City may landscape former Merc property

Nothing has been done to the property that housed the former Merc building since the void left by the building was filled in July 2022.

The city of Clintonville hopes to change that with a landscaping project in 2025.

Clintonville Public Works Director Justin Mc Auly told the Public Works Committee at its Aug. 29 meeting about plans to landscape the property.

He said currently there is a plastic orange fence at the property, which has been up since the building was removed from the property.

“The only reason it’s up is to kind of give somebody a warning before they fall off the edge (by the river),” Mc Auly said.

Mc Auly said the lot has a steep slope to it, and it slopes towards the river.

A local contractor has submitted a price quote as to how much it would cost to landscape the property.

“The scope of this project was to get this site to be relatively flat, at least two-thirds of it flat,” Mc Auly said. “The nice thing about a flat ground is you can actually hold some better events. And they’re looking at an expansion site of this farmer’s market if it grows any bigger, which it’s getting fairly big. You could expand into this area.”

The quote that the city has received from a local contractor for landscaping the property will be used for budgetary purposes, Mc Auly said. When the city is ready to do a landscaping project on the property, Mc Auly said the city would need to request bids .

In the meantime, Mc Auly said he is considering replacing the plastic fencing with a more conventional wood snow fence.

“I don’t know anything else that we could put up temporarily that would look halfway decent,” Mc Auly said.

Mc Auly said the plan for landscaping the property would be for 2025 if it can fit the project into the city’s 2025 budget.

“We tried two or three times for grants, and didn’t get any of them,” Mc Auly said. “Grants have been very difficult (to get).”