County agrees to intergovernmental transfer of contaminated Roosevelt Auto Body site to city of Kenosha

Kenosha County planning staff presented and the Finance & Administration Committee approved an intergovernmental agreement on April 16 to transfer a tax-delinquent, environmentally impacted property known as Roosevelt Auto Body to the city of Kenosha for redevelopment and remediation.

Staff said the structure has been vacant and tax delinquent for years and that environmental contamination and demolition costs have deterred private redevelopment. The proposed agreement transfers long-term ownership and redevelopment responsibility to the city while preserving opportunities to leverage Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources site-assessment grants and other external funds for demolition, asbestos abatement and site investigation.

Shelley told the committee the county would perform a limited site assessment and demolition activity necessary to allow the city to pursue remediation and redevelopment. For the county’s share of preliminary site work the staff intends to use previously received settlement funds earmarked for remediation. Patty and county counsel explained that a recent statute (cited in committee discussion) allows the county to avoid ever being placed on the chain of title when an intergovernmental transfer is authorized and the city’s resolution also passes; corporation counsel will coordinate court filings to assign judgment to the city at the time of tax-judgment entry so the county never holds title.

Supervisors pressed staff on the timeline, prior negotiations on similar properties and why the county was transferring rather than retaining responsibility. Staff said earlier plans had stalled when neither city nor county had available funds; the county later received settlement funds that made progressing the Roosevelt site assessment feasible. Staff also described prior work on two other contaminated parcels (Hillside Hardware and the ‘‘Orange Ooze’’ property at 17th A Court) and said the Roosevelt transfer would complete that set of pre-identified properties.

The committee discussed cost estimates for demolition and the 80/20 grant model used for site-assessment grants; staff said figures were approximate and would be shared with supervisors as negotiations and grant applications proceed. Committee members asked for more detailed cost estimates and for written explanations of how settlement (Monsanto) funds would be applied. Patty said corporation counsel and staff would follow court procedures and ensure the county’s exposure is limited by statutory assignment of judgment.

Ending: The committee approved advancing the intergovernmental agreement and staff will coordinate with city attorneys and corporation counsel to pursue grants, finalize the 80/20 financing approach and file the necessary court paperwork to assign judgment to the city under the statute.