Saratoga rezoning approved to encourage development; county touts coordinated response after point-in-time count found no one sleeping outdoors

Lance Plimel said the town of Saratoga proposed rezoning corridors, including land along Highway 13, moving some acreage from rural preservation into commercial and suburban-residential categories to enable future development. He said the county generally defers to town requests in such corridors, that the proposal "made sense to the town, makes sense to the county," and that the rezoning passed unanimously.

Plimel linked the rezoning to the need for net new construction to grow the tax base, warning that without new construction counties are constrained in raising revenue under levy limits and may have to cut services or raise property taxes. He referenced regional demand — including development in Adams County — as a factor increasing housing need.

On homelessness and outreach, Plimel described a point-in-time count conducted in Wood County and said North Central Community Action Program reported finding no people sleeping outside on the night counted. He and the host both cautioned that the count does not capture people in temporary shelter, couch-surfing, or other forms of unstable housing. Plimel said county supervisors, the mayor of Wisconsin Rapids and human-services and health-department staff convened partners to coordinate services and that small local counts historically identified as many as 10–12 people in worse periods.

Why it matters: rezoning can unlock areas for housing and business development that local officials say are needed to sustain services under levy limitations. Officials also said continued cross-jurisdictional coordination is required to address the varied causes of homelessness, including economic pressures, mental illness and substance use.