WEDA Wire – May 27, 2022

Since its inception, WEDA has had a hand in launching and developing the careers of hundreds of economic development professionals who continue to work to advance growth and prosperity across Wisconsin. WEDA has done this in a variety of ways, providing numerous avenues for individuals looking to enhance their careers in the field – from conferences and educational seminars to networking events and peer-to-peer guidance. However, one of the key professional development programs offered by WEDA is the Basic Economic Development Course (BEDC).

The well-regarded four-day BEDC course covers topics one needs to know when investigating and navigating the often-rough economic development waters. Attendees can take advantage of this in-depth interactive opportunity to discuss so many aspects of economic development such as Project Financing, Workforce Development, Strategic Planning, Marketing Techniques, Real Estate, and Business Retention.

WEDA’s Basic Economic Development Course is the only one in the state and is accredited by the International Economic Development Council. This year’s course is gearing up and will be held September 12-15 in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Longtime WEDA supporter VJS Construction (www.vjscs.com) will host the class at their offices giving attendees an excellent opportunity to experience how the professions positively impacts and coordinates with the construction and building profession.

At first glance, the waters of economic development seem deep and overwhelming. It can even be choppy or turbulent. Knowing that an organization such as WEDA exists that can provide often needed “life jackets” and “improved swimming techniques” sure makes it easier to jump into the profession!

Greetings from WEDA… As aways, we are excited to represent and support the economic development profession in Wisconsin – and especially our members in every corner of our great state. As we head into Memorial Day, I hope you all enjoy the weekend with your family and friends. I know I will, but I will also make time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to serve out nation and preserve our freedom.

In addition, I want to take a few minutes to assure you the State of the Association is strong as we approach the halfway point of the year. Lastly, I want to update you on a handful of association matters:

• The ninth annual Community and Economic Development Awards (CEDA) ceremony is only four months away and will be held as part of WEDA’s best practices conference at the end of September. As you know, the CEDA Awards program was established by WEDA to recognize businesses, projects, and organizations that are making exceptional contributions to advance economic growth and prosperity in Wisconsin. CEDA Award nominations will open on June 1, so don’t miss this opportunity to showcase your community’s exciting economic development success stories. Please consider nominating an innovative project – rural or urban – for a 2022 CEDA Award. More information on the nomination process will be sent out very soon.

• Thank you to all members who celebrated Economic Development Week earlier this month. Hopefully, it provided you with an opportunity to showcase your community and highlight the contributions you made in advancing your local economy.

• WEDA continues to connect with members and other economic development professionals across the state. For example, I recently “hit the road” to attend the WI Rural Partners conference to promote WEDA, the benefits of membership, and our CRA Network. In addition, our CRA “professor” David Kircher recently attended the LENDERS Conference held in Wisconsin Dells to market the CRA Network and how it can play a role in advancing exciting CRA eligible projects.

• FYI… The FDIC is offering a free webinar series on navigating the New Market Tax Credit program. CLICK HERE to register.

• Also, why I hate to even mention this, like everyone else, inflation is hitting WEDA hard. While I have been trying hard to avoid this, we have no choice but to raise membership rates and event registrations by approximately 10%. Please keep that in mind as you work with your own budgets.

Again, have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend! I look forward to seeing you at future WEDA events.

WEDC Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes

WEDC joined Governor Evers in celebrating National Economic Development Week (May 9-13) by announcing several major investments that demonstrate the breadth and depth of our state’s support for Wisconsin businesses.

From Main Street retailers building their dreams with just a few workers to iconic global brands that employ thousands, WEDC and its partners are committed to ensuring that businesses of every size and in every corner of our state prosper.

These recent investments include:

• $22.5 million in additional performance-based tax credits for Milwaukee Tool to support its latest expansion, which calls for an additional $206 million in capital expenditures by the company and the creation of 1,000 new jobs in Wisconsin.
• $12 million in credits to assist Fincantieri Marinette Marine in building the next generation of Constellation class frigates for the U.S. Navy. The company plans to invest at least $100 million in improvements to its Marinette and Sturgeon Bay shipyards and create 400 jobs over the next three years.
• $2.5 million in tax credits to assist Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, a leading genetic medicine company, to support a $220 million expansion in Verona that will create more than 230 high-paying jobs.

Additionally, the governor announced $25 million in additional funding for the popular Main Street Bounceback grants, raising total funding for the program to $75 million.

The Main Street Bounceback grants provide $10,000 to businesses and nonprofits that move or expand into vacant storefronts. So far, more than 4,200 businesses in all 72 counties have received these grants; the new funding means a total of 7,500 businesses will qualify for the grants. The grants are available on a first-come, first-served basis through Dec. 31.

As part of those announcements, Governor Evers, Deputy Secretary Sam Rikkers, and I had the chance to visit some of the latest Main Street Bounceback grant recipients recently. The governor and I went record-shopping at Audiolust Records in La Crosse, stopped at Brew & Sip and the Schweet Shop in Amery, and visited Honest Dog Books and Silverwaves Jewelry in Bayfield.

A few days later, Sam joined the governor in Stevens Point, where they visited Fall Line Outfitters and Caroline’s Bridal Boutique, and in Milwaukee, where they stopped at the new 3^rd Street Market Hall. The Hall, site of the former Grand Avenue Mall, is home to 13 new businesses – Dairyland, Valor Aquaponics, Treat MKE, TEMPO, Kawa 3rd St., Amano Bakery, Anytime Arepa, Dawg City Specialty Hotdogs, Hot Dish Pantry, Make Waves, Paper Plane Pizza, Strega Milwaukee, and The Greenhouse that have received Main Street Bounceback grants.

Whether it’s talking with workers at Milwaukee Tool who are proud to be putting the name of their hometown on some of the best power tools in the world, or the owners of a bookstore in Bayfield, there’s a feeling of excitement in our state about what the future holds.

It’s also a reminder of our how conscious efforts at WEDC to “walk and chew gum” throughout the pandemic and its recovery – that is, to meet the immediate needs of businesses for assistance while continuing our traditional missions of business attraction and expansion, growing our exports, and investing in innovators and entrepreneurs – are bearing fruit.

A recent analysis shows Wisconsin has allocated a bigger share of federal pandemic aid to assisting businesses than any other state and ranks second in the share of federal funds allocated to economic development.

The strategic investments our state has made through programs like the Main Street Bounceback and Workforce Innovation Grants, as well as our traditional assistance programs, are aimed at making sure Wisconsin is in the best possible position for future growth.

Missy Hughes is Secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the state’s leading economic development organization.

By Melissa Hunt, CEcD, EDFP, Municipal Services Manager, Mark Steward, AICP, Senior Community Development Consultant, and Katherine Westaby, AICP, Community Development Consultant, Vierbicher

We’ve all heard stories or felt the impact of the housing crisis. Employers desperately need employees, but their new hires cannot find housing. The local school district just hired five new teachers for the upcoming school year, but they cannot find housing. Worse yet, do you need a place for your family to live? On top of that we have rising rates and building supplies are expensive and not readily available.

The demand for housing far exceeds the supply in many communities across Wisconsin. As a result, local officials are pressured to not only create new housing but create affordable housing. As a result, many successful best practices have emerged to help navigate the housing crisis.

Successful Housing Strategies

New challenges require new ideas. Communities need to be flexible and open to different approaches.  In our experience, best practices include:

• Ordinance Amendments: Modify design standards to reduce development costs. Update zoning standards to accommodate higher density or newer housing products such as zero lot line housing.
• Local Housing Strategies: Each community is unique, and so are the obstacles to developing new housing. Topics to consider include land availability, developer recruitment, community-led projects, transitioning single-family housing stock from seniors to young families, mixed-use development, and more.
• Tax Incremental Financing (TIF): Using TIF to create newly platted residential development and affordable multi-family housing.
• Public Funding Programs: Explore available public funding opportunities to create affordable housing including WHEDA low-income housing tax credits and loans, USDA Rural Development loans and loan guarantees, HUD HOME, and CDBG programs.

Put it all Together

Best practices include:

Design Guidelines: Infrastructure represents a considerable cost for new residential development. While local design guidelines need to ensure the infrastructure is adequately designed and constructed, there are modifications to standard guidelines that can reduce costs. For example, many communities have found that narrower streets not only reduce cost but arguably improve safety due to calming traffic.  Reducing the street width from forty feet to thirty-two feet can reduce infrastructure costs by 15 percent.

Higher Density Housing: Increasing the density of new residential development can significantly reduce the development costs per unit. Residential development costs include land acquisition, entitlements and fees, professional services, infrastructure, marketing, and carrying costs.  Many of these costs are fixed, so the cost per unit decreases if they can be spread over more housing units. For example, single-family lots that are 60 feet wide have roughly a 40% lower development cost per unit versus 100-foot-wide lots. Due to market constraints, many communities have already experienced higher density development and have updated their local zoning ordinances to meet that need.

Zero Lot Line Housing: Zero lot line zoning is quickly gaining in popularity across the state. This zoning allows owner-occupied units to have common walls between the units. Zero lot line zoning benefits include less administrative cost versus condominiums and a significant reduction in development costs versus conventional single-family housing. For example, a two-unit owner-occupied building can result in a 40 to 50 percent reduction in development costs versus conventional single-family housing.  As a result, developers using zero lot line housing are finding significant interest from first-time home buyers, empty nesters, and seniors.

Senior to Workforce Housing Transition: An emerging strategy to address the demand for workforce housing is to transition existing housing stock occupied by senior citizens to workforce housing. Supplying affordable housing for young working families will help address the workforce shortage, plus bring school-age kids into your community, which many rural school districts desperately need. But there is one challenge. Many seniors want to stay in their homes. To address this challenge, communities can promote the development of attractive housing options for seniors that will make them comfortable making a move. New developments should provide optional housing choices, including rental or owner-occupied, plus amenities available to enhance quality of life. New senior house stock can make a major impact on the houses market. The homes that senior move out of now are available workforce-age families.

Public Funding Strategies

While there are many public programs available to promote affordable housing, . Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) is the best local funding tool available. There are numerous TIF strategies available including:

• Mixed-Use Tax Incremental Districts (TIDs): Mixed-Use TIDs are the only TIDs that can fund newly platted residential development. Up to 35% of the territory within a Mixed-Use TID may be devoted to newly platted residential development. Eligible TIF expenditures include land acquisition, infrastructure, site development, developer incentives, and other soft costs. In addition, the development needs to meet one of the following criteria: density of at least three units per acre, conservation subdivision, or a traditional neighborhood.

• Affordable Housing Extension: Communities can now extend the life of a TID for up to one year and use the additional revenue for affordable housing. At least 75% of the additional revenue must be used for affordable housing – defined as housing costs that are less than 30% of the household’s gross income. The remaining funds may be used to improve the housing stock anywhere in your community, not just within the TID.

• Infill, Redevelopment & Rehab-Conversion Housing: New housing development, not involving newly platted residential, can be funded by most types of TIDs. These projects may include multi-family housing on vacant parcels, redevelopment sites, or converting old buildings to residential. TIF can be used for acquisition, demolition, environmental remediation, site improvements, infrastructure, developer incentives, and soft costs. In many cases these types of projects also use other public funding programs like low income tax credits, loans or loan guarantees from agencies such as WHEDA, USDA Rural Development, or HUD. Thus, TIF can play a critical part in bridging the financing gap and can be leveraged to secure other funding.

From starter to senior housing, creative communities make decisions that are in the best interest of citizens and are market friendly. Smaller lots sizes, walkable neighborhoods and increased community amenities are trends that we will continue to see and will be what people look for in their neighborhoods. We will also continue to see the need for more affordable housing options in our communities. This results in homes our teachers, healthcare workers and young professionals can afford. Elected officials have to make the decision to embrace change, be flexible and may require outside of the box thinking. The communities that put together the best mix of housing options should experience growth in their community, increases in tax base and will provide flexibility, many housing options and opportunities for all residents.

About Vierbicher Associates, Inc.: Vierbicher started in 1976 with the mission to enhance Wisconsin communities and their residents’ quality of life. Today, more than 45 years later, our multi-faceted team continues to help Wisconsin communities and developers meet their unique development and revitalization goals- all with the least impact possible to taxpayers. Vierbicher’s services include engineering, planning & community development, water resources, surveying, GIS and landscape architecture.

By State Representative Rick Gundrum 

In the new 2023-24 legislative session, I have the honor of chairing the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economy and Small Business Development. Strong economic development is the key toward a more prosperous Wisconsin. The committee began the new session by holding informational hearings to learn what we as legislators can do to help business leaders in this state. These are the top four issues that came from those hearings:

• Reduce regulatory burdens – Wisconsin continues to have some of the most restrictive regulations for businesses in the country.  Every dollar spent by a business on expensive, complicated and burdensome regulations is a dollar that can’t be spent on increasing wages, expanding workforce or growing business.
• Defend the Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit – Many  businesses  rely on the MAC for their financial health. It was a mistake for Governor Tony Evers to limit the manufacturing portion of the MAC in his budget proposal. Tax credits are necessary to help with economic growth in all sectors of Wisconsin’s economy.
• Repeal Wisconsin’s personal property tax – This antiquated tax has been on the books way too long. Removal of this unfair tax will eliminate financial burdens on job creators and spur economic growth.
• Make investments in infrastructure – A more prosperous Wisconsin depends on a safe, robust, and reliable transportation infrastructure.  Continued investment is necessary.

The Wisconsin Legislature has already started addressing some of these concerns, and we will continue to focus on workforce development policy solutions to help reduce the labor shortage and meet the needs of our business community.

We keep the state in a strong fiscal position by keeping Wisconsinites employed and expanding the workforce and not hindering Wisconsin businesses.  The key toward a more prosperous Wisconsin is state government agencies working together supporting private sector businesses.

Representative Rick Gundrum (R-Slinger) represents the 58th Assembly District and serves as the Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economy and Small Business Development.

Governor Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) today announced that 21 school districts throughout the state have been awarded a total of more than $508,000 in grants to establish or expand local fabrication laboratory (fab lab) facilities.

“Fab labs provide students throughout Wisconsin with access to the hands-on experience and training necessary to prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow and beyond,” said Gov. Evers. “We’re glad to be awarding these funds to 21 school districts today so they can establish or expand their fab lab programs, which continue to benefit entire communities across our state by fostering collaboration, bolstering access to technology, encouraging innovation, and inspiring the next generation of leaders.”

The fab lab is a high-technology workshop equipped with computer-controlled manufacturing components such as 3D printers, laser engravers, computer numerical control routers and plasma cutters. Through its Fab Lab Grant Program, WEDC is supporting the purchase of fab lab equipment for instructional and educational purposes by elementary, middle, junior high or high school students.

“WEDC has invested more than $3.9 million over the past seven years to provide 106 schools across the state with the equipment necessary to help students learn high-demand skills, including technology, manufacturing and engineering,” said Missy Hughes, secretary and CEO of WEDC. “Fab labs benefit not only the students themselves with important technology and career skills, but they also benefit Wisconsin employers, who will be able to find workers with the right skills to allow their companies to grow and thrive.”

The following school districts were awarded Fab Lab Grants today:

• School District of Belleville – $15,000
• Bowler School District – $25,000
• School District of Elmwood – $25,000
• Joint School District Number 8, Village of Fontana, Towns of Delavan and Walworth (Consortium) – $32,399
• School District of Iola-Scandinavia – $25,000
• Kewaunee School District – $25,000
• Lake Mills Area School District – $25,000
• School District of Manawa – $25,000
• School District of Mauston – $25,000
• Milwaukee Board of School District – $25,000
• New Auburn School District – $24,963
• School District of Omro – $25,000
• School District of Phillips – $25,000
• School District of Pittsville – $25,000
• School District of Prentice – $25,000
• School District of River Falls – $25,000
• Francis School District – $25,000
• Stoughton Area School District – $10,667
• School District of Three Lakes – $25,000
• School District of Turtle Lake – $25,000
• Waukesha School District – $25,000

The 21 public school districts are receiving a total of $508,030 in Fab Lab Grants from WEDC. Individual school districts were eligible for up to $25,000, and consortiums of two or more districts were eligible for up to $50,000. The program requires matching funds from each district.

WEDC received 25 applications, which were evaluated based on readiness and long-range planning, curriculum, business and community partnerships, financial need and previous awards. The review committee consisted of experts from Fox Valley Technical College as well as three WEDC team members.

In addition to the grants, WEDC has developed a fab lab resource page for its website that provides districts with information on how to set up and equip a fab lab, how to implement best practices to ensure a successful fab lab and more. Content for the page was provided by the University of Wisconsin-Stout and Fox Valley Technical College.

For more information on the state’s fab labs, including resources for teachers, visit wedc.org/fablabs or follow #WIFabLab on Twitter.

The WEDA Academy held its latest webinar – Exploring Opportunities in Freight Rail – on May 4.  Participants expanded their knowledge of the freight rail industry, learned about processes and important considerations when developing a freight rail project, and explored potential programs and resources for building freight rail industry spurs in Wisconsin.  The program featured three speakers with a wealth of experience in the industry – Brian Buchanan, Sales Manager, Watco Companies LLC; Jeff Francis, Owner, Principal and Railroad Engineer, TerraTec Engineering; and Rich Kedzior, Freight Rail Program Manager, Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

The next Academy program will be a webinar on August 3 – Placemaking: Creating Your Quality Place.  The program will provide an introduction to Placemaking and will feature examples of successful efforts.  As I have been researching placemaking initiatives, I ran across this definition offered by the Project for Public Spaces:

“Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value. More than just promoting better urban design, placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.”  The Placemaking program is currently being finalized and registration will be available in June on the WEDA website at weda.org.

The Academy is planning two additional programs for 2022, a comprehensive program – Best Practices in Workforce Attraction September 28, which will be held prior to the WEDA Best Practices Conference, as well as exciting TIF Fundamentals webinar scheduled for  November 2.

I hope that you will be able to join us for one or more of these highly informative and affordable economic development educational opportunities. As a reminder, be sure to look for approved credits/points for continuing education/recertification on the course registration information.

Please reach out to me at kheady@weda.org if you have any questions