Leveraging History to Create a Community Asset Site Reuse Design for the East Main Street Corridor in Chilton, Wisconsin Project Summary Community: Chilton, Wisconsin Technical Assistance: Site Design Former Use: Plating Site, Multiple Sites Future Use: Dog Park and Pedestrian Corridor Chilton is located in Calumet County in Wisconsin. East Main Street is the spine of Downtown Chilton, Historically, Uptown Chilton formed the core of the city. Downtown Chilton developed in the floodplain of the curve of the Manitowoc River after the arrival of the Milwaukee & Northern Railroad in 1872. As a result, while Uptown Chilton developed into a typical Main Street and town center, Downtown developed with a focus on transportation and industry. Today, Downtown Chilton is characterized by an uneasy proximity of industry and residential uses. It is a hodgepodge of active manufacturing facilities, vacant land, and historic, but underutilized retail space. East Main Street is not a transportation arterial, nor is it a destination, and it has become out of sight and mind for many Chilton and Calumet County residents. The Community's Challenge The City of Chilton will be capping the Chilton Plating site for reuse as a municipal dog park and potential future home for the Chilton Farmers Market. The city also plans to extend the existing Chilton Community Riverwalk trail along the East Main corridor. The City sees East Main Street at the lynchpin of adjacent recreational improvements and desires to see public investment in the area translate to an increased customer base for existing businesses, higher quality redevelopment of vacant land and underutilized properties, and the potential to attract regular users and tourists from beyond the city limits. Simultaneously, the city remains a committed partner to its industrial employers. Many of the largest manufacturing employers have facilities located within a quarter mile of the East Main Street Corridor and a majority of these manufacturing businesses rely on truck transportation. Therefore, improvements to East Main Street need to accommodate trail users, local businesses, and the trucking needs of local industry, EPA's Land Revitalization Technical Assistance In 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Land Revitalization Program provided contractor technical assistance to develop a site reuse plan for the East Main Street Corridor. This plan identifies several key technical and resource challenges such as truck safety issues for Riverwalk trail users, managing the polluted and flood- prone areas of the South Branch Manitowoc River, and negotiating the challenging intersection geometries of the existing street grid and railroad. Resource challenges include funding trail improvements, leveraging funding sources beyond typical road reconstruction to achieve a complete street, and the optional acquisition of public trail easements. The plan supports the proposed remediation and conversion of the Chilton Plating site into a municipal dog park and community venue in concert with targeted capital improvements and streetscaping to East Main Street in support of an extension of the Chilton Community Riverwalk. The plan also identifies opportunities for potential philanthropic or public-private investment in supporting facilities. Renderings of Downtown Chilton at East Main Street and Dog Park For more information, contact Ashley Green, EPA Region 5 Brownfields Program, at qreen.ashlev@epa.gov'. EPA technical assistance support contributed to the County being awarded a $1 million Assessment Coalition Grant in 2023. SEPA United States Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization Environmental Protection Agency 560-F-23-322 ------- |