PRESCOTT – The Prescott City Council Oct. 13 authorized a temporary shutoff of a sewer lateral for SV Labs (1115 Dexter St.), which has been noncompliant in the amount of wastewater being discharged into the city’s system.

According to a city council memo, the city has been working with SV Labs to reduce the daily concentration of wastewater being discharged to the city’s wastewater collection system.

“The discharges from SV Labs have repeatedly exceeded the allowable limits outlined in the City’s Industrial Sewer Discharge Agreement, causing operational and compliance issues at the Prescott Wastewater Treatment Plant. Beginning in July 2025, testing from the sewer lateral at 1115 Dexter St. has shown a significant increase in pollutant loading. These exceedances have resulted in the city’s wastewater facility exceeding its Wisconsin DNR permit limits for consecutive months (July and August),” the memo states.

The tests showed BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) concentrations have been seven times the allowable limit of 1,000 mg/l; the COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) concentrations have been six times the allowable limit of 2,000 mg/l; and phosphorous concentrations have been seven times the allowable limit of 8 mg/l.

“The reason that these specific limits are so problematic for our sewer treatment plant is the way the plant works, the organisms that are there are essentially breaking down the phosphorous to allow us to meet the limit,” City Administrator Matt Wolf said. “The problem that we have when we have an excess amount of BOD and COD, is it literally kills the organisms, so then we can’t meet our loading limit.”

SV Labs staff have worked recently to fix a number of issues including reorganization of the staff and onsite removal of waste through a company called Crystal Springs. This was after, according to the city council packet, multiple requests from the city with no communication or corrective action plan received from FOTH, the SV Lab’s engineer company working with them regarding the implementation of a pretreatment system to address these violations.

“As a result, continued discharge from SV Labs poses an ongoing risk to the city’s ability to maintain compliance with its DNR permit,” the packet states.

However, Wolf said, SV Labs has provided a long-term timeline of installation of a pre-treatment solution by June 2026.

The city council approved a temporary shutoff of the sewer from SV Labs in the event the high loading of wastewater discharges begin again or continue with the following conditions:

• Execution of an updated industrial sewer discharge agreement between the city and SV Labs/Broadstone DMC.
• Submission of a pretreatment improvement report from FOTH, including design details and an operational timeline.
• Payment in full of all penalties accrued to date under the industrial sewer discharge agreement.

The shutoff would be held as long as compliance is being met and SV Labs is working with the city to address the issues.

“We will not move ahead with shutoff of the lateral unless we have issues with the discharge again,” Wolf said.

SV Labs Vice President of Operations Fabian Farmer said they want to be good stewards in the community.

“What we generate and what we make over there are basically your normal household products like your shampoos, your conditioners, your DOs, things that go down the sinks. Anyways, it’s just the magnitude of what we make it,” Farmer said. “We’ll do everything we can in my power to make sure that we are looked at in a good light.”

Investing in new equipment that is more efficient and uses less water for cleaning machinery and working with a company to take their wastewater offsite will help the issues, Farmer said.

Mayor Rob Daugherty said he’s thrilled the long-term issue is being addressed as it’s been a problem since the previous owners occupied the building.

“I’m really happy to hear you’re being proactive … because we want you to be a part of our community, but we also want you to be a good steward of the community as well,” Daugherty said.

Wolf said in no way is the city trying to attack them; he appreciates Farmer’s addressing the issue head on. SV Labs is the city’s largest water customer.

Pine Meadows

The city council voted unanimously to pass six items for the proposed Pine Meadows senior housing development, upon recommendation from the plan commission.

• A site plan for the new multi-family development consisting of two 12-unit buildings on 1.36 acres adjacent to the current Prescott Housing Authority property on Pine Street, with addresses of 1600 Pine St. and 1541 James St., targeting those 55 and older in need of affordable housing.
• A Planned Unit Development overlay within the R-4 High Density Residential Zoning (allowing for shorter setbacks to accommodate two buildings on the lot).
• Purchase and sale agreement between the city, PM-Prescott LLC and the Prescott Housing Authority.
• A development agreement between the city, PM-Prescott LLC and the Prescott Housing Authority.
• A certified survey map creating two lots and two outlots on the land, along with an undedicated portion of James Street.
• A certified survey map creating a third lot for the development formally known as Pine Meadows and dedicating James Street to the public.

“Even though it’s not a large project, it’s one of our first multi-family projects that we’ve had in quite a number of years in the city of Prescott,” said Wolf. “We have a very high ownership rate, so there’s a demand that they see for potential new rentals as people are looking at the Prescott market.”

Wolf added that Prescott doesn’t have a lot of developable land within city limits, so the city must maximize and carefully consider ways to use what is available, which this project does.

“I know people are already signing up for that housing,” said Alderperson Maureen Otwell.

Currently, the PHA owns most of the property in question, though the city owns a small portion, Wolf said. The PHA was established in the late 1970s to provide housing to seniors and disabled persons. The two existing facilities include St. Croix Manor (1028 Borner St.) and Watertower Apartments (1531 James St.) A 2021 assessment showed that $3.02 million in repairs are needed at those facilities. The PHA is selling 1 acre to help fund those improvements. They are also pursuing further aid from the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development MPR program.

The developer, Capital Investment Partners, is based out of Altoona with a satellite office in River Falls.

The city has an Affordable Housing Fund with a balance of $349,041, Wolf said. In the developer’s agreement, the city agrees to contribute $81,000 from the Affordable Housing Fund, $240,000 equal to the land’s purchase value from the Affordable Housing Fund, and the $25,595 reimbursement for the Pine Street watermain extension out of the Water Fund. The developer agrees to maintain affordability and 55-plus targeting for 15 years, submit an annual rent registry to the city, pay standard impact fees totaling $88,136 and maintain stormwater ponds on both parcels.

1054 Wacota St.

The council approved an agreement with Cedar Corporation for $3,708 for land surveying services for city property adjacent to 1054 Wacota St.

“Since 2020, the city has been attempting to work with the property owner at 1054 Wacota St. to address property maintenance issues with little to no success,” Wolf said.

Most recently, they were given until Sept. 1 to address the issues; Wolf said items have been moved further back from the street onto the property with little to no clean-up occurring.

Before moving forward with removing items from city property or the right-of-way, city staff wants a clear definition of the property lines surrounding 1054 Wacota St.

The total cost to complete a full survey of surrounding properties including title document work is $3,708.

“Once the lines are clearly defined, we can move forward with addressing what items are on private property and what items are in the city right-of-way,” Wolf said.

The property is owned by Harley & Charlotte Eaton and occupied by McCoulter Eaton. The city has been working with McCoulter Eaton since 2019 trying to rectify the violations.

Other business

• The annual fee for the compost site will increase by $20 for residents and non-residents. This is due to the increasing number of dead ash trees and the number of items being brought in.
• The council approved spending $3,916.50 on lighting for Magee Park, to include two lights in the parking lot and one timed light atop the sledding hill (only operational in winter months), coming from the project’s designated Capital Fund.
• The council approved a memorandum of understanding with the Prescott Housing Authority to provide no more than $19,000 toward a parking lot repaving project.