Help the village re-imagine the former Trent Tube site
By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
The Village of East Troy has been given the opportunity to take over the old Trent Tube property off of Highway 120 at the entrance to the Village Square and wants to hear from the public about its future use.
The village is hosting a workshop to re-imagine the site from 5:45 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 22, at Village Hall, 2015 Energy Drive.
“This is an opportunity for the residents to guide what decision are made going forward on that property and to tell us what they want that area to look like,” Village Administrator Eileen Suhm said. “We want to know what people think, hear their ideas and let them be an integral part of planning the future of the site.”
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources came to the village last year with an offer to turn the brownfield site over to the municipality if the village wanted it.
“The DNR wants the village to have a plan for the property to help direct the remediation so we can put the land to good use again. So we can revitalized it,” Suhm said.
The DNR helped the village connect with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Technical Assistance to Brownfields program, Suhm said.
“The TAB program is funded by the EPA and works in conjunction with Kansas State University to help with situations like this,” Suhm said. “The first part of this is the visioning workshop on Aug. 22, where we get input from the community. The second part comes after when a professor comes in and takes that vision from that session and creates a plan for the area.”
Suhm said the workshop will begin with a presentation about the ongoing environmental cleanup work on the property and what’s been done in regard to redevelopment of the contaminated properties.
After that, the TAB program representatives will run the hands-on workshop to help the attendees work out their ideas and form plans for the area.
“We’re hoping for a big crowd,” Suhm said. “Anyone from the area who’s interested in this should come, we want to hear what they think and what their vision for the area is. We want to know what they want and what they don’t want.”
For more information, call Suhm at 262-684-5482.
