Viroqua, Wis. – The Viroqua Development Association (VDA) announced last week it has purchased a key piece of development property located on the Viroqua’s north side for $650,000 and is in the process of developing the property .
The 23 acre parcel many locals refer to as the Hanson property is in the heart of Viroqua’s north side business district just to the west of Walmart, and just to the south of the business district that includes Tractor Supply, Mc Donald’s and Quillin’s grocery store. The property is one the last remaining large pieces undeveloped real estate in an area connecting the north and south side business districts and $650,000 ($28,260 per acre) price tag reflects that. There is one more 13 acre undeveloped parcel in that area that is owned by the Eagles Club.
The VDA is the governing organization under the City of Viroqua that manages the cities industrial park and land sales. The city website says the VDA “exclusively promotes the economic development of the City of Viroqua. This includes efforts to market and solicit proposals for development of City-owned land. The VDA makes recommendations to the Viroqua City Council who provides final approval on project proposals and sale of public lands. Their meetings are as needed.”
The VDA board includes LaVon Felton-President, Jacob Kanis-Vice President, Tom Weston-Secretary, Joe Vikemyr-Treasurer, Michael Corr-Member.
We spoke with board president LaVon “Spanky” Felton about the purchase and what they are planning for the property. Felton said the property owner was ready to sell and approached the city to give them first chance to purchase the property.
“He (the property owner) thought it made sense for the city to develop it,” Felton said. “So it was brought to the VDA, to a meeting, and it was thought maybe the VDA could help facilitate this with the city. You know for the city to buy this land right now with all that they have on their plate, it was not a great time. But if the VDA could buy it and hold it and sell some lots and do what the VDA does. The VDA felt from a development standpoint it was important for us to get that land and be able to develop it and control it and have it make sense. Now we can develop it in a way that makes sense.”
Felton went on to say this venture was a bit of stretch for the VDA but it was important for the city.
“The VDA is not in the business of buying and selling land,” Felton said. “We’re in business to build tax base, to build jobs and we’ve always been, you know, if we can make it work and come out okay then that’s fine, but we are out there on this one.”
Felton said the VDA has other parcels they own and there some sales pending and they will have to be aggressive on selling property once the development is completed.
“We have had really good success in getting developers and people to come to Viroqua,” Felton said. “By helping them get the land and by giving the 10 or 15 percent TID incentive to do their project and turn that land that is not making anything at all on the tax roll because it is city or county owned, and turn that into something positive that provides jobs and tax base.”
“We have had really good success in getting developers and people to come to Viroqua. By helping them get the land and by giving the 10 or 15 percent TID incentive to do their project and turn that land that is not making anything at all on the tax roll because it is city or county owned, and turn that into something positive that provides jobs and tax base.”
VDA President LaVon Felton
Felton said even though the organization is an arm of city government they are their own entity. Felton said they had about $150,000 to put down on the property and financed the rest of the deal through a local bank.
“So the VDA decided they would get involved and make the deal to buy the land,” Felton said. “So we are putting together a plan, we are looking at mixed use, some commercial by the highway (State Hwy 14-61), maybe come industrial on the back. We are looking at some residential on the Chicago Ave. side. So there is going to be a lot of different uses. We are looking at an option to maybe do a frontage road that connects to Brendel Lane (to the north).”
The VDA has been working with Kurt Muchow with the engineering firm Vierbicher and Associates to do some preliminary engineering and planning work for the property. Muchow specializes in land development and has worked on a number of city projects including the city business park completed in 2020. The Viroqua City Council approved a contract with Muchow for the that preliminary planning work with an estimated cost of $2,500 to $3,000 at its April 25 meeting. In that meeting Muchow said the site is prime for development because of it’s location, but it also has some challenges.
“There was considerable discussion at the VDA meetings,” Muchow said. “About how it would be laid out and access issues and topography issues. The parcel is a very nice parcel from the standpoint of location but there certainly are challenges because of the topography, and the drainage way, and access onto the highway, and sewer and water all those kinds of things. I suggested what would be really helpful is to do something concept planning and cost estimating. Do some evaluating of some different approaches to developing the parcel. Through that process I think there will a preferred approach.”
The result of that work will be three or four general concepts and layouts for the site that will be brought back to the VDA and the council for input. Muchow said some will have direct access onto the highway, some will have frontage roads and they will show various road and lot configurations. Each proposed layout will have preliminary cost estimates.
Muchow said it is also the intention to modify Tax Incremental Finance District seven to inlcude this property and all of the planning costs are “TID eligible”. That means the city can use future property taxes collected on the site to pay for planning costs and improvements like streets, utilities and lighting.
Muchow also put forth options for future work to help attract developers and potential businesses to the property once a concept is chosen.
City Council member Tanja Birke expressed some concern about the city taking on more development before a discussion on parameters for develops has started.
“I have a lot of concerns about this project, or this idea or this plan,” Birke said. “We have a development project currently in progress. We have a business park, and we worked really hard developing business guidelines and parameters. This feels like a bigger project than that. So I feel like its irresponsible to move into concept planning on yet another business development project when we haven’t even started our discussions on comprehensive planning. … So it feels really like we are jumping into something without any preparation for it. It feels to me like a really quick decision that was made and we don’t have the infrastructure, meaning this planning, the strategic planning for the city is not in place. We haven’t even started it and we have this old …18-year-old strategic plan or comprehensive plan that was based on the idea we were going to have a highway (bypass) that was going to be diverted away from out community. That’s how old that plan is.”
City Administrator Nate Torres said some of the planning decisions have already been made as the property has been rezoned as Business-2 and Residential-1 which allows for commercial and residential development. Torres went on to say the way the project is structured the VDA is a partner in the project and can use TID funding to help pay for master planning and improvements if the VDA purchases the land. The VDA in turn will help attract businesses and sell the properties once completed.
Birke asked that the discussions about what the parameters are for businesses start now so they are included on the overall planning.
“There is big difference between a strip mall going in there verses well planned business structures. There is a huge difference. I am not saying one is better than the other. I am just saying we don’t have any of those conversations started around that. It’s the entrance to our city. What do you want it to look like or feel like?
Viroqua City Council Member Tanja Birke
“There is big difference between a strip mall going in there verses well planned business structures,” Birke said. “There is a huge difference. I am not saying one is better than the other. I am just saying we don’t have any of those conversations started around that. It’s the entrance to our city. What do you want it to look like or feel like? If we are going to start the conversation around infrastructure, can we also start, I understand we aren’t going to start comprehensive planning, but we can certainly discuss like we did during the creation of the business park, some citywide business development planning guidelines we want to apply to projects like this. “
Torres said that would likely fall under zoning changes and those things could be discussed at the same time the beginning stages of this project moves forward. The council approved moving forward with step one of the planning on a 9-0 roll call vote.
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