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, October 7, 2025, 5:30 PM Phelps Town Hall, 4495 Town Hall Road 1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER: Meeting was called to order by Chair, Quita Sheehan at 5:35. 2. QUORUM OF MEMBERS’ PRESENT: Quorum of members was present. Maureen attended remotely, Chad and Gene were excused. Mak Holcomb and were also present.. 3. VERIFICATION OF PUBLIC NOTICE: The meeting was posted on the website. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES from September 2, 2025 regular monthly meeting. Motion made by Eugene McCaslin to approve; Mark Neitzel seconded the motion. Motion carried. 5. COMMUNICATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE: DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS 6. THRIVE UPDATE: a. The team is working on renderings for the development of the old hospital site.. 7. PARKS DEPARTMENT: a. Parks Financial Report: NA b. Park Supervisor Report: Schiessl-Moore – see the attached written report. Chair Sheehan will bring cost estimates to the next meeting for “No Power Loading” Signage. 8. CHAPTER TWO OF THE TOWN OF PHELPS COMPREHENSIVE PLAN REVIEW AND COMMENTS: The Commission is preparing for their 2029 update of the 2019 Phelps Comprehensive Plan. Chapter Two was reviewed at the meeting, and commission members were asked to prepare for discussion on Chapter Three for the October 7th meeting. Quita will compile all of the comments from Chapter Two and get them back to Supervisor Robinson, for archiving. 9. PLANNING SUBCOMMITTEE/COMMITTEE/WORK GROUP UPDATES: a. Housing Development Planning and CDA: Supervisor Robinson and Mark Neitzel: We will be working on the housing chapter of the Comprehensive plan in October. b. Military Hill Forest Fire Lookout Restoration Project: Structural Analysis Report - Eugen McCaslin: indicated that the cost estimates based on the recent structural analysis should be available next week, and ready for the November/December RTBM. A Phelps Area Community Foundation account will be set up for donations for the restoration. Eugene will work with Jim Kuchenbecker. c. Veterans Memorial: Site selection: Gene Hojan was not present for an update. Gene will work with Jim Kuchenbecker to set up a Phelps Area Community Foundation account for donations. d. Broadband Status: There continues to be a lot of progress by Spectrum in preparing for service in the Town of Phelps. Some attendees already have service and reported that the internet service was good. e. Community Center Workgroup – Robinson, et al.:Robinson reported that in October walls and trusses should be going up. Progress continues to be excellent. Mid July 2026 is still the project completion date. 10. SET DATE FOR NEXT MEETING: Tuesday Nov 4thst 2025, at 5:30 PM, Phelps Town Hall 11. ADJOURNMENT: Chair, Quita Sheehan made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:29 PM. Eugene approved the motion and Mark seconded the motion. Motion carried. /s/ Quita Sheehan, Chair ____________________________________________________________________________________ This meeting notice was posted at the Phelps Convenience Center, Phelps Post Office, Phelps Community Center/Town Hall 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.) Here is an update from parks: LPP downtown- Scarecrow fest went well with no major issues from the park’s perspective. I did notice the men’s room sink faucet was leaking after the event. Pulled the cartridge and took it to Avco plumbing supply in Sugar Camp. They were unable to trace one down. I decided to change out the entire faucet unit with a new one. Went with Moen brand, so we should be able to service it down the road. I bought two right away with the thought that when the women’s one fails I will replace with the same as the men’s. The flowers are doing well throughout the town and we will continue to water as needed and keep them up until they start looking rough. Next month I will hopefully have an update on project plans for the LPP park. I will reach out to Dave Selby and see how things are going from the town board end. Boat Launches- We will keep all the piers in at the boat launches until the weather takes a turn for the worse. Guessing towards the end of October they will be pulled. We poured a concrete slab out at the Smokey Lake launch to solve the transition issues. Everything went well and it was a very cost effective fix. I will reach out to Dave Selby to see how long he wants to keep the port a let out at Long Lake. I would think to have it picked up at the end of the month. Wavering- All is well and leaf mulching and cleanup is underway and will continue for the next few weeks. Seasonal Dave has two weeks left before he wraps up the season , so that should work out well. Bike Trail- We have been keeping up on maintenance on the trail and all is good. I have noticed that the trail has had a definite uptick in use from both bicycle riders and walkers/runners. Nice to see and only see that growing over time.