$80 million St. Croix County Government Center project moves into design phase
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By LeAnn R. Ralph
HUDSON — The $80 million remodeling and expansion project at the St. Croix County Government Center is in the design phase.
The schematic design package was finished at the end of May and site plans and floor plans are now under development, said Tim McIlwain of Hagen, Christensen and McIlwain Architects at the St. Croix County Board’s July 5 meeting.
McIlwain said he is meeting weekly with the St. Croix County projects team that includes employees from the facilities department and the administration.
McIlwain also has met with all of the department heads and has assessed the growth needs for the next five to 10 to 20 years.
Some of the items in the current design are considered preliminary and may or may not be part of the final design, such as the road out to Vine Street and the solar array, he said.
St. Croix County owns 79 acres where the government center is located.
During the public comments portion of the meeting, prior to McIlwain’s presentation, several area residents spoke about the county’s acreage north of the government center.
Many people use the open area to go for walks, to take their dogs for walks, to go out running, and children use it as a shortcut to get to the school, the YMCA and the skate park, they said.
One woman said she and her children named it the “Storybook Forest” and that she has walked the trails every day for 16 years and sees many other people out walking.
This is the last piece of land in Hudson that is not developed, the woman said, and urged the St. Croix County Board “to be the people who preserved at least a portion of this land” by setting it aside as park land.
Those who spoke during public comments also urged the county board not to put in a road across the undeveloped land to Vine Street and to not install a solar array on the ground.
“I am advocating that you do not build a road. Keep that part as protected park land, and build more trails,” one woman said.
“I know it’s county land and is needed for expansion. But there is no need for a road to Vine,” she said.
One woman complained about dust from excavation at the back of the government center and said her patio furniture is brown with grit every day.
In response to a question from a county board member about who is supposed to manage the dust at the construction site, McIlwain said he would talk to the excavating contractor and the construction manager because the contractor should be using water to manage problems with dust.
Expansion
The building addition will be larger to the south and smaller to the north, and the project includes renovation of the existing government center, McIlwain said.
The addition to the south will be facing east and west and will be used for administrative offices and public services, he said.
The existing government center will be dedicated to the courts, McIlwain said.
The north side of the building will have a large room for jury assembly and spaces for victim-witnesses, he said.
The expansion will include 50 spaces of secure parking for the sheriff’s department and for the judges as well as new offices, support spaces, evidence storage and labs, McIlwain said.
From the southwest, it will be a three-story building, he said.
One county board member asked about the proposed tenant space.
The proposed tenant space will be for the Department of Corrections and the public defenders office, McIlwain said.
Another county board member asked about landscaping and mentioned the possibility of having a rain garden.
There is a conceptual landscape plan, but vegetation has not been put in the model because it makes a bigger computer file. The vegetation can be added later, McIlwain said.
The construction schedule will cover two years. The first year will be devoted to the expansion part of the project, and the second year will be devoted to remodeling the existing building.
To see the models of the project presented to the county board, go to St. Croix County’s website. Scroll down to meetings and agendas. Find the July 5 county board meeting. Then click on “video” on the far right of the page. On the agenda on the left side of the page, scroll down to the government center update and click on the link for the county board materials.
Road
The road to Vine Street is laid out to avoid the wetland, and the purpose is to have a second route of egress when Carmichael is backed up by the school, McIlwain said.
The road is preliminary at this point, and it’s possible that there might only be a road for construction, he said.
Solar
The proposed solar array would cover parking bays, McIlwain said.
The solar array also could be used for charging electric cars in the future, he said.
One county board member asked about putting the solar array on the roof of the government center.
The government center has a flat roof that is sloped to drains, McIlwain said.
Putting the solar array on the roof has been discussed, but the solar panels must be anchored to the structure, creating a situation where the roof could be compromised, and then, whenever the roof requires repair, all of the solar panels would have to be removed and then reinstalled, he said.
If the solar array is over the parking area, it will provide shade for cars and will also act as a good promotion for using renewable energy, McIlwain said.
The location and size of the solar array is still in the preliminary stage for design, he said.
Double the size
Ken Witt, county administrator, said he appreciated the public comments since the project is still in the design phase.
St. Croix County is the second-fastest growing county in Wisconsin. The government center was built in 1993 when the county had a population of 50,000, he said, noting that St. Croix County currently has a population of 93,000.
The government center was built to last 20 years, but it has now been in use for 30 years, Witt said.
By 2040, St. Croix County is projected to have a population of 119,000, he said.
“The more people there are in the county, the more space it takes to serve those people,” Witt said.
The government center project started many years ago with a space needs study in 2012 and another space needs study in 2019, he said, adding that the space needs study was updated in 2020.
The decision was made to build additions to the existing government center rather than build an entirely new building, Witt said.
The county owns 79 acres, and the county board decided to keep the land, he said.
This is the third location for the government center, and the county has no intention of selling the parcel, Witt said.
ATVs/UTVs
The St. Croix County Board also approved two additional all-terrain vehicle routes at the July meeting on County Highway K from 170 Street (west) to 170 Street (east) and on County Highway M from Huntington to Polk County.
Several county board supervisors objected to adding those two sections to the ATV/UTV routes in the county because of safety concerns due to a high volume of vehicle traffic on the roads.
Robbie Krejci, St. Croix County highway commissioner, said he had reviewed the proposed routes with the sheriff’s department and the highway committee.
The problem is that Polk County is fully open to ATVs, and it is difficult to stop ATV drivers coming out of Polk County into St. Croix County on Highway M, he said.
Krejci said he would rather have those two sections of county highway designated as ATV routes so the appropriate signs would be installed.
The ATV signs are not so much to mark the route for ATV/UTVs, but rather, to warn other drivers that they might encounter ATVs/UTVs, he said.
As for Highway K, the traffic volume is just under what is considered not acceptable for ATVs, Krejci said.
As New Richmond grows, the Highway K route will have to be revisited, and there is the same issue with people coming out of Polk County, he said, adding that the two routes are “begrudgingly” recommended by the highway department.
One county board member asked about tunnels under the highway for the ATV/UTVs to cross in areas with high traffic volume.
There are DNR grants available, but the tunnel must be approved by the local unit of government, Krejci said.
The difficult part of dealing with ATVs/UTVs are the state laws, he said.
A 12-year-old can operate an ATV/UTV, and state law allows open containers on an ATV/UTV, Krejci said.
The county has an ordinance to prevent open containers of alcoholic beverages on ATVs/UTVs, but if the driver turns on a town road, does the township have an ordinance? There is no state law prohibiting open containers, he said.
An amendment to eliminate those sections of County Highways M and K from the resolution approving ATV routes failed on a vote of 16 to 3.
The St. Croix County Board approved adding those sections of County Highways M and K on a voice vote, with four of the 19 county board supervisors voting “no” on the motion.
