Planning & Development — Minutes

Town of Phelps Planning and Development Commission 4495 Town Hall Rd., PO Box 157 Phelps WI 54554 Phone/Fax 715-545-2270 Commission Members Quita Sheehan, Chair Gene Hojan, Vice Chair Maureen Robinson, Secretary, Town Board Rep. Eugene McCaslin, Citizen Member Mark Neitzel, Citizen Member Jon Ward, Citizen Member Chad Scheissl-Moore, Citizen Member Phelps Planning and Development Commission Minutes Tuesday November 4, 2025, 5:30 PM Phelps Town Hall, 4495 Town Hall Road 1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER: Chair Sheehan called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM. 2. QUORUM OF MEMBERS’ PRESENT: Yes, Gene Hojan was excused. 3. VERIFICATION OF PUBLIC NOTICE: Town Website/Email 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES from October 7th, 2025 regular monthly meeting: Eugene McCaslin made the motion to approve the minutes; the motion was seconded by Jon Ward. 5. COMMUNICATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE: Chairman Sheehan announced the deadline of November 14th for the Town Newsletter. DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS 6. THRIVE UPDATE: Maureen Robinson a. Next Steps: The Thrive Team will be presenting renderings at the next RTBM on December 10, 2025 at the Phelps Town Hall. 7. PARKS DEPARTMENT: a. Parks Financial Report: There were no major things to report outside of the normal spending for supplies. b. Park Supervisor Report: Schiessl-Moore ● Parks Report - Wavering Park & LPP; Wavering Park Concession Stand is in need of a new stove; concession stand winterized. The stage, stairs, and railings will receive minor adjustments and painting in the spring of 2026. ● Boat Landings – No Power Loading signs still in progress; piers are all pulled ● Trail Maintenance - made one last major run of the bike trails; minor ones conducted between now and spring as there will still be people using the trails in winter. ● Shooting Range - see below c. Shooting range: Renovation Plan Movement – Selby (presented by Chad) - Chad provided a rough sketch draft of the plans for the shooting range. The work will be moving forward in 2026 with funds from a state grant and funding from the town. The town will be involved in the building of the berms to help keep construction costs down. d. Lakefront Pines Park: Sod Installation - Selby (presented by Chad) - working on plans for sod in the center of the park with ADA pads right off of the side walk, to be completed in 2026); concrete slab 20’x30’ (large enough for 8 picnic tables; will be a location for a pavilion to be completed in 2027); provide for a loading and unloading area near the stage for events. Possibly a dancing area in front of the stage. Chair Sheehan suggested that maybe the ADA areas could be covered by pergolas and vines to provide some shade. e. Review Parks 5 year plan. Identify action items and timelines. The plan was reviewed by the Commission and plans for main projects are described in c and d above. f. Military Creek Trailhead signage. No new updates. 8. CHAPTER THREE OF THE TOWN OF PHELPS COMPREHENSIVE PLAN REVIEW AND COMMENTS: Housing Robinson & Nietzel. Maureen and Mark discussed their review of the housing chapter and stated that this section will need significant attention by the Commission and the Community Development Authority. Lack of affordable housing in Phelps is a major concern. Chapter Four of the Town of Phelps Comprehensive Plan will be reviewed next month at the PDC meeting.Maureen is creating documents for each Chapter Review based on her research and feedback from the Commission. She has committed herself to completing this process with the entire Comprehensive Plan, so that minimal consultant support will be required. 9. PLANNING SUBCOMMITTEE/COMMITTEE/WORK GROUP UPDATES: a. Housing Development Planning and CDA: Supervisor Robinson; The CDA will be holding regular meetings starting in 2026, and this and economic development in Phelps will be primary areas of focus. Maureen Robinson and Steve Waier will be taking themselves, Gene Hojan, and Mak Holcomb for Board approval at the November RTBM. Anyone else interested in being part of the CDA should contact Supervisor Robinson. b. Military Hill Forest Fire Lookout Restoration Project: Development of Cost Estimate from Structural Analysis Report - McCaslin; Eugene presented the cost estimates to complete the restoration of the fire tower based on the Structural Analysis completed by QLS, Design and Construction, LLC. ● Required items that the Commission will present to the Board: 1. Bolt replacement - $15,000 to $20,000 2. New Cabin - $25,000 to $30,000 (accomodate 8 people at a time) 3. New Stair Railings - $13,000 to $17,000 4. Metal Grating Stair Treads - $16,000 to $20,000 5. Metal Gratings at Landings - $15,000 to $18,000 ● Optional items that the Commission will present to the Board: 1. Safety Screening for Stairs and Landing - $20,000 to $23,000 2. New observation platform above the tree line - $25,000 to $30,000 ● Total Cost Estimate: $129,000 to $158,000. ● Once the Town has reviewed and selected which option they would like to complete, QLS will be able to develop prints/renderings for bidding purposes. ● QLS recommended to increase the engineering estimate by an additional 10-15% due to the current market uncertainty. ● QLS recommended that 5% should be added to cover a few minor items to include repairs of the piers, lowering the antenna, and limited grading around the base to have the tops of the piers at least 6” above grade. ● This would bring the total cost around $190,000. ● This would not include trails, landscaping , signage, etc. c. Veterans Memorial: Site selection; no updates d. Broadband Status; more and more Phelps residents are being connected to fiber optic broadband internet. e. Community Center Workgroup – Robinson, et al; Commission reviewed updates being provided by Hoeft on a weekly basis. There was a concrete cracking issue being investigated. f. Town Lakes Committee - Robinson; The Town Board has tasked the Lakes Committee with making recommendations to the Town Board in spring regarding wake boating. Joe Robinson, Chair of the Lakes Committee will be organizing these meetings over the next few months. Chair Sheehan pointed out that the Conover Lakes Committee has a web page. Future project may be to add this to the Town Website. 10. SET DATE FOR NEXT MEETING: Tuesday December 9th, 2025, at 5:30 PM, Phelps Town Hall 11. ADJOURNMENT: Eugene made the motion to adjourn and Jon Ward seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 7:14 PM. /s/ Quita Sheehan, Chair ____________________________________________________________________________________ This meeting notice was posted at the Town Office and the Town website. (Notice is hereby given that a majority of the Town Board might be attending this meeting. This constitutes a meeting of the Town Board pursuant to the State ex rel. Badke vs. Greendale Village Bd., 173 Wis. 2d 553, 494 N. W. 2d 409 (1993), and must be noticed as such, although the Town Board will not take any formal action at this meeting.)