Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
Passing up a possible payout of $500,000 or more, Shawano County Board members on Wednesday voted down the idea of putting the old county farm property up for sale.
The action on a vote of 22-4 followed a showing of opposition from local officials in the town of Belle Plaine and after county supervisors said they had found little public support for selling the longtime county asset.
Supervisor Marlin Noffke joined other opponents in blocking the sale, saying he had heard no good arguments for selling the estimated 150-acre property.
“If we don’t know why we’re doing it, maybe we shouldn’t do it,” Noffke said.
Proponents of putting the vacant farmland up for sale argued that the county has no use for the property and that selling it could generate a significant amount of money that could be used to improve county facilities or services elsewhere.
Supervisor Bert Huntington, who was among those voting for the sale, said selling the old farm to a private buyer also would get the property back on the tax rolls while allowing the county to be rid of it.
“We’re not a farm,” Huntington said.
County Board Chairman Jerry Erdmann also voted for the sale, along with Supervisors Michael McClelland and Richard Giese.
By some early estimates, the land along state Highway 22 south of Shawano would have likely drawn offers of at least $4,000 an acre, which would have meant a payoff to the county of better than $500,000.
Officials had not discussed any potential asking prices publicly, and the proposal called for selling the farm to the highest bidder at auction.
County Board members discussed the issue behind closed doors for about 30 minutes Wednesday before voting publicly against moving forward with the sale.
Located in the town of Belle Plaine just north of Highway 22, the property was acquired by the county in the early 1900s and was used for decades to house residents who were mentally ill or indigent. Disassembled as a farm operation by the 1990s, the land now includes the privately owned Maple Lane senior citizen facility and vast surrounding acreage that the county leases to a farmer.
Revenue from the lease has been used in recent years to fund maintenance of facilities on the county fairgrounds in Shawano.
The county also owns land south of Highway 22 that is used primarily for public recreation and would not have been included in the sale.
In contemplating a sale of the farmland estimated at 149 acres, county officials acknowledged the possibility that a buyer might either want to continue farming the site or to undertake a significant redevelopment.
Belle Plaine town leaders opposed the sale, with representatives appearing before the County Board urging a “no” vote Wednesday.
Greg Riesenberg, a member of the town’s zoning commission, told supervisors that it would be shortsighted to give up the valuable asset and possibly sacrifice the natural beauty to development.
“The land is here, and it’s here forever,” Riesenberg said. “This is a nice area. We should try to preserve it and take care of it.”
Several county supervisors said they had received feedback from the general public and that opposition to the sale was widespread.
Supervisor Gene Hoppe indicated that opponents had convinced him to reconsider his position on the issue.
“They were disagreeing with me,” Hoppe said. “It really set my mind to thinking.”