Gold Cross seeks special use permit
By Angie Landsverk
Gold Cross Ambulance Service plans to tear down its ambulance garage in Waupaca and build a smaller one on the site.
Its request for a special use permit was before the city’s Plan Commission on March 6.
The commission recommended approval of the permit.
The request goes before the common council next.
The ambulance service is located at 500 Lakeside Parkway.
“There’s been a long-standing ambulance garage on the site,” said Brennan Kane, the city’s director of community and economic development.
The current garage was built in 1984.
An approximately 2,500-square-foot building is planned on the site, with room for two ambulances, as well as an area with sleeping quarters and a kitchen.
The site plan was also before the Plan Commission last week for review, and approved.
Steve Radich, the ambulance service’s administrative director, said the intent is to stay on site while the new building is being constructed.
Gold Cross may use a mobile home or recreational vehicle during that time, he said.
Radich said there was also a conversation about being located at the hospital during construction.
Kane said trailers are permitted on construction sites.
Gold Cross hopes to break ground this spring.
Its targeted date is April 1, although Radich noted how much snow is on the ground.
Construction is expected to take three months.
The Waupaca Area First Responders also use the building for training and plan to do continue doing so, he said.
Since Gold Cross is a nonprofit, the property is tax exempt.
A Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) fee is being negotiated to cover the city’s cost of providing public safety services to the property.
That proposed fee is to go before the common council for a vote.
The site is not served by city sewer and water. Private services are to continue.