WEDC recently launched a new round of Vibrant Spaces grants for communities to beautify and enhance little-used spaces in their downtowns. Communities with a vacant or underutilized space within a key commercial corridor are encouraged to apply for grants ranging from $25,000 to $50,000 under the Vibrant Spaces Grant Program.

Competitive Projects will:

• Incorporate multiple improvements within or associated with one public space
• Demonstrate community engagement and support via community document/plan and/or letters of support from public, private, and civic partners
• Be ready to begin construction during 2025
• Increase the number and types of audiences using the space
• Create visible and lasting transformation that fosters public activity

This grant program is available to municipalities of all sizes. The deadline to submit an application is December 9th, and awards will be announced in Spring 2025.

For more information, please visit WEDC's Vibrant Spaces Grant page.

The Wisconsin Regional Orthophotography Consortium (WROC), organized by the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, has once again chosen Ayres Associates as the program management team for WROC. Ayres will subcontract NV5 Geospatial for the imagery acquisition.

The approach for WROC will be similar to the methods used in 2010, 2015, and 2020. We'll start from the ground up, organizing local projects into regional ones while seeking state, federal, and private partners to help offset local project costs.

The main difference this time is that we will be flying in 2023, 2024, and 2025, offering members more frequent update opportunities. We will also see higher-resolution imagery acquired this cycle. All imagery will be compiled into regional and state datasets for our partners.

More details are available here.

For more information contact Andy Faust at 715-849-5510 extension 305, or afaust@ncwrpc.org.

In response to growing concerns over housing affordability, the NCWRPC has partnered with Adams County Economic Development, the Adams County Housing Committee and the USDA- Rural Partners Network to conduct a housing study for Adams County. This housing study will recommend a variety of strategies and programs that each individual community may explore depending on their own needs to encourage the construction and rehabilitation of needed housing.

As part of the Adams County Housing Study planning process, the NCWRPC has partnered with Adams County to produce the Adams Housing Study Survey, which is open now. Data collected from the survey will be used to provide some recommendations on how to make it easier for housing to be built in Adams County at prices residents can afford.

To take the survey please click below. For more information about the Adams County Housing Study, please contact Sam Wessel at 715-849-5510 extension 303 or swessel@ncwrpc.org.

Every ten years your comprehensive plan needs to be updated. So every plan completed in 2014 or earlier is due for an update. An update can range from a total rewrite to a simple map amendment.

NCWRPC staff has substantial experience working with communities to develop and update comprehensive plans. Since 2000, we have completed over 100 comprehensive plans in our ten-county region. The NCWRPC website provides a variety of information and contains links to many of the plans that have been completed. Visit www.ncwrpc.org.

We can help. Give our office a call and we can discuss the best approach for your community. Contact Dennis Lawrence at 715-849-5510 extension 304 or dlawrence@ncwrpc.org.