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Community Development budget proposes land acquisition, infill housing and North Main facade program
Summary
The Community Development director proposed funding for residential infill via city land acquisition, continued rollout of the North Main Street façade grant, floodplain mitigation buyouts, and riverfront/Hamilton Park improvements in the 2026 budget.
The Fond du Lac Community Development Department on Aug. 13 presented its 2026 budget and described multiple initiatives to address housing, downtown renewal and riverfront improvements.
Community Development Director (surname) Benson told the council the department plans to pursue several housing-related actions in 2026, including a new proposal for the city to acquire land for residential development to advance the housing plan. Benson said the city’s proposed approach is to buy subdivision parcels and then partner with private developers: “By partnering with them on the ownership of land, part of that land can be then provided to them as an incentive for their development,” Benson said. She described a model where the city would own underlying land, give or sell lots at nominal cost to developers so they would pay infrastructure costs, and reserve some lots for programs designed to support more affordable ownership models. Benson framed the plan as a “small scale” pilot that could start with a few lots to test the approach and noted the CIP includes a placeholder (a flat $750,000 line) for potential residential partnerships.
Benson also updated the council on the North Main Street corridor long-term vision and the department’s new business-facade grant program. She said the city completed a detailed survey of the Saputo property and a Phase I environmental assessment; the Phase I results suggest the need for some Phase II work in areas that include former railroad tracks. Benson said staff rolled out a façade grant application in July after encouraging property owners to bring delinquent tax and utility accounts current; that outreach produced payments enabling more property owners to participate.
Other items Benson described for 2026 include continued implementation of the housing study recommendations, floodplain mitigation (voluntary acquisition of flood-prone homes), downtown placemaking (pausing one site until a bank sale resolves), riverfront planning with consultants focused on Hamilton Park as the first node, and continued parking-facility operations and senior-center programming.
Discussion vs. decision: the presentation was informational and councilors asked questions; there were no votes tied to the land-acquisition proposal during the meeting. Benson said the city will continue to work with developers, downtown partners and consultants and will return with more details in future meetings.
