Nov. 29, 2025
VIROQUA, Wis. — The City of Viroqua City Council approved two strategic, multi-year documents—the Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (CORP) and the Historic Preservation Plan (HPP)—on Tuesday, November 11, 2025. These plans, established through a similar, coordinated process, now provide a clear framework for managing the city’s parks, cultural assets, and future development over the next five to ten years.
Coordinated Planning Process
The need for both the CORP and the HPP was driven by state requirements, particularly the need to maintain Viroqua’s eligibility for state and federal grant funding. The five-year CORP is required for recreation grants, and the HPP is necessary for Viroqua to maintain its Certified Local Government (CLG) status with the State Historic Preservation Office, allowing the city to apply for annual preservation grants.
Both plans were developed concurrently with the city’s overall Comprehensive Plan, allowing for shared data and cohesive strategies across all documents. The projects were led by consultants from Studio GWA (Michael Smith and Ashley Sarver) and Redevelopment Resources (Kristen Fish Peterson and Dana Sarver). City Administrator Nate Torres, Park and Recreation Director Kale Proksch, and Council member Cindy Hubbard formed the internal city project team that guided the effort.
Ashley Sarver, a consultant with Studio GWA, noted that this concurrent process was “interesting and helpful to work through all three plans at the same time because they are so interrelated” and also dovetailed with the recently adopted Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.
The foundation of the plans relied on extensive data gathering, including an online community survey that received 316 complete responses from citizens. Nate Torres explained that for city staff, the plans function as a crucial “guidebook,” filling a void left by the previous comprehensive plan, which was deemed “very outdated.”
Historic Preservation Plan (HPP)
The Historic Preservation Plan was formally approved by the City Council on November 11, 2025. This plan provides a 10-year time horizon for its goals, designed to proactively integrate preservation into the city’s economic and cultural life.
Key Findings and Development
The plan’s development was informed by a full inventory of the city’s historic assets. The HPP documented that Viroqua has 33 locally designated historic landmarks, with 15 of these also listed on the National Register of Historic Places or contributing to a National Register District. The city also maintains a National Register Historic District in the downtown area, which includes 24 contributing properties.
A critical finding from community feedback was the desire for a practical approach to preservation. Community members expressed interest in “seeing historic buildings maintained, but also really excited for their reuse, not preservation, just for its sake, but also seeing it as an economic development tool, which is great,” according to Ashley Sarver.
HPP Goals and Actions
The HPP’s vision statement notes that Viroqua “envisions of vibrant, inclusive future where our historic heritage is not only preserved, but also celebrated.” The plan articulates 36 specific actions organized under five central goals:
The first goal is Survey and Documentation, intended to maintain a comprehensive inventory. A primary action here is commissioning a citywide survey to identify structures over 45 years old, a step prioritized because state guidelines recommend updating surveys every 25 to 30 years, and Viroqua’s previous survey was over two decades old. Council member Cindy Hubbard, who chairs the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), noted that the HPC will “apply for it next year to try to get a survey of the town.” Other documentation steps include developing a web-based inventory and pursuing National Register listings for major properties like the tobacco warehouse, the Viroqua United Methodist Church, and Good Shepard Lutheran Church, which opens up historic tax credits as a financing source.
The second goal focuses on Program Administration and Management, which involves exploring the feasibility of a demolition delay ordinance and creating ordinances with potential fines for owners who fail to stabilize decaying properties. The third goal, Financial Support and Incentives, aims to encourage private investment through establishing a local grant program for façade improvements and publishing materials detailing federal, state, and nonprofit funding opportunities.
The fourth goal, Education, Advocacy, and Partnerships, includes creating a preservation rapid response team trained in temporary stabilization techniques, such as window board-ups, and promoting the adaptive reuse of historic buildings. Consultant Michael Smith emphasized that this goal embraces the truism that “the greenest building is the one already built.” The final goal, Community Revitalization and Sense of Place, seeks to leverage historic assets for heritage tourism and economic growth, recommending actions like hosting a rehabilitation roundtable to connect property owners with contractors and consultants.
HPP Conclusions
Nate Torres, summarizing the outcome of the plan, stated that it was “thoughtfully put together to one be feasible based on the number of resources that historic preservation does or does not have access to, right? And two, really focuses on those proactive steps, and sort of gives the HPC commission sort of a path.”
Council member Hubbard found the plan encouraging, saying it gives the group “some kind of a idea of what’s out there, what we should be working on in a way to implement it. So it was positive for the group.” The HPP’s implementation table forecasts a 10-year horizon, which Michael Smith noted “minimizes the update in five years, and also maybe lessens the need to have a consultant come out after five years.”
Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (CORP)
The Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (CORP) was formally approved by the City Council on November 11, 2025, following a final review by the Park and Recreation Committee. This five-year plan, with a 10-year implementation horizon, sets a multi-year strategy focused on maintaining, improving, and maximizing the existing outdoor spaces.
Key Findings and Development
The initial analysis determined that Viroqua is relatively “Park rich.” The city maintains 13 parks totaling 110 acres, though Park Director Kale Proksch pointed out that the 80 acres from the publicly owned golf course significantly “skews the number of park land we actually have.” Viroqua’s parkland acreage of approximately 24.3 acres per 1,000 residents substantially exceeds the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) typical recommendation of 10 to 12 acres per 1,000 residents for similar-sized communities.
The analysis led to the central conclusion that the city should prioritize repair and maintenance over acquiring new land. Michael Smith stressed that the focus is on “maintaining improving and retrofitting existing facilities.”
The community survey identified the most desired park amenities as more trails and more restrooms. Furthermore, the plan acknowledges Viroqua’s “good place for the city” in outdoor recreation, as noted by Kale Proksch, because of exceptional partnerships with privately owned, publicly accessible areas like Hubbard Hills and Prairie Wind.
CORP Goals and Actions
The CORP’s vision statement declares a commitment to providing diverse and accessible spaces that “promote health wellness and environmental stewardship.” The plan features five main goals and numerous objectives and actions:
The plan reinforces recreation opportunities by including objectives to work with local partners like the school district and library to coordinate programs and to explore a joint use agreement with Westby to allow residents pool access.
Under Parks Amenities, Natural and Cultural Resources, the plan focuses on prioritizing the replacement of damaged and outdated facilities and ensuring the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) reflects those needs. It also suggests actions to enhance park sustainability through native plantings and utilizing volunteers to catalog the quantity and variety of trees to maintain a diverse canopy citywide.
The Access and Connectivity goal aims to “build a safe, connected network of sidewalks, trails and greenways,” aligning its actions directly with the city’s adopted Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.
Regarding Operations and Management, the plan includes promoting administrative excellence. Actions here include evaluating the feasibility of adding new full-time positions, as Kale Proksch’s smaller staff requires more support. The plan suggests possibly relieving Park and Recreation staff of non-park maintenance responsibilities, such as mowing terraces or ditches, by allocating those to the Public Works department. The plan also recommends considering a referendum to increase funding for park-related capital improvements, maintenance, and operations, as survey responses indicated residents were willing to pay more taxes for parks.
Finally, the Park Planning and Development goal emphasizes advancing safety and inclusion. It includes conducting a park site analysis to determine the best location for a potential splash pad facility. It also recommends developing contingency plans, or being “prepared to… have a plan if this were to come up” to handle situations where strong amenities currently run by other groups, such as the VFW land, might change hands.
CORP Conclusions
Nate Torres confirmed that the plan is intended to be used by the Parks and Recreation Committee, stating, “we want to make sure that council has buy in for these plans and then is comfortable with what essentially is going to be somewhat of a strategic plan for Kale and the rest of the park and rec committee to follow for the upcoming year.”
Council member Tanja Birke asked about accountability, questioning “What is the plan for checking in regularly to make sure we’re on task with our plan?” Michael Smith clarified that the document is structured with a 10-year implementation table to maximize action, noting that the five-year update is strictly a “required element for to maintain Grant eligibility in the state,” but that the long implementation list “minimizes the update in five years.” Kale Proksch added that due to the staff size, “we just need to stay on top of it, and now that we have the plan, try to best implement it as we can.”
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