A proposed new facility for housing recently released offenders in the community is raising concerns less than a week before it was due to go into operation.
The state Department of Corrections has contracted with ATTIC Correctional Services for an eight-bed facility at 227 E. Richmond St. in Shawano, replacing the New Era House at 105 E. Richmond St.
New Era’s contract expires at the end of this month. The new contract with ATTIC goes into effect July 1.
However, the new location will need the city’s approval of a special exception to the zoning ordinance.
The Shawano Plan Commission will hold a public hearing on the matter at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 127 S. Sawyer St., before deciding whether to recommend approval to the Common Council.
Shawano Mayor Lorna Marquardt, who chairs the Plan Commission, said she has gotten numerous calls raising concerns about the location and its housing of recently released sex offenders.
Though only about a block away from the New Era House, the facility would be that much closer to Peace United Church of Christ at 208 E. Maurer St.
“I’ve heard concerns about the home’s close proximity to a church where children attend classes, Scouts meet and kids are often seen outside playing,” Marquardt said.
“Several community members were under the impression the decision had already been made to allow this property to become a place that houses sex offenders,” she said. “Some of the residents who contacted me were upset and chastised the city for having made that decision. I explained no decision has yet been made.”
The DOC approved a two-year contract with ATTIC Correctional Services earlier this year. It calls for ATTIC to provide transitional housing services for convicted felons that are under the DOC’s supervision, including recently released sex offenders.
Madison-Based ATTIC Correctional Services operates 16 facilities in the state, including Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton and Green Bay.
In December, the city revised its ordinance covering where convicted sex offenders can reside in Shawano as a precaution in the event the DOC contract with New Era House was ever terminated. The change removed the specific reference to the New Era House, replacing it with a generic reference to a transitional placement facility.
The city has a Sexual Predator Ordinance Committee that reviews placements of recently released sex offenders, but not all of them would need the committee’s approval.
Shawano Police Capt. Jeff Heffernon said the DOC can place at the facility offenders who are at a low-level risk of re-offending. The higher-risk level placements would have to go through the committee.