City to review zoning code, comprehensive plan
By Angie Landsverk
The city of Waupaca is updating its comprehensive plan and zoning code this year.
The process began Monday, Jan. 6, with a workshop at Danes Hall of Waupaca.
About 40 people attended it.
“This is an exciting process. It shapes the next 20 years,” said City Administrator Aaron Jenson.
A comprehensive plan sets the overall policy and direction for a community, said Andrew Dane, the city’s interim director of community and economic development.
Topics to be addressed will include transportation, community facilities, economic development, intergovernmental cooperation, land use, as well as arts, culture and natural resources.
Dane said the city will draw from a number of recently completed plans, including the downtown plan, the library’s strategic plan and the arts and culture plan.
There will be focus groups, one-on-one interviews and an online survey.
The city launched the survey on Thursday, Jan. 9.
Visit www.cityofwaupaca.org, and see the link on the homepage for all information related to the comprehensive plan and zoning rewrite, including the survey.
The goal is to wrap up the update by the end of the year, Dane said.
He said the zoning code update will be completed prior to that.
Local demographics
Before leading the group through several activities, Dane shared information about population and household trends.
Population projections for the city look to be flat, he said.
In Waupaca, there are fewer 18-year-olds and people ages 18 to 65 than there are people over age 65.
Dane said the city needs to look at what can be done to attract and retain people of all age groups.
The number of people living in a household is going down, he said.
Many are living alone or with one other person, Dane said.
The average number of people per household in the city is estimated at 1.99, he said.
Dane also noted a few national trends, including how median household income levels have gone down or stayed even since 2007 and two-fifths of U.S. households have a net worth less than $25,000.
In the 54981 zip code, the number of jobs decreased 8.5% from 2014-19, Dane said.
The top three areas of employment are foundries; entertainment and dining; and local government, education and health care, he said.
Nationally, the United States continues to be oversupplied with retail space, Dane said.
There were about 10,000 store closures in 2019, he said.
Dane also noted about 27% of Americans want to live in rural areas but only 15% actually do.
Millennials prefer living in the suburbs of large cities, he said.
Those who attended the workshop listed their hopes and concerns for Waupaca.
Themes from that exercise were related to transportation, business development, housing, drawing people to the community, the Fulton Street corridor, arts and culture, parks and trails and sustainability.
Attendees also noted on an aerial map of the city areas where they would like to see changes.
Dane will develop a composite map, connecting themes, goals and topic areas.
The comprehensive plan will guide the zoning code, said Jeff Sanders, the consultant leading the zoning update.
The discussion about zoning will begin in early March, with a first draft to be presented in June.