Wausau residents press city to keep 1300 Cleveland Avenue nonindustrial; staff asked to craft public outreach plan

Residents near 1300 Cleveland Avenue urged the Wausau Economic Development Committee on Oct. 7 to bar future industrial development at the contaminated city‑owned site and to require cleanup to residential standards before any reuse.

Speakers at the committee meeting described decades of pollution at the property and urged the city to pursue remediation and community‑driven reuse. "We need to clean it up to the highest standard, no matter what we're gonna use it for," said Sid Elford, a longtime neighborhood resident, noting testing wells near his home and his belief that contamination has migrated downhill toward the river. Several other neighbors echoed concerns about noise, trucks and long‑standing contamination from the former industrial operations on the site.

The committee heard an update from Eric Lindeman, Wausau…