JANESVILLE
At a livestreamed, virtual candidates forum hosted by the Westgate Corridor business group Thursday night, Janesville City Council incumbents Paul Williams and Paul Benson had their first meet-up with newcomers Brian Bridges, Aaron Burdick, Thomas Lepinski, Steph Meiklejohn and Richard Neeno.
The seven candidates all are pursuing three open seats on the council in the April election.
They broke the ice Thursday night by sharing their thoughts on the proposed Woodmans Community Centerthe $28 million to $35 million two-sheet ice arena that the city and private stakeholders are eyeing up at the former Sears space at Uptown Janesville.
Earlier this week, Williams and Benson voted differently on whether the city should pursue a $7.5 million federal COVID-19 relief grant that could plug a funding gap between the $15 million the city can borrow for the project and the $7 million private fundraising that the Friends of the Indoor Sports Complex say they plan to raise to kick in.
Benson, like five of the seven sitting council members, voted Monday for the city to pursue the grant funding.
Williams voted against going after the grant funding, saying he didnt know enough about the possible costs yet because the city hasnt seen results of $2 million study on the arena, which the city also funded with federal COVID-19 relief funds.
Thursday night, Williams said he is still leery of public funding of the massive project, which would replace the aging ice arena south of downtown Janesville and provide a new haven for the Janesville Jets junior hockey club and dozens of local youth hockey teams.
Williams said Thursday night at the forum that he isnt sure whether all parties who lease space at the Janesville mall are enamored with the project. Among other things, he said, the arenas footprint might encroach on lines of sight of other tenants at either end of the mall.
The city has not seen an agreement from the Uptown (Janesville) mall. As far as the other occupants, are they agreeing with the extension of where that Sears store now is, going out that far into the parking lot, blocking their view? I really would like to see that (agreement) before we spend $2 million to design a structure that might possibly not be able to go there, Williams said.
Benson said Thursday that he is more worried over what could happen to the malland the rest of the Milton Avenue retail corridorif the ice arena never comes to fruition.
That Milton Avenue corridor really needs some attention. Its starting to look a little run down. And if that (Uptown Janesville) mall property were to go, that would be an anchor around the neck of the city that we would be dragging for years and years, Benson said. Thats a big, big deal. When we talk about investment, all of those surrounding businesses would feel this for years.
Lepinski called the citys decisions on the ice arena proposal complex, in part because hes not sure whether a $7 million commitment by private stakeholders for the project proves that the community as a whole wants the to spend at least $15 million, plus additional, possible grant funding, on the rest.
The mall has offered to gift the property to the city of Janesville in return for the ice arena being built there.
Still, Lepinski wonders what kind of financial shape the mall is in. The mall has struggled to maintain long-term retail tenants. He said thinks the city needs a clear read on the malls financial status now, rather than later.
Newcomer Richard Neeno said Thursday that he thinks the project would be a great positive for the city. But Neeno said he would like to learn in what other ways Uptown Janesvilles owner, private equity fund RockStep Capital, plans to participate in an ice arena, given that the owner likely would benefit from a boost in property value of the whole mall.
Meiklejohn said Thursday night that he is leery about committing taxpayers to such a project before the city sees the results of the analysis it ordered that aims to itemize the costs, scope and timeline of the project.
Spending the time to actually plan out a future is the most appropriate way to handle it. As of right now, with the rising costs of building materials as well as labor, the estimate may be $25 (million), $35 (million) right now, but when we look at it down the road, perhaps in October, were looking closer to $40 (million) or maybe even $50 million, Meiklejohn said.
Bridges said Thursday that he considers the prospect of a new ice arena a net positive in Janesville. But he said he needs to know whether benefits to the community outweigh the costs to taxpaypers, particularly older ones.
Burdick said he would have to be certain taxpayers wanted to shoulder the cost. But he said he likes the idea of spending on a new arena when the aging arena here could cost millions to patch together.
The current arena would never be any bigger than a one-sheet rink.
This (project) could create 100 jobs, several million dollars in revenue (a year). It will be profitable if operated correctly. So theres many factors involved, he said. How big do you go?
GM revitalization
When the forum turned to the question of whether the city is doing enough to promote the General Motors site on the citys south side to prospective developers, several of the candidates said there were more questions than answers on the sites status, including who the current owner is and what environmental cleanup still needs to be completed there.
Williams said when Commercial Development Company took over the site, he had high hopes for its revitalization because of its track record. He said his hopes have fallen apart.
He said Commercial Development has stopped answering phone calls and correspondence, leaving Janesville in a limbo area as it tries to figure out what to do with the property.
Neeno said it wasnt clear to him what steps the city is taking to market the property and that there hasnt been transparency on that subject.
He added the site should be highly desirable with its ready-made rail connections. He wonders if the city needs to consider taking ownership of the property to be able to guide development. But like Williams, he also was concerned over unknown environmental cleanup the site might still need.
Benson said he wont support spending local tax dollars on cleanup without the city first taking ownership. He added marketing the site has been an economic development priority locally but called the site an ecological disaster right now. Benson said the citys best path forward could be to ramp up enforcement of city code violations. City government officials said last week they now aim to slap daily fines on the site owner.
Benson and Lepinski agreed it would take a specialized tenant for the city to capitalize big on the property. Lepinksi said hes sure theres more the city could do to market the site, but the process will be slow and likely require public development incentives to ignite redevelopment.
Miekeljohn said the citys focus should be on cleanup and rebranding. He also said he wouldnt want the city to bamboozle a tenant who would get stuck with cleaning up the property.
Bridges took the GM question and expanded its scope, saying the city needs to focus on making itself a more attractive place for business as a whole. He said business leaders whore considering a move to Janesville could look at the school districts recent track record and a relative lack of housing and conclude Janesville isnt prepared for a massive manufacturing center.
Burdick said leaders in the local private sector could help in efforts to see the GM property turned around.
He pointed out Forward Janesvilles new CEO, Angela Pakes, previously worked as an engineer who revitalized former large-scale manufacturing properties.
Theres no need to reinvent the wheel if others have already worked on similar project, he said.
Downtown redevelopment
Most of the candidates in Thursdays forum agreed the city had done a good job and spent the right amount of money to foster redevelopment downtown. Several, including current council members Williams and Benson, said that, for the time being, there isnt much more investment the city needs to make and that the growth has reached a point where it is self sustaining.
Neeno, a downtown business owner, said there is great momentum and that downtown is in a great position to keep improving.
Miekeljohn said the city shouldnt lose sight of other parts of the city.
I dont want to stick importance on a single part of town and neglect the rest, he said.
Benson said the work downtown has the ability to unite all corners of the city, and he sees redevelopment efforts turning to the west and south sides and even Milton Avenue, especially south of Holiday Drive.
Bridges said the city was wise to invest in the town square along the river between Court and Milwaukee streets because it created a more attractive ecosystem to live and work. Burdick said he hadnt spent much time downtown in the past but he was impressed by the turnout at a recent downtown event. Such gatherings help give the city an identity, he said.
Its impressive whats been done in a short amount of time, he said.
Lepinski agreed the right amount has been spent, but he seemed leery of future plans and what they might cost. He referred to the citys 2015 ARISE plan, which he said identified seven catalyst sites, one of which was downtown. He said he wanted to know what the current plans were, if any, at other catalyst sites, and he wanted cost estimates for the plans in 2022 dollars.
He also mentioned City Manager Mark Freitags state of the city speech in January in which Freitag said the city hopes to build an amphitheater outside the Janesville Performing Arts Center and contribute to building a childrens museum. He questioned whether such projects should be classified as wants or needs.
Lepinski said he would take on the role of watchdog as a member of the city council. He said he would always ask whether the city can afford projects and proposals brought to the council.
