Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
A manufacturing business that could bring 100 jobs to the city over the course of several years is expressing interest in locating in Shawano’s industrial park.
City Administrator Brian Knapp said the manufacturer cannot be named at this point for reasons of confidentiality.
He said the business is still doing due diligence on the potential location, including site investigation and soil borings.
Knapp said the proposed site has “a lot of slope to it,” and some excavation would be required to make the site work.
“It’s a significant business and over the course of years could add as many as 100 jobs,” Knapp said.
He said more details, including the name of the manufacture, could be coming within 90 days.
In the meantime, the city is already looking into the creation of another Tax Incremental Finance district that would assist the company’s move into Shawano.
TIF districts are areas where municipalities invest in infrastructure, such as sewer and water, to attract development where it might not otherwise occur, or to make improvements, such as eliminating blight. Whatever increase in tax revenue that results from development in those districts goes to paying back the debt the municipality incurred from making improvements to the district.
In this case, the district would allow the city to recoup the costs of road improvements and installation of any utilities that might be necessary, Knapp said.
If it goes forward, it would be the city’s seventh TIF district.
The Shawano Plan Commission will take up initial discussion of the proposed district at 5 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 127 S. Sawyer St.
The district would have to go to a public hearing before it would go to the Common Council for approval.
It would also need the approval of the Joint Review Board, which consists of representatives from the city, Shawano County, the Shawano School District, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and one at-large member.
Other taxing entities have to approve of the plan because they would not share in any additional revenue from new development in the district until the improvements are paid off.