Town of Washington Residents Push Back on New Housing Project

Town of Washington residents are expressing more concerns about a proposed housing development on land annexed by the City of Eau Claire.

This week, the City of Eau Claire Plan Commission voted to advance a proposal for the Evergreen Terrace development for a full city council vote. The proposed development sits on land that was previously annexed from the Town of Washington, which has led to complaints from residents of the town on multiple occasions.

In September, officials began circulating a petition to incorporate part of the town as a village. The petition process started in response to the Orchard Hills housing development, another project built on land annexed by Eau Claire. Becoming a village is a years-long process, but would protect against further annexations by Eau Claire or Altoona.

In recent weeks Town of Washington officials withdrew the petition to make some technical changes and began circulating it for signatures again. They had received over 600 signatures on the original petition. Residents expressed concerns over increased traffic and changes to the fabric of their neighborhoods with the introduction of higher density housing.

The developers of the project and the Town of Washington came to a settlement agreement requiring the developers to pay $100,000 for road expenses over three years. The Orchard Hills development began accepting reservations for potential tenants in January.

During the early stages of the petition process, the City of Eau Claire passed a resolution stating that it expected to annex even more land for utility expansion. The town’s review process for incorporation would need to include that resolution.

Eau Claire is also seeking to address persistent housing issues with a low vacancy rate and a growing unhoused population. According to a WEAU report, City Councilman Andrew Werthmann specifically cited the need for additional housing supply as a driving factor in advancing the measure to a full council vote.