V&A News

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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PORTAGE COUNTY: The Public Information Meeting on October 29^th, 2024, for Portage County’s Safety Action Plan study was a big success, with numerous attendees sharing their thoughts about traffic safety.  The interactive learning tables helped explain concepts such as positively offset left-turn lanes, advanced yield lines, and multi-lane roundabout driving. 

Vandewalle & Associates has been leading the Portage County Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan update, one piece of the Portage County Safety Action Plan.

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WATERTOWN WISC. (EXCERPTS FROM WDTIMES.COM): The Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation (GWCHF) has stepped up its efforts to bring public and private entities together to address the community’s shortage of homes for sale with four projects.

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MONONA, WIS. (EXCERPTS FROM ISTHMUS.COM): New housing in “landlocked” Monona? Hemmed in by Lake Monona and the City of Madison, Monona lacks the cornfields along its borders that are easy for communities to annex, subdivide, and develop.

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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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Eye Level Studio redesigned the Cave of the Mounds Visitor Center which reopened its doors this summer. The team also developed concepts and schematic plans for the Visitor Welcome Area which will be implemented next year.

Eye Level Studio has now developed concept plans and fresh stories for the Cave Entrance Building and its site and new destination, the Quarry.

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(JACKSON, WIS – WITH EXCERPTS FROM JSONLINE.COM): As the Village Jackson sees big surge in sales, Washington County’s focus on building Next Generation Housing is paying off in a rise in home sales.

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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, 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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MADISON, WIS. (EXCERPTS FROM MADISON.COM) – Madison’s City Council has given final approval for an eight-story apartment building and a six-story hotel that would neighbor the historic Hotel Ruby Marie.

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STEVENS POINT, WIS. — Stevens Point has approved a new vision for an area of downtown with a Targeted Area Master Plan developed with the help of Vandewalle & Associates and the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Stevens Point.

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The former Shopko located within the targeted area is slated to become part of a new mixed use development. Demolition of the structure is the first stage of the project to be redeveloped with downtown density.

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MADISON, WIS. Madison Landmarks Commission has approved redevelopment plans for the Essen Haus block of Williamson Street. Final approval is still pending.

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BELOIT, WI (WITH EXCERPTS FROM WREX.COM ) – At a May community open house the City and representatives from Vandewalle & Associates opened the dialogue on the Comprehensive Plan Update.

A top priority is the need to create more affordability and flexibility to address the housing crisis.

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EAU CLAIRE, WIS. (EXCERPTS FROM LEADERTELEGRAM.COM) — A study done by Vandewalle & Associates, Inc. gave the city a plan on what could possibly be developed with the Oakwood Mall.

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EAU CLAIRE, WIS. (WITH EXCERPTS FROM LEADERSTELEGRAM.COM) — A study done by Vandewalle & Associates, Inc. gave the city a plan on what could possibly be developed with the Oakwood Mall.

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JEFFERSON, WIS. (EXCERPTS FROM MADISON.COM) – The state EDA has approved up to $15.5 million in tax credits to help Kikkoman Foods Inc. expand its soy sauce-brewing plant in Walworth and to build a new facility in Jefferson.

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WISCONSIN RAPIDS (excerpts from Wisconsin Rapids Tribune) – The idled portions of the Wisconsin Rapids mill will be sold.

At a Planning Commission and Common Council meeting both groups voted to adopt a Wisconsin Rapids Recovery and Reuse Plan developed by Vandewalle & Associates and place it on file in the event it could be used to work with future property owners.

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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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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.

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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MADISON, WISC. (excerpts from www.madison.com) – After talks with the city and neighbors, a developer has refined ambitious plans to redevelop a block that holds the beloved but aging Essen Haus German restaurant Downtown for a hotel, housing and parking.

Vandewalle & Associates has been instrumental in the entitlement process for the property.

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MADISON, WISC. (excerpts from madison.com) The Madison Plan Commission on Monday backed a zoning change to pave the way for a Veridian Homes development that would deliver a mix of 600 homes and apartments to a stretch of farmland on the Far West Side.

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STEVENS POINT (excerpts from the Stevens Point Journal) – City leaders have new ideas for redeveloping the former downtown Shopko property. Documents released Friday afternoon show proposed plans that feature a new transit center and several buildings that include both residential, retail and mixed-use spaces.

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MADISON, WISC. Members of the Vandewalle & Associates and Eye Level Studio team are eager to meet the best next young planners and landscape architects at UW Madison this week!

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VERONA, WIS. (with excerpts from madison.com) – Veridian Homes has been working with Vandewalle & Associates to plan a project on the Far West Side that calls for building a mix of 600 homes and apartment units and adding 40 acres to Elver Park.

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MADISON, WIS. (excerpts from madison.com)–Madison’s building boom continues, largely with housing projects that will bring hundreds of new units to Downtown and across the community.

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MADISON, WISC–(excerpts from CapTimes.com): Crews have broken ground on Rise Madison, one of the largest affordable housing projects in the city, to be built at the site of the former Gardner Bakery at East Washington and North Fair Oaks avenues.

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HORICON – (excerpts from wiscnews.com): The CityView subdivision and Moraine Park Technical College’s Horicon Regional Campus are among the changes Horicon residents will see in 2024.

The largest new business coming to town in 2024 will be the Moraine Park Technical College’s Horicon Regional Campus, which is set on 28 acres of land on the western edge of the city.

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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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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, 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, 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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JACKSON, WI — Harbor Homes and Hillcrest Builders were announced on Wednesday as the two companies who would be constructing homes in The Oaks of Jackson, Washington County’s Next Generation Housing (NGH) pilot development in Jackson.

Members of the two organizations, village government and Washington County government gathered at the Jackson Municipal Complex Wednesday afternoon for the announcement.

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HORICON, WI – Representatives of V&A in,cluding planners Ben Rohr and Scott Harrington, attended the Moraine Park Technical College – Horicon Campus ground breaking in late September. V&A was instrumental in negotiating the deal on behalf of the City of Horicon.