Oconto Falls hopes to bring retailers to Main Street

OCONTO – The City of Oconto Falls has big plans for its once-thriving Main Street, a place where residents once routinely shopped at the bakery, the Five & Dime and the pharmacy.

To revive the shopping district, it needs the makeshift first-floor apartments to return to retail use to boost foot traffic and improve the street’s appearance, according to City Administrator Peter Wills.

The city would like to help residents of these apartments find another place to live, he said. The Newcap housing project the City Council has been discussing would provide new rental units at a sliding scale based on income. Wills said building it is dependent on grant funding Newcap has applied for.

In the meantime, the city learned last week it’s been accepted into the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s Connect Communities program to revitalize its downtown area, Wills said. The program doesn’t come with funds, but it provides technical assistance, including staff assistance and access to private-sector funds for revitalization and staff assistance.

By participating in the Connect Communities program, the city becomes more eligible for other grants, Wills said. The Connect Communities Program provides training and other tools, including access to peer-to-peer advice through online networking, he added. It also makes the city eligible for a Connect Communities award.

“There’s a lot of value in the workshops, toolkits and staff assistance,” said Errin Welty, senior director of downtown development at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. One workshop series focuses on upper-floor housing. “Those upper-floor units tend to be unique,” Welty said.

Cities and towns throughout the state are working to revitalize their downtowns, she said. Main Streets in many Wisconsin towns began to decline in the 1980s when shopping malls drew residents away from their local shopping districts and into their cars to travel to large shopping malls, Welty said. But now, people are more interested in sprucing up their community’s downtown districts. “My job has gotten easier because people recognize there is value in having local stores and restaurants,” she said. “You can’t get your haircut online. It’s a nice time to be working in the field.”

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, or WEDC as it’s commonly called, has seen its program help revitalize Mosinee, where the addition of a hotel, brewery, streetscape, pocket park and revolving loan fund have made a difference, she said.

Oconto Falls’ revitalization goal has the support of a local nonprofit that wants to turn a vacant lot into a community gathering place. So far, a gazebo has been constructed at the site of Caldwell House, a historic building that burned in 2016, Wills said.

The city is assisting the nonprofit by applying for WEDC’s Vibrant Spaces grant, which would provide $25,000 to support its plan for developing the square. Among the ideas discussed for the square at an Oct. 16 Main Street Committee meeting are a Farmer’s Market, art fair, yoga and workout classes, movie nights, wedding ceremonies, music performances and holiday events.

While many ideas were tossed out at the meeting, Wills told a reporter this past Friday that the gazebo is the only element that’s come to fruition so far. “This is a private group that is trying to do something and make it a public square. We as a city are trying to support them through grants, but this group is coming up with what plans they have,” he said.

The city also intends to apply for a T-Mobile grant for small communities, Wills said. The telecommunications company awards $50,000 grants every quarter for shovel-ready projects, such as outdoor spaces, community centers and technology upgrades.

How long it will take to spruce up Main Street by attracting new commercial tenants depends in part on whether Newcap receives the necessary funds to make the housing project doable, which would then help the city freshen up Main Street.

The city could enforce a nuisance ordinance, which the City Council passed Sept. 10, prohibiting building exteriors that limit the neighboring property’s enjoyment or lead to diminished property values nearby.

Some first-floor apartments on Main Street have used cardboard to cover the large windows. This could be prohibited by the nuisance ordinance, which states, “windows on the first floor shall not be obscured to block more than 50% of the window by merchandise, and signs may cover up to 25%.” Other materials are prohibited from blocking or covering the windows, according to information presented at an Oct. 16 City Council meeting. Another ordinance clause prohibits building exteriors which lead to diminished property values nearby.

Nuisances also can involve other crimes, including damage to property, criminal trespassing, theft, robbery, indecent exposure, drugs, disturbing the peace and discharge of a firearm.

Enforcement may be taken against either the person committing the nuisance or the property owner. The penalty ranges from $1,000 to $5,000 for Chronic Nuisance Premises incidences, and failure to pay the fine can result in imprisonment, according to the ordinance. Owners will have 60 days to provide a written plan of action and 45 days to make the necessary improvements.

If a premises is declared a Chronic Nuisance Premises and the premises owner fails to pay the penalties, the owner may be imprisoned for up to 90 days, according to the ordinance. The nuisance is considered abated when no new instances arise for six months following the date the Chronic Nuisance Premises notice was provided.

The decline of Oconto Falls’ downtown isn’t the easiest problem to solve, said Wills, who helped to revitalize Manitowoc as an economic developer there.

Oconto Falls’ faced the loss of a major employer, Scott Paper, which closed its Oconto Falls facility in the late 1990s, he said. As some of the properties stood vacant, they began being offered as housing units, but weren’t well maintained.

The transformation of retail away from Main Street merchants and toward large discount retailers and e-commerce sites also has affected towns throughout the United States, and is part of the problem Oconto Falls faces, Wills said.

“Walmart and Amazon aren’t going to sponsor your kids’ soccer team or raise funds for the fire department,” Wills said. “That part is really important for small communities. We need $1,000 to sponsor a K9 unit or have that Trick or Treat Trail. It’s the same 25 businesses we go to. No one from Amazon is sending a check,” he said. “They take our money, but we’re not getting the local support to ensure our community is still here.”

“You’ve got to build a project to get more revenue, but everybody is looking to us to build the project,” Wills said.

The city council is working with Municipal Adviser Joe Murray of Ehlers to float a bond to provide the city with funds for improvements, he said. The Columbia Street roadway and utility reconstruction project from south Chestnut Avenue to Farm Road is scheduled to start in March 2025 and be completed in November 2025, according to city documents.

“In that borrowing, we are looking at funding street department items,” Wills said. Some of the expenses will result in savings, such as a $13,500 stump grinder, he said. “We’ve had to cut all these trees down. We’re paying $340 to $400 will per hour to cut them down.” The grinder could pay for itself in a year and a half, Wills said.