Photo Credit - City of Two Rivers
After taking a look at what happened to Hamilton Manufacturing, we examine what could happen to the land left over.
As we previously reported, the City of Two Rivers is starting the process of getting community input on what should be done with 14 acres of land left over after the Hamilton building was fully demolished.
The first two meetings last week focused on ideation and prioritization of the property and on what the city looks like now, after Hamilton’s closure more than 10 years ago.
There will be a second meeting on February 25th and 28th, focusing on siting and infrastructure, with city officials discussing preferred concepts for the project site and considering space limitations and infrastructure needs.
Community Development Director Jeff Sachse told SeehaferNews.com that after the first vision meeting last week, he was very happy to see many people come to talk and discuss the topic.
“And again, we know this is a property that a lot of people have a lot of strong opinions on,” he explained. “But it was great to get people in a very structured, civil setting to have an actual recent conversation about what we want to see happen.”
Two Rivers has not made any official decisions about what to do with the Hamilton property yet, and Sachse notes that the city wants as much information as possible and to develop a plan.
“So once we have all the concepts, we can start to prioritize,” he noted. “And again, we want to make sure that we have every good idea on paper. Because that’s going to give more for people to think about as far as separating wants from wishes.”
Sachse stated that he doesn’t think every resident will be happy with whatever the final decision is for the land; he’s hoping there will be a consensus of people who knew that they were part of the conversation.
“At the end of the day, the market is going to dictate what happens on that property to some extent,” he noted. “But we can at least define what markets we are interested in pursuing through this process.”
After the next meeting in February, Two Rivers officials plan to hold additional meetings to discuss public use and design standards, as well as adjacent neighborhoods and community voting.
Phases Four and Five, which will take place in April and May, will bring everything together before meetings on what the vision could look like.
Sachse says he hopes there will be a final report by June 15th to be presented to the city council.
