NCWRPC Newsletter - Winter 2021

NCWRPC News | Winter 2021 | Issue 71

North Central Wisconsin

Regional Planning Commission

Serving Adams, Forest, Juneau, Langlade, Lincoln,

Marathon, Oneida, Portage, Vilas, and Wood Counties since 1973

NCWRPC 2021 Work Program

The NCWRPC prepares and adopts an Annual Work Plan. Every fall the NCWRPC develops its work program for the following year and adopts that plan in January. However, there is always room for more. Feel free to contact us if your community is thinking about a planning related project. Projects may fall under any of our five program areas of economic development, geographic information systems (mapping), intergovernmental cooperation, land use, and transportation. In addition to several on-going regional efforts related to economic development and transportation, staff typically helps with numerous local level projects, including comprehensive plans, outdoor recreation plans, grant applications, and more.

Staff is always available to answer a phone call, respond to an email, or attend a meeting any time during the year. Contact Dennis Lawrence at dlawrence@ncwrpc.org or (715) 849-5510, Extension 304, to discuss a possible project.

Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Available for Review

The 2021 CEDS Update has been prepared and will be adopted at our January Commission meeting. The document is posted on our website at www.ncwrpc.org for review. The CEDS is prepared as part of our role as the region’s designated Economic Development District by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration (EDA). The CEDS provides a detailed assessment of economic development conditions in the EDD, identifies regional goals and objectives, outlines a Regional Economic Development Strategy, and includes a list of critical regional investment projects.

The document highlights some of the changes in our region. Between 2000 and 2020, our Region’s population grew by over 17,000 persons or about 4 percent, meanwhile the state grew at over 9.2 percent. Five counties lost population over that period, which includes Forest, Langlade, Lincoln, Oneida, and Wood. Of the five that increased, Juneau County showed the greatest percentage growth, followed by Marathon and Portage Counties. Over that same period, regional employment decreased by about 8,000 jobs, a 3 percent decrease, while the state grew by almost 5 percent. Only three counties experienced an increase in employment, these were Juneau, Marathon, and Portage.

Since our designation, the NCWRPC has successfully secured over $25 million dollars from EDA for projects identified in our CEDS to spur regional economic development. Some recent projects include a wastewater treatment plant upgrade in Wisconsin Rapids, the Wood Technology Center of Excellence in Antigo, business park expansions in the cities of Adams and Mauston, and a Workforce Training & Entrepreneur Center in Lac du Flambeau.

In addition to the CEDS, the NCWRPC is working to prepare a Regional Recovery Plan for the region. This effort will focus on the recent pandemic and identify strategies to build back better. Some of the core areas to be examined are workforce, housing, broadband, and childcare. In addition, there is work being completed related to resiliency as well as health. When these efforts are concluded the CEDS will be updated to incorporate those findings. A committee is being formed for the Recovery Planning effort. If you have any interest serving on this committee, please contact our office.

If you have any questions about these efforts, contact Dennis Lawrence at (715) 849-5510, Extension 304, or at dlawrence@ncwrpc.org.

First Round of Regional Safe Routes to School Wraps Up

The NCWRPC is in the final stages of completing plans for 25 schools across 11 districts in North Central Wisconsin as part of its Regional Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program. The effort began with a successful TAP grant application by the NCWRPC in January of 2018. Additional funding to support the grant was provided by the NCWRPC. This regional effort effectively leveraged local funds with state funds to greatly increase safe routes programming in the region and state. The funding has allowed the NCWRPC to build on previous SRTS planning efforts and greatly expand the Regional SRTS Program. A Regional SRTS Program Summary document was prepared in the fall of 2020:

View the Regional SRTS Program Summary

The school districts include Adams-Friendship, Elcho, Lac-du-Flambeau, Mauston, Merrill, Minocqua, Mosinee, Nekoosa, Stratford, Wabeno, and White Lake. The districts were divided into two groups, with five plans being created from 2018 to 2019 and six from 2019 to 2020. For each district the planning process began in the fall with collecting data and establishing a task force. Data included Parent Surveys and 3-Day Student Arrival and Departure Tallies from the National Safe Routes to School Center. Data was then inputted into their data system and the National SRTS Center compiled the results.

The NCWPRC assisted with task force creation and the committee included representatives from the schools, respective municipalities, law enforcement, health department, PTO, and other members who were determined to be beneficial to the planning process. The NCWRPC then lead a series of three task force meetings over the course of the school year. In this way, recommendations around the 5 E’s (education, encouragement, engineering, enforcement, and evaluation) could be drafted. Plans were created for each school district and individual action plans were created for each school. Once recommendations were drafted, school board and community feedback was solicited. This provided an opportunity for comments and concerns to be addressed and integrated. Each final draft plan was approved in late spring/early summer.

The Regional Safe Routes to School program is continuing to expand. Funding for the Wausau School District was awarded in 2018, and work will begin in 2021. This work will include a total of eight elementary schools and two middle schools. Looking toward the future, there are 56 total school districts that are located fully or partially within the region, 41 of which are based within the region. At present, 16 school districts, or over one third have partnered with NCWRPC on their SRTS planning. This means there is still a great deal of SRTS planning potential within the region. We look forward to partnering with the remaining districts and continuing to realize successful outcomes with regard to walking and biking to school.

For more information or to sign-up for future Safe Routes to School Planning in your area, please contact Carrie Edmondson at 715-849-5510 extension 311, or at cedmondson@ncwrpc.org.

WROC Aerial Imagery Available

The Wisconsin Regional Orthoimagery Consortium (WROC), started back in 1995, has made high-quality, cost-effective, statewide orthoimagery and elevation data possible. Statewide orthoimagery coverage was a lofty goal but one we’re proud to report was achieved with the support from federal, state, county, tribal, municipal and private partnership. The program management team, again delivered even in the midst of a global pandemic – and we’re pleased to learn that NCWRPC and Ayres Associates will be awarded the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Wisconsin Engineering Excellence Award for a successful statewide project.

This is the sixth WROC cycle led by NCWRPC. The WROC 2020 program consisted of over 100 countywide and municipal projects supported by 20+ partnerships that were brought together to create an incredibly successful program (and the highest participation level achieved to date). WROC formed many partnerships among local, state, federal, tribal, and private agencies to make the consortium a success. NCWRPC continues to focus on building a sustainable statewide consortium. Without the hard work by everyone involved, WROC would not be the tremendous success that it is today, nor would we have been able to achieve statewide 12-inch-pixel orthoimagery.

For more information contact Andy Faust, 715-849-5510, ext. 305 or afaust@ncwprc.org.

Pavement Rating Assistance Available

It is time once again for local governments in Wisconsin to submit surface condition ratings for all local roads under their jurisdiction. State statute 86.302(2) requires that the ratings be submitted to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation every two years. In 2019, the NCWRPC submitted the mandated condition ratings for 32 communities, including 1 county, 2 cities, 5 villages and 24 towns. In total, over 1,550 miles of road were driven by Commission Staff. The next round of submissions will be due to WisDOT by December 15, 2021.

Commission Staff will be providing a variety of services to local units of government within the Region to meet their needs for pavement rating and submitting to WisDOT. Recognizing the impact of COVID-19 on local budgets, the NCWRPC will continue to offer most of these services free-of-charge to member communities, including our newest members in Portage and Wood counties. If you think your community would like to utilize the services of the NCWRPC to help you with this pavement rating mandate, please contact Darryl Landeau, AICP at 715-849-5510 extension 308 or dlandeau@ncwrpc.org.

COVID-19 Technical Assistance Efforts & Resources

COVID-19 Efforts

In an effort to help communities throughout the Region recover from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCWRPC has been providing a variety of technical assistance, including grant assistance to several communities and organizations to prepare and submit EDA and other state and federal agency applications. To date, the NCWRPC has helped prepare EDA grant applications for the communities of Antigo, Marathon City, Wausau, Wisconsin Rapids, and the non-profit organization CREATE Portage County, while providing assistance to the McMillan Memorial Library and the Mole Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

The NCWRPC is also offering other technical assistance and capacity building in the areas of workforce housing, broadband, downtown development, freight rail, paper & forestry, tourism & recreation, comprehensive planning, and other plan efforts at the local, tribal, county, regional, and state levels.

COVID-19 Resources

The NCWRPC is also continuing to develop a list of resources for small businesses and communities to respond to the challenges they face as the pandemic continues to impact economic, social and health conditions throughout the Region. Our COVID-19 webpage contains updates on the latest information and resources, available funding opportunities, organizations offering essential guidance and resources during the pandemic, resources for local governments, and a dashboard tracking COVID-19 case trends throughout Wisconsin.

NCWRPC COVID-19 webpage

USDA Rural Development has taken a number of immediate actions to help rural residents, businesses, and communities affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, with more information about their efforts available on the USDA Rural Development COVID-19 Response Webpage. As part of these efforts, the USDA created a resource guide containing a matrix that organizes funding opportunities identified in stimulus bills and other federal resources that can help support rural America through the COVID-19 pandemic.

View the USDA's COVID-19 Federal Rural Resource Guide

In an effort to aid small businesses and community groups navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic, Wisconsin Main Street and the WEDC have developed the Rising to Challenges - Navigating through COVID-19 in Wisconsin: Strategies and Resources for Small Businesses and Community Groups guide. The guide includes a list of resources and strategies that will help meet the needs of residents and customers in the digital space and provides resources to help address the short- and long-term, challenges currently facing many businesses and communities in light of current and rapidly changing circumstances.

Rising to Challenges - Navigating through COVID-19 in Wisconsin: Strategies and Resources for Small Businesses and Community Groups

Regional Dashboard

The NCWRPC is currently in the process of developing a regional dashboard. The regional dashboard will measure regional trends for various key indicators organized into three categories: Economic, Social, and Health; while also including a category that tracks the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The regional dashboard will help to measure the health and direction of the Region and will help identify the Region's strengths and weaknesses. By tracking or analyzing various data, the Region can improve their current economic, social and health situations, and can help spur recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, while using the data tracked to help develop a future economic outlook.

Potential Indicators:

Total Population / by Age Cohorts
Total Employment
Unemployment Rate
Per Capita & Median Household Income
Broadband Access & Reliability

Welcome Portage County!

NCWRPC Website

Check it Out

On behalf of the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, we would like to extend a warm welcome to Portage County and all its communities. The Portage County Board of Supervisors recently took action to become a fully participating member in the NCWRPC. Over the years, many of the cities, villages and towns have been members, but not the county itself. We would like to thank the County Board for its visionary decision and its support of intergovernmental cooperation. We encourage county organizations and communities to give our website a look or give us a call to explore the many services we provide and see how we might be able to help. We look forward to working with many of you in the coming years. Remember, by working together, everyone achieves more!

From time to time, we like to remind folks that there is a variety of information that can be found on our website. We are constantly updating our content with helpful information, including our newsletters, meeting agendas and minutes, and the documents we prepare for our counties and local communities.

Our website is organized by our five overall work program areas, such as economic development or land use. It is also laid out to search by county. Every plan we have prepared since 2000 is posted and can be viewed or downloaded. Check it out at www.ncwrpc.org.

We encourage you to give the website a look, and we hope you find it useful!

EMSI Analyst Reports

The NCWRPC continues its partnership with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to provide economic development analysis data throughout the Region. A comprehensive economic modeling program, called Analyst, developed by Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI) is a tool that provides industry/ occupation data, impact assessments, and economic base analysis information.

Detailed quarterly summary economic reports have been prepared for each county. Those are available on our website. Requests for additional data can also be made on the website at http://www.ncwrpc.org/emsi/data-request/.

2020 4th Quarter Economic Overviews