April 10, 2026
By TIM HUNDT
VIROQUA, Wis. – On back to back evenings this winter and spring, Viroqua’s Housing Advisory Board and Plan Commission dug into some of the most contentious questions in the city’s long range planning work how to add housing without losing the character of a small city and how far to go in regulating short-term rentals and accessory dwelling units.
Those debates are unfolding as Viroqua rewrites its comprehensive plan, the legally required roadmap that will guide zoning, growth and public investment for the next twenty years. The plan must be updated every decade, although Viroqua is already several years past that deadline, and city staff say they want the new version finished in early 2026.
The city has already completed an Historic Preservation Plan and and Outdoor Recreation Plan that can be reviewed here.
City Administrator Nate Torres has called the future land use map and housing chapter the “core documents” in that effort, because they will shape where and how new homes, apartments and businesses can be built.
Comprehensive plan sets the frame
The new comprehensive plan will do three main things
- Map where Viroqua expects and wants different kinds of development residential, commercial, industrial, parks and mixed use
- Set goals and recommendations for housing, transportation, utilities, economic development and intergovernmental cooperation
- Guide the formal zoning rewrite that will follow, which will control details such as setbacks, building types and density
“The future land use map is one of the most core documents within a comprehensive plan,” Torres told council members in January. “Think of it as a more general version of the zoning map. Zoning has to line up with this map, but we still need some flexibility so we are not over prescribing exactly what every parcel must be,” he said.
The Plan Commission has spent months redrawing that map around the edges of town and in underdeveloped areas. Commissioners talked about turning some agricultural tracts on the south and west sides into future residential or “flex commercial residential” zones while still leaving room for parks and local food production.
Commissioners also asked staff to pull together an “extra territorial” land use plan for the half mile band outside city limits, where annexation is most likely. Public Works Director Sarah Grainger told the commission that infrastructure and topography make it easier and cheaper to grow west toward the schools and wastewater plant than to push hard to the east.
“Our wastewater plant is close to that area and anything closer to the plant is always better,” Grainger said. “The area closer to the wastewater treatment plant can drain without having to be pumped which makes development there more efficient,” she said.
At the same time, some landowners have asked for their properties to be shown as permanent green space instead of future building sites. Council member and landowner Cyndy Hubbard told colleagues she wants a large tract above West Maple Street to remain park and habitat, even though it is privately owned.
“I absolutely want it in one hundred years to be green space,” Hubbard said. “I am working with Valley Stewardship and Vernon Trails to make this into an educational open space that increases wildlife habitat,” she said.
Torres warned that each change has ripple effects.
“If an individual with a large underdeveloped parcel comes and says mark mine as green so nothing can be built in the future, we have to ask whether that is what we want for the whole community and not just one owner,” he said.
Housing board drafting the housing chapter
While the Plan Commission was redrawing the map, the Housing Advisory Board added their input to the draft housing chapter.
The Board has been tweaking goals clearly defining terms that will help increase housing stock for all types of house while keeping them affordable.
“We changed goal one to increase housing inventory and moved ensure affordable housing opportunities down to goal two,” Birke said. “First we need housing of all kinds not just affordable, then we focus on making sure people can actually afford to live in them,” she said.
Several members pushed the city to encourage home ownership and local wealth building rather than relying only on outside developers using tax credits to build rentals.
“If there is a real commitment to building generational wealth here in Vernon County and in Viroqua there would be a mandate that at least fifty percent of all affordable housing through grants needs to be home ownership,” resident Gregory Splinter said during a housing meeting. “Right now you are just giving the money to people in another state so they can own that building in perpetuity,” he said.
Others urged the council to back the creation of a Community Land Trust, a nonprofit model that keeps land permanently affordable while allowing buyers to build equity in their homes.
“We need a nonprofit affordable housing organization working in multiple directions,” one resident told the board. “That affordable housing trust fund being talked about could support the work of a Community Land Trust,” the resident said.
What are ADUs and why Viroqua wants them
One of the most concrete tools emerging from the board’s work is an ordinance to allow accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, in more parts of town. ADUs are small secondary homes on the same lot as an existing house, such as backyard cottages, above garage units or attached in-law-suites.
“Somebody wants an ADU and they have to read this and then get referred to the code and jump around,” said Aaron Parker, who drafted much of the ordinance. “I tried to write it so that the information was in one document so people could decide whether it is even feasible,” he said.
After several meetings, the current draft that is yet to be finalized includes some proposed language:
- Minimum size of 250 square feet to keep the option affordable and flexible
- Maximum size of 600 square feet on small lots and 800 square feet on lots over 7,200 square feet
- Height limits tied to the main house for a detached ADU if it is attached so that the small unit does not tower over the neighborhood
- Full compliance with existing setbacks and lot coverage so ADUs cannot be pushed into side or rear yards in ways that crowd neighbors
- A simple permit process backed by plain language guidelines to help homeowners understand requirements
The board also voted to make clear that fire sprinklers would not be required in typical ADUs, arguing that the cost could kill many projects.
“Requiring installation of fire sprinklers could financially preclude ADU construction,” Parker said. “All we need to say is fire sprinklers are not required in the ADU while still following all applicable building codes,” he said.
Board members said ADUs could help Viroqua in several ways by creating small rentals without new streets, by giving older residents a way to age in place and by offering families more flexible space.
“We already know ADUs will create housing regardless of whether they are rented long term or used for family,” Newenhouse told the board. “We are physically creating more housing and that is what we need,” she said.
The Airbnb debate protecting housing and safety
If ADUs are one new tool to add gentle density, short term rentals have become a flash point for how much existing housing is being taken out of the local market.
Newenhouse led months of work updating a draft short-term rental ordinance after the Plan Commission and city attorney flagged legal limits under state law. Viroqua can regulate stays under seven days and it can cap the total number of city permits, but it cannot limit how many licenses a single owner holds and it cannot cap rentals between seven and thirty days.
“You can only regulate short-term stays under seven days,” Newenhouse told the board, summarizing the attorney’s advice. “You are allowed to cap the number of permits and you are allowed to cap the number of days per year, but you are not allowed to limit how many licenses a person can hold,” she said.
The board tentatively agreed on a citywide cap of 60 short-term rental permits and a limit of 210 days per year for stays under seven days, leaving longer furnished rentals uncapped. They also agreed that existing units already licensed by Vernon County would get first priority in the first year, even if that temporarily pushed the total above 60.
“60 sounds feels really good,” Newenhouse said. “It is about three percent of our housing units now, and if you imagine 15 or 25 houses in each quadrant of the city being short-term rentals, that already feels like a lot,” she said.
Board members spent as much time on fees and enforcement as on the cap. They ultimately voted to raise the annual city permit fee to $500, with the money earmarked for administration and housing needs.
“If we are taking units off the market through short-term rentals the money generated by fees should be used in some way to compensate for that loss,” Parker argued. “The permit fees should help fund administration and a housing revolving fund so the community sees some benefit,” he said.
Board member Shaynn Davey warned that any aggressive fee structure or tiered system based on ownership could draw scrutiny from state lawmakers and industry groups that have already challenged local regulations around Wisconsin.
“Whatever we do is going to be scrutinized at the state level,” Davey said. “We need to be careful because if suddenly they see cities with skyrocketed fees done for a reason they could easily say you have to cap these fees and take that tool away,” he said.
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