May 14, 2026
By Tim Hundt
VIROQUA, Wis. – The Viroqua City Council voted Tuesday night to hire a professional design firm to restart planning for the former city hall corner at Main and Decker, backing a concept that could turn the prominent lot into an active public space with art, small scale performances and upgraded landscaping at an estimated total cost near 90 thousand dollars.
The decision moves the project away from a purely grassroots design effort and toward a professionally led plan that city leaders say is necessary to secure outside grant funding and to make good on a promise made when the former city hall was torn down.
After lengthy discussion about safety, cost, community ownership and the overall purpose of the space, the council voted unanimously to enter into a planning agreement with Parkitecture, a Wisconsin based landscape architecture firm that specializes in small downtown parks and public gathering spaces. The initial contract phase is $8,648 for planning work with a total design fee projected around $20,000.
Council members and staff emphasized that the project will likely depend on a $50,000 state Vibrant Spaces grant routed through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and that city tax increment financing dollars from Tax Increment District 6 would cover much of the local share.
Nate Torres, city administrator, told the council the project budget is currently estimated at roughly $90,000 to $95,000 with about $30,000 already penciled into the draft Capital Improvement Plan as local funding for the old city hall site.
Torres said the state grant and TID (tac Incremental Finance District) funds together could pay for the bulk of the work but warned that final numbers will depend on the design process and inflation in construction costs.
He summarized the funding picture and the need to move ahead if the city wants to compete for the grant.
“We have been working with WEDC and feel very confident that we can obtain a $50,000 Vibrant Spaces grant which is very similar to what the library received for the mural walk” said Torres. “Roughly, we have $90,000 as a project budget, give or take, and $20,000 of that is what the total design fees would be to go from concept to construction documents and bidding.”
Torres added that the grant will not pay for design work but state officials want to see a project that is truly ready to build.
“The grant will not pay for the design work but the grant wants to see the project done” said Torres. “If it means we have to do design work to get to the project done then that is what we have to do.”
Council members were told that without the grant the city could choose to halt the project after the $8,648 planning phase and keep the resulting concept plan on the shelf until funding improves.
Cyndy Hubbard, council member and chair of the design working group, said the site is too prominent at the gateway to downtown to leave as an empty lawn. She argued that hiring a firm with a strong record of small downtown projects is the best way to ensure the space becomes a true destination that reflects Viroqua’s identity and helps attract visitors.
Hubbard said she wants something that makes drivers slow down and pedestrians stop.
“To me it is such a visible site that we want to do it right” said Hubbard. “And I do want it to be something that when somebody drives by they go, what is that, and they want to stop and check it out. And these would be things that somebody that is an expert and does this kind of stuff could help us with.”
History of the site and an earlier design effort
Tuesday’s discussion built on several years of intermittent work on the corner following demolition of the old city hall building. When that building came down city leaders made a public commitment that the site would not simply be paved or left vacant but would become a civic space residents could be proud of.
To start that process Hubbard and Torres convened a local design committee with representation from the library chamber of commerce and historical society along with city staff. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation provided designer Garrett Perry at its expense to help the local team explore early concepts.
Hubbard described that first phase as valuable but ultimately unsatisfying.
“We met with WEDC which provided Garrett Perry a designer for us to work with and we worked with him for a while” said Hubbard. “We kind of got to a point where we really were not, I think we got kind of a concept but not really one that we were happy with. And then other things came up and we did not get to it for a while.”
Torres said the city “hit a good stopping point” with the initial designer because staff and committee members felt the concept did not match what they were trying to achieve.
“At a certain point we sort of hit a little bit of a good stopping point with Garrett Perry in terms of our relationship with him because we were just a little out of sync with him and what he thought was a good idea and what we were really trying to achieve” said Torres. “Thus the reason for us to sort of move on from him and go to a designer to sort of finish it.”
Those early concepts did produce a preliminary cost estimate of $150,000 to $160,000 which Torres said was far above what the city could afford even with a grant. The current $90,000 to $95,000 target grew out of a process of trimming that early vision to fit within the combination of TID and possible grant funding.
Torres said the earlier work is not wasted but will be used as background material for the new firm.
“There is a lot of work that we have done and the discussions we have had that can be carried over to the new concept” said Torres. “We are not starting completely from scratch but we do have to go back through it a little bit again because we are in a slightly different scenario.”
Why Parkitecture rose to the top
Parks and Recreation Director Kale Proksch walked the council through the city’s search process. Staff interviewed three firms Parkitecture, Vierbicher, and Ayres Associates and requested not only design fees but also estimates for construction documents bidding and construction management.
Proksch said all three firms fell in the six to ten thousand dollar range for basic design but the total cost rose as staff discussed full service needs. He described Parkitecture’s portfolio of small urban parks and “pocket park” projects as the closest match to what Viroqua hopes to do on the corner.
He highlighted a Menomonee Falls corner park as especially relevant with raised planters lighting seating and a small performance space that functions both day and night.
“When I saw this one I was like oh this is something like this could be done in our property” said Proksch. “It is a small area but it is the gateway to the downtown so we want to do it right and we are at that stage where I think we need a new set of eyes on what we really want to do there and bring somebody in to design.”
Torres said that after meeting with all three firms he Cyndy Hubbard and Mayor Krista Browne felt Parkitecture was the clear first choice.
“Between Cyndy, and I, and Kale who interviewed all three companies I think we felt very confident that Parkitecture really specialized in this sort of work” said Torres. “They are in high demand throughout the parks and rec community and I think we felt like they were a clear first choice.”
What the project might look like
Although no final concept has been drawn the council discussion and previous work offer a sketch of what the space could contain.
Hubbard said conversations with WEDC staff on the Vibrant Spaces grant pushed the design team to think beyond a passive lawn and toward an “active” space that could host small events while still honoring the historic nature of the corner.
She said state officials were excited about a project that combined history art and regular community use.
“A lot of the things that we saw in the Parkitecture plans were active space not just a passive park but a place where stuff was going on” said Hubbard. “A little place for a music event shade picnic tables benches flowers murals and history because this is a local historic site and rotating art things like that all active kinds of things that would bring the community and tourists would want to stop.”
Mayor Browne added that the project should be understood as one node in a broader downtown network that includes the new mural walk beginning at the library and other public spaces.
She urged the council to think about how people actually move through town on foot and by bike and how the corner can help connect those routes rather than stand alone.
“A lot of my instinct was to try to zoom out the map and say what else is happening” said Browne. “We have invested in a mural walk that is starting at the library and so how do we start to think about the way finding and the way that people are moving on foot or bike through town and what do we currently have and then how do we stitch it together.”
Browne also argued for a phased approach that would prioritize safe and functional site work now and leave room to add art pieces and historic markers later through fundraising.
“Some of this is like the site work can happen but we do not have to have everything completed from the artistic side of it” said Browne. “We can have the foundations of it there so that it is more than just open green space and if there are things that we find through the process like sculpture, historic markers, signage. We can have that pulled out as a second number whether we say we are going to hold on this or fundraise for this.”
Safety and the question of how much activity
Several council members raised concerns about public safety on what is already one of Viroqua’s busiest and most crash prone intersections. The city recently reworked the Main and Decker corner to improve sight lines and reduce collisions.
Council member John Thompson said he worries that making the space too much of a draw could put children and families closer to fast moving traffic.
“I am just I am worried that we are creating a safety problem here” said Thompson. “We have worked so long and hard to get that intersection cleared around and to where we are not having constant accidents and stuff there and now we are going to put something in that space that draws people instead of keeping them out of the way of cars.”
Council member Kyle Bartlet echoed that concern from the perspective of a parent who remembers watching young children near Main Street traffic.
He questioned whether the space should really be programmed for ongoing gatherings or more as a symbolic public art site that people experience briefly as they pass through downtown.
“When I looked at some of those concepts I still remember those moments of being on Main Street and watching one of my little kids start to dart towards the street” said Bartlet. “To me that is not a gathering space for people with little kids probably just by the nature of proximity to traffic and I am wondering is it more an opportunity for the public to make a statement about our town with a piece of public art.”
Browne responded that the city can design the space with safety features such as bollards and carefully placed barriers that both protect visitors and shape how the space is used.
She cited recent training on public safety through environmental design and said safety elements can double as bases for future art or historic pieces.
“However, it is also a place that large groups do gather so can we give the place for it to happen more safely by controlling the environment” said Browne. “We can think about things like bollards on that corner so that if a car was to come whether there is people or a statue or anything those could actually be part of the architecture of it, but they could also double as future spots to put sculpture on.”
Torres said hiring a firm with experience in similar tight downtown locations will help the city balance aesthetics and safety.
“Bringing somebody in who has done parks across the state and can say I have done this before you may not want to drive towards that because that is going to be a maintenance issue or in this space it is going to be problematic is really important” said Torres. “Hearing from our public safety chair about how much of a gathering space we want this to be is a real question and a designer can help us work through that.”
Concerns about cost and how far the budget will really stretch
Several council members pressed staff on whether the $90,000 target would be enough to create a space that feels complete rather than under built.
Council member Tanja Birke asked whether Parkitecture had offered any scaled back options at a lower cost such as a $50,000 version of the project.
Torres replied that the $90,000 to $95,000 figure is already a reduced version of the original concept and warned that pushing costs down further could mean losing the very features that make the project worthwhile.
“I will just say this Garrett Perry’s design had an opinion of probable cost that was 150 to 160 some thousand dollars” said Torres. “We only have $30,000 of our own money budgeted toward this and if we have a Vibrant Spaces grant we have $80,000. So we basically just said let us work this budget down until it is within budget and I am just saying $95,000 is my best estimate as the guy who played with these numbers.”
Torres said there will likely be pressure to add another $15,000 in local money on top of the $30,000 in TID funds already in the draft plan if the council wants a fully realized project instead of a stripped down one.
“There is going to be a point where people are going to look at this and say well that is what we got for it and we did not do any of the exciting things” said Torres. “I think people want to see big things out of it and everything is expensive so to be realistic I would say if you want to be happy with what you end up with you are probably going to have to get closer to that 95 mark.”
Browne returned to the idea of phasing as a way to protect the core budget while still leaving room for future enhancements through donations and partnerships.
“We need to be conscious about thinking in a phased approach because some of this is like the site work can happen but we do not have to have everything completed from the artistic side of it” said Browne. “We need to get something that finishes the base of the space within 75 to 85 thousand and then we can look at sculpture and other features as a second number.”
Public comment urges a community led design
Public comment on the old city hall site came from both the start and end of the meeting.
Early in the meeting resident Darrel Skrupky proposed his own vision for a green space that would celebrate local fishing agriculture cycling parks cheese music and Legion baseball with a series of themed features arranged around a circular path.
Skrupky argued the corner could become a unique stop for visitors if the city and local businesses pursue grants and in kind support.
“It would be a unique place where people would really want to stop and say wow this is really cool this makes Viroqua unique” said Skrupky. “They can walk around there is incentive and a variety of things to reach many different people.”
Later during the second public comment period downtown resident Jan Palmer questioned whether the city was moving too quickly to hire an outside firm before fully exploring what local residents and artists could do with the space.
Palmer said a community designed project could cost a fraction of the professional plan and might better capture Viroqua’s character.
“It seems to me that this would be a wonderful opportunity to use the many varied talents of community members to create a beautiful welcoming spot there” said Palmer. “I can only imagine that the cost would be a fraction of hiring a firm and I think creative expressions by the community lend warmth and speak of the vitality of the town.”
Palmer argued that something designed locally is more likely to catch the eye and feel unique than a park that resembles projects in other cities.
“You mentioned wanting the space to be eye catching so that people stop” said Palmer. “I think something locally designed would be more eye catching than having a firm that does these things in many places because what you are going to get is something that comes from the soul of Viroqua.”
Next steps and timeline
Under the motion approved Tuesday the city will pay Parkitecture $8,648 to lead an initial planning process that includes meetings with the existing design team and at least one public input session before a final concept is presented to the Parks and Recreation Committee and the council.
Torres said the goal is to complete that first phase and have a solid concept plan ready to submit with the Vibrant Spaces grant application soon after the new grant cycle opens July 1.
“The sooner we get our application in to WEDC the more confident we can be that we are going to give ourselves the best chance at getting the grant” said Torres. “Getting to the first three meetings that I talked about by the end of July would seem to be a good target for us.”
If the grant is approved the city would then proceed with full construction documents public bidding and construction management under the broader design contract with Parkitecture with work potentially beginning in 2027 depending on funding and other capital projects.
If the grant is denied the council would face a new decision whether to commit more local money to the project fundraise privately or leave the corner largely as it is with a concept plan in hand but no clear path to build it.
For now city leaders say the vote to bring in a design firm is about honoring past promises and positioning Viroqua to capture outside dollars while the state program is available.
“As a city when we tore down the old building the council sort of committed to the community that we were going to try to put something here that you are really proud of” said Torres. “This sets us on a path toward kind of fulfilling that commitment we made about two years ago.”
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