Waupaca County Post

Top Menu

  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Advertiser Index
  • Subscribe
  • E-Editions
    • Clintonville Shoppers Guide
    • Clintonville Tribune Gazette
    • New London Buyers Guide
    • New London Press Star
    • Waupaca Buyers Guide
    • Waupaca County Post

Main Menu

  • Home
  • News
    • Video
    • Clintonville News
    • Hortonville News
    • Iola-Scandi News
    • Manawa News
    • New London News
    • Waupaca News
    • Wega-Fremont News
    • Business
  • Covid 19
  • Sports
    • Clintonville Sports
    • Iola-Scandy Sports
    • Manawa Sports
    • New London Sports
      • Leagues
      • Sports
      • Park & Rec Activities
    • Waupaca Sports
    • Wega-Fremont Sports
    • Hortonville Sports
    • Outdoor
    • High School Sports Scores
  • Courts
  • Opinion
  • Obits
  • Classifieds
    • View Ads
    • Place Ads
  • Legal Ads
    • Our Legals
    • Statewide
  • E-Editions
    • Clintonville Shoppers Guide
    • New London Buyers Guide
    • Waupaca Buyers Guide
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Advertiser Index
  • Subscribe
  • E-Editions
    • Clintonville Shoppers Guide
    • Clintonville Tribune Gazette
    • New London Buyers Guide
    • New London Press Star
    • Waupaca Buyers Guide
    • Waupaca County Post

logo

Waupaca County Post

  • Home
  • News
    • Video
    • Clintonville News
    • Hortonville News
    • Iola-Scandi News
    • Manawa News
    • New London News
    • Waupaca News
    • Wega-Fremont News
    • Business
  • Covid 19
  • Sports
    • Clintonville Sports
    • Iola-Scandy Sports
    • Manawa Sports
    • New London Sports
      • Leagues
      • Sports
      • Park & Rec Activities
    • Waupaca Sports
    • Wega-Fremont Sports
    • Hortonville Sports
    • Outdoor
    • High School Sports Scores
  • Courts
  • Opinion
  • Obits
  • Classifieds
    • View Ads
    • Place Ads
  • Legal Ads
    • Our Legals
    • Statewide
  • E-Editions
    • Clintonville Shoppers Guide
    • New London Buyers Guide
    • Waupaca Buyers Guide
Waupaca News
Home›News›Waupaca News›City to unveil Main Street plan

City to unveil Main Street plan

By WaupacaNow
April 18, 2017
1016
0

Open house set for April 24

By Angie Landsverk


The redevelopment plan for Waupaca’s downtown will be unveiled on Monday, April 24, during an open house at Danes Hall.

The open house will be held from 4-7 p.m. and will include a 5 p.m. presentation by RDG Planning & Design, the city’s consultant on the project.

The public is invited to attend.

“The purpose (of the open house) is to get public input on the plan. Then we will finalize the plan, which will be presented to the city for adoption,” said Brennan Kane, the city’s director of community and economic development.

The April 24 open house will be followed by gallery hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, also at Danes Hall.

People will be able to stop by during those hours and discuss the plan with the city’s staff and consultants, Kane said.

That evening, there will be a workshop at Danes Hall for the Waupaca Common Council.

Kane said the workshop is intended to be a one-on-one with the council.

“No decisions will be made that night,” he said.

The workshop will allow the Koehler family, the new owners of Danes Hall, to introduce themselves to the council, Kane said.

When Main Street is reconstructed, the city intends to shift North Main a bit to the east to realign it with Water Street.

Kane said doing so will provide a safer and more pedestrian friendly intersection.

It will also result in an opportunity for the Koehler family to develop an plaza outside their building.

The April 25 council workshop will include city staff and the consultants laying out the next three to four years of capital projects associated with Main Street and the downtown area, Kane said.

He said the council needs to provide guidance on funding levels to put toward Main Street.

The reconstruction of Main Street, from Badger to Water streets, is scheduled to begin in 2021.

The infrastructure is more than 100 years old.

In 2018, the city plans to reconstruct the parking lot behind City Hall and the public library.

Kane said the reconstruction of the parking lot will include a landscape redesign for the lawn in front of City Hall and the library.

While City Hall and the library do not front Main Street, the city’s landscaped lawn does, he said.

The city wants that area to align with the vision of the downtown plan and provide a better front door to City Hall and the library, Kane said.

“The other piece we will look at will be presenting an idea to update the park plan for Rotary Riverview Park,” he said.

That is because throughout the city’s planning process, there has been a collective vision to re-engage the Waupaca River into the city’s overall downtown feeling, Kane said.

The river came up during the city’s downtown visioning process.

That process began in early 2014, when Mayor Brian Smith recommended appointments to the city’s new Concept Planning Committee.

The committee worked with East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission to develop a concept plan.

In March 2016, the city hired RDG, of Des Moines, Iowa, to develop a downtown vision and redevelopment plan as the city prepares for the reconstruction of Main Street.

Kane said the river was brought up during that planning process as well, including at last June’s design studio.

The design studio allowed people to comment on a variety of visuals that could be incorporated into the city’s plan.

Kane said some of the “design concepts for Main Street are coming from the river.”

Arts, culture
As the city prepares to unveil the downtown redesign – and the streetscape and parking that are part of it – another planning process is underway.

On April 11, about 50 people attended an arts and culture planning meeting at Danes Hall.

“It’s a continuation of last year’s arts summit,” Kane said.

Since that summit, there have been conversations about integrating arts more into the community and into the downtown development plan, he said.

The idea is not just about doing so in Waupaca, but in the region, Kane said.

“I’ve seen a lot of headway over the last year with the arts organizations,” he said.

Anne Katz, executive director of Arts Wisconsin, and Megan Matthews, coordinator of the Arts Management Program at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, facilitated last week’s meeting.

Matthews said the top three skills employers will be looking for in 2020 are critical thinking, creativity and complex problem solving.

“That’s why I get excited about this,” she said.

An economy based on being creative is “the economy we live in now,” Katz said.

She said the arts are essential to economic vitality, regardless of a community’s size.

Those who attended last week’s meeting began the process of developing an arts and cultural action plan for the community.

“We will be working on the process over the next couple of months,” Katz said.

Kane said a steering committee will be created to represent the different arts groups and activities in the area.

The plan also includes having focus groups.

Kane said this planning process will work in tandem with the other efforts taking place in the city.

“The plan is only as good as the participation,” Katz said.

TagsFeaturedWaupaca downtown developmentWaupaca Main Street
Previous Article

Calling 911

Next Article

They’re back!

Related articles More from author

  • Clintonville NewsUncategorized

    Rebuilding Main Street

    June 4, 2015
    By WaupacaNow
  • New London News

    Riparian owners seek no-wake zone

    June 4, 2015
    By WaupacaNow
  • Waupaca News

    A decade of Scouting

    June 4, 2015
    By WaupacaNow
  • New London News

    Waste treatment plant needs upgrades

    June 5, 2015
    By WaupacaNow
  • Clintonville NewsFeaturedUncategorized

    Clintonville cannot afford to repave Airport Road

    June 5, 2015
    By WaupacaNow
  • UncategorizedWaupaca News

    From drug addiction to recovery

    June 5, 2015
    By WaupacaNow

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Free WaupacaNow Newsletter

About Us


Waupaca County Post, New London Press Star and Clintonville Tribune-Gazette are published every Thursday by Multi Media Channels. The papers are locally owned, locally operated and locally written. Subscriptions are $59 annually, delivered via U.S. Postal Service.

To subscribe, go www.shopmmclocal.com/product-category/waupacanow-portal or call 715-258-4360

Timeline

  • June 30, 2022

    Schneider, David J.

  • June 30, 2022

    Kutchenriter, Thomas Lee

  • June 30, 2022

    Iola gets new Ice Age Trail section

  • June 30, 2022

    Leslie, Patricia L.

  • June 30, 2022

    Woman sentenced to six years in prison

Find us on Facebook

Copyright © 2022 Multi Media Channels LLC.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted without the prior written consent of Multi Media Channels LLC.
×