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Moline looks back on 35 years of change

MOLINE, ILLINOIS (EXCERPTS FROM QUADCITIESBUSINESS.COM): A recent article in QuadCitiesBusiness.com begins to tell the story of our founder, President and CEO Brian Vandewalle’s game-changing work 35 years ago in Moline.

“Downtown Moline looks the way it does largely because 35 years ago people like Jerry Butts, John Slover, Jerry Taylor, Bob Hanson and others were inspired to (form Renew Moline and) pursue a vision for their community” said Renew Moline’s President & CEO Alexandra Elias. A key part of the formula that included generous donations of property and funding from John Deere / Deere & Company and others.

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Remembering Mike Slavney 1957-2024

This past week, communities and the planning field lost one of their most valued advocates, mentors, and friends: Michael A. Slavney, FAICP.

Mike was a huge part of the Vandewalle & Associates formula and family. Though he retired from the company in 2022, he was then and now our Community Planning and Zoning Principal Emeritus.

Mike’s enduring legacy deserves its very own chapter in the firm’s history book. In that spirit, and to pay tribute to this remarkable human, we are publishing the unofficial “preface chapter” in a series of chapters on what built our pioneering practice.

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Kicking off summer with Century School Park Grand Opening

VERONA, WIS – Verona’s new Century School Park on West Verona Avenue held a grand opening event in July. The well-attended event punctuated Summer and launched a whole new season of concerts and community activities. Music in the new bandshell was provided by the Mad City Jug Band as part of Verona Area Chamber of Commerce’s Concerts in the Park series.

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Middleton Zoning code wins Best Practice APA award

MIDDLETON, WISC. – Middleton Zoning Code rewrite has won the American Planning Association – Wisconsin Chapter (APA-WI) Best Practice 2024 award. The award was presented at the annual conference held in Madison on September 12, 2024.

The APA-WI praised the project for being a model for municipalities across the state. The president of APA-WI, Kara Homan, said that the project is an example of a community working to understand and solve the issues they face. 

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Water Council celebrates 15 years of impact

MILWAUKEE, WIS. The Water Council, a global water technology hub sprung from the water industry assets of the greater Milwaukee region, is celebrating its 15th anniversary of action, economic development, and global impact. In this video founding president and CEO Dean Amhaus remarks on Water Council history, major milestones and future. In so doing he gives a nod to the foundational Milwaukee 7 economic asset analysis done by the Vandewalle & Associates team.

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Hancock County plan wins APA award

MUNCIE, IN (excerpts from Greenfield Reporter) — Hancock County and the City of Greenfield each scored a big win at the American Planning Association’s spring conference in Muncie.

The Indiana Chapter of the APA hosted the event at the Ball State University Alumni Center, honoring professional planners and other city and county officials who have excelled in planning for success in communities throughout the state.

Hancock County’s planning director, Kayla Brooks, accepted the award for the county’s 2024 comprehensive plan, which was facilitated by Wisconsin-based Vandewalle & Associates.

A video of the APA Awards can be found here.

Madison advances Sustainability Campus to divert waste, create local circular economies

DANE COUNTY, WISC. (excerpts from landfill.countyofdane.com) – With less than 5 years of landfill space remaining at Dane County’s Rodefeld Landfill, the county has an opportunity to create an innovative plan for its future waste stream.   

A vision has been developed for this site on the East Side of Madison that includes development of a sustainable business park or “Sustainability Campus” to divert waste and create local circular economies. 

This will be accomplished by attracting reuse, repair, and recycling businesses; new waste management technologies; and research.

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Kewauskum announces draft of Downtown Revitalization Plan

KEWASKUM — (excerpts from gmtoday.com): The Village of Kewauskum recently held an open house in the Kewaskum Municipal Annex Building for residents to learn the third draft of the Downtown Revitalization Plan (DRP), hear updates on the new Kewaskum Municipal Building (which was covered in the Jan. 4 Daily News) and share their thoughts about the projects, specifically the DRP, with village representatives and associates from Vandewalle & Associates.

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Next Steps for Next Generation Housing in Washington County

JACKSON, WISCONSIN – The Vandewalle & Associates team has been hard at work implementing the Washington County Next Generation Housing (NGH) Initiative’s pilot development in the Village of Jackson in partnership with Village and County leaders.

Aimed at leveraging a novel funding structure to provide 1,000 new-construction, owner-occupied housing units to address workforce housing needs throughout Washington County by 2032, the NGH initiative will seek to ensure that 75% of the program’s housing units are sold for no more than $320,00 and that 100% are sold for no more than $420,000.

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Madison Johnson-Broom Student Housing Project Receives First Approvals

MADISON, WISCONSIN – (with excerpt from The Cap Times) – The Madison Plan Commission voted unanimously to support a proposal from nationally known student-housing developer Core Spaces to build the 465-unit student housing development near the University of Wisconsin campus. Vandewalle and Associates’ Brian Munson played a significant role in partnership with Core Spaces in getting the project through its first Plan Commission approval, from site selection and lot consolidation to refining the project’s funding structure and procedures.

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Manitowoc Moves to Acquire Catalytic Mall Redevelopment Site

MANITOWOC, WISCONSIN – (excerpt from the Herald Times Reporter): City leaders took a step towards acquiring the former Lakeshore Edgewater Plaza Mall, after recently ruling the site, which overlooks Lake Michigan, a blighted area.

The former Edgewater Plaza Mall was recognized and emphasized within the City’s recent 2023 Comprehensive Plan Update created by Vandewalle & Associates as a key catalytic development opportunity.

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