Water bottling company withdraws before Eau Claire City Council vote

Jun. 15—EAU CLAIRE — Niagara Water Bottling Co. withdrew its proposal to create a bottled water plant in Eau Claire's Gateway Northwest Business Park before the City Council could vote on it Tuesday.

Aaron White, city economic development manager, informed the council that the California-based company asked to remove a proposed development agreement from consideration on the council's agenda.

The council later took a procedural vote to postpone the item indefinitely, which only allows the agreement to be reconsidered within a year if the company makes changes to the proposed deal.

"Some material term in the agreement would have to be altered for it to come back," City Attorney Stephen Nick explained.

Niagara Water Bottling Co. had proposed to build a $65 million water plant, but with the advanced automation equipment and other improvements the company had estimated its investment in the building would be over $100 million. The plant would provide 58 full-time jobs with an average salary of $59,000.

The plant would initially use 155.1 million gallons of city water annually, but that would double under a future expansion the company included in its plans. Niagara would be the city's No. 2 water user with the plant's first phase — second only to Nestle — but rise to No. 1 with the expansion.

Before the 11-0 decision to indefinitely postpone, several council members said why they were against or for the project.

"Obviously I think it's very well known that I would certainly oppose this if we were voting on it," Councilwoman Kate Beaton said.

She's urged that the city come up with a comprehensive water use plan before approving an agreement with another high-volume user.

Councilman Andrew Werthmann remarked that the public, including protesters outside City Hall on Monday evening, was strongly against bringing a water bottling plant to Eau Claire.

"We didn't even see a split in this community," he said.

Councilman Jeremy Gragert noted that opponents raised issues tied to water quality, climate change, plastic waste, corporate practices and economic development talks done secretively.

But the opposition was not universal. City Manager Stephanie Hirsch had pointed to new tax revenue the plant would've brought, and the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce cited new jobs and economic development the company would bring.

Councilwoman Jill Christopherson said she trusted that city staff properly vetted the proposal, including that the municipal water system could keep up with the additional demand. Furthermore, she said the plant would've been an excellent addition to local industry and provided jobs for Chippewa Valley Technical College students.

"I am disappointed, and I hope that Niagara has an opportunity to use their business plan in another community," Christopherson said.

Controversial annexation approved

Eau Claire will grow 438 acres larger following a 9-2 City Council vote that approved a controversial annexation on Tuesday.

The annexation included a western portion of Lowes Creek County Park — which the county will continue to own and use as a park — to reach privately-owned land where developers intend to build new homes.

Neighbors living nearby in the town of Washington have vocally opposed the annexation, citing concerns of increased traffic, increased housing density, adding more students to schools nearing capacity and the odd-shaped border it would create.

But council members pointed to Eau Claire's need for growth as well as benefits of becoming part of the city. That included the ability to connect the future homes there to municipal utility lines instead of individual wells and septic tanks.

"I am very interested in seeing this annexation go through because I am concerned about seeing a housing development go through without city water and sewer," Beaton said.

She and others said that municipal utility lines provide a higher level of groundwater protection than private wells and septic systems.

There was an attempt to postpone the annexation vote until August to give time for developers and neighbors to hold meetings to address each others concerns.

"The community engagement of this neighborhood is very vital. If we don't do that we will lose their trust," Councilman Larry Mboga said.

The effort to postpone failed in a 7-4 vote as other council members believed that annexing the land would not deter the sides from talking.

"I want to believe the parties that are represented here will continue to have a conversation," Councilman Roderick Jones said.

Mboga and Werthmann were the two dissenting votes when it came time to decide on annexing the land.

Though Tuesday's vote will extend Eau Claire's borders around the property, the actual plans for development there will still face numerous future votes from city officials.

The development team consisting of CE Wurzer Builders, Holzinger Homes, Chippewa Valley Excavating and Trend Stone Surfaces has been planning a housing subdivision called Orchard Hills on 234 acres of vacant land since last year.

The group's original proposal to build 117 homes with a communal septic system was rejected by the Eau Claire County Board in mid-2021 when it was envisioned as a rural project. A revised proposal for 107 homes with individual septic systems got a divided vote at a county committee before the developers pulled the plan to pursue annexing the land into Eau Claire.