review them before making a final decision.
Two Rivers will hold several meetings in the future, with a final report presented to the council in June.
A second community vision meeting will happen on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. in the Koska Room at the J.E. Hamilton Community House.
Future meetings will happen in the Behringer Room.
