PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Public Participation Community Forum #1 Survey Results Stakeholder Interview

STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS


The Village of Holmen provided the consultant, Schreiber Anderson Associates (SAA), with a list of 16 stakeholders to interview for the Comprehensive Planning process. SAA contacted all stakeholders, and 11 chose to participate in the Stakeholder Interview process. Stakeholders interviewed include the following:

Len Beranek, Pizza Corral
Eugene Alberts, Village Administrator
Karen Spreuer, Lioness/Village
Lori Settler, President of City and Commerce
Pastor Glen Borreson, Lutheran Church
Chief Mike McHugh, Police Chief
John Chapman, Village President
Bob Haines, Village Public Works Dept.
Mike Brogan, Village Parks and Recreation Dept.
Father McHugh, Catholic Church

All stakeholders were asked the same seven (7) questions. Their responses are below. Individual responses will not be revealed to preserve the integrity of the process.

1. What are the most important issues in the community?

• Education/Schools-they rank with private education and this is a core community value
• There are many young families and it is important to maintain the quality of the schools
• Growth is an issue because it is hard to keep up with infrastructure
• Concerned that the community may be growing too quickly
• Traffic congestion will be a big issue with increased growth
• Bike trail along Halfway Creek Park

• Community building-Deerwood Park
• Lighting Deerwood Park
• Park trails entrance
• Need playground equipment upgrades
• Need to create ball fields and tennis courts
• Star Hill development area

• Additional multi-use community parks, especially in the north part of the Village
• Skateboard, other non-traditional park
• Limited activities for kids out of town
• Community recreation span (20 years)
• Containing urban sprawl

• Promoting vitality of central business district
• Farmland preservation
• Environmental protection
• Bedroom community, prefer as residential community
• Better infrastructure expenditures/extensions

• Town does good job of preventing sprawl-wants to encourage growth on the west
• Revitalize Main Street
• Tourism-doesn’t have an anchor downtown
• Main street should be developed as an anchor
• Many connections are broken

• Parks in center of town-dangerous
• Important to listen to cross section of community
• Want growth to north and west
• Multi-family
• Extend planning

• Misconception that Holmen is just a bedroom community-have businesses, but lacking retail and will be hard to compete
• Need clear direction for land use, infrastructure, goals, public policy
• Downtown-redevelop homes into businesses
• Transition districts
• Liaison between school board, municipality and police

• School board-where do they locate?
• School board-reactionary
• Cost of new development vs. non-new development
• Police department operating with less than average
• Bigger community, less close-knit

• Middle school almost at capacity
• Separations between industrial/residential
• Property maintenance
• When industrial uses aren’t separated, causes wrong visual impressions of the Village
• Aesthetics

• Continue system/accessibility of parks (playground, tennis courts, ball diamond, shelters)
• Inclusion of sidewalks important for neighborhoods
• Safety-kids should be able to walk to school
• Desire a walkable community
• Don’t compete with Onalaska for businesses

• What can Holmen do to cultivate/attract businesses?
• High traffic on Main Street-concern that community is not maximizing traffic capture
• Need for Walgreen’s, or other all purpose/general store
• Need for strong community center (s)
• Current library is adequate, but needs reading room space

• Need more points of access-only one from east/west
• Limit “cookie-cutter” style of development
• Growing fast, subdivisions filling immediately
• Is slow growth a possibility?
• Growth isn’t decreasing taxes

• Growth problematic: loses small town feel, schools growing too fast, taxes increasing, struggling infrastructure/services (schools, police, etc)
• Shared taxis for seniors-many rely on this
• Quality of life for seniors
• County nutrition program for elderly
• Shared ride programs

• Welcome businesses so they don’t go elsewhere
• Good boards
• Former guidelines too strict-must be done diplomatically
• Need “small guys”
• Don’t want to be just a bedroom community, need more business

• Service opportunities
• Need Country Kitchen or other sit-down restaurant
• More public and private recreation
• Not enough activities for kids
• Holmen Drive-look for physical design standards (e.g. parking)
• Growth is what restaurants want

2. What is your vision for the future of this community?

• Sense of friendliness
• Small town feel-social item, not physical
• Youthfulness in community
• Capturing from smaller communities
• 18,000-20,000 people

• Nice, well-maintained community
• Green areas and parks in excess of what is required
• Facilities for all ages, from seniors to toddlers
• Superb bedroom community
• Mostly residential

• New well (w/in 7-10 years)
• New reservoir (w/in 7-10 years)
• WWTP (w/in 7-10 years)
• Up to date, no real deficiencies
• Keep up with growth

• Vision for growth
• Main street should be revitalized, more old town living
• Main street-better street lights, benches
• Good schools
• Contact with D.M.S.

• Establish community gateways
• Screening
• Focus on industrial parks
• New pharmacy
• Holmen lighting

• Fine with existing residential
• Themes
• Not just bedroom community-want good mix of values and uses
• Good land for development
• Double population

• Controlled growth
• Keep up with infrastructure
• Don’t limit growth
• Don’t let growth go to town and cause bad development
• Hotel

• Potentially as big as Onalaska
• Small town feel while meeting needs of a growing community
• Low taxes
• Growth not haphazard/piecemeal
• Good placement of utilities

• New library-to be used as a community building
• Redevelop areas along main street (some historic)
• Build on themes
• Holmen more self-sufficient
• Additional retail

• Upscale restaurant
• More children’s activities
• Private recreation opportunities (bowling)
• Use growth as local amenity
• Light manufacturing (non-polluting but adds more local jobs)

• Less of a bedroom community
• Maintain high quality of life with schools
• Village is okay right now

3. What are the community’s strengths?

• Welcoming community with many transplants
• Friendly
• Schools
• Transportation
• Young-transformation to a “hip” community

• Trust government and school board
• Pride-citizens involved with helping in community
• Keeps small town feel through faster paced development
• Natural beauty
• Small town feel

• Bedroom community
• Quiet, no industrial conflicts
• People taking care of properties
• Existing business
• Mall area redevelopment

• Transportation-interstate
• Available land
• Excellent school district
• Affordability
• Village government- as good a system as anywhere

• State of the art aquatic center
• Great parks and recreation areas
• Bike trails (Halfway Creek Trail and Holland Trail)
• Availability of land
• Hwy 53 transition

• Nice, small community
• Good schools
• Good services
• Lowest per capita spending
• Capital expenditures-services

• Roads very adequate-only two fatalities in 20 years
• New elementary school
• Adequate office space
• Scenic/natural beauty
• Good schools

• Good government
• Diverse housing (range of incomes)
• Close to other amenities
• Good regional position
• Look and feel of small town atmosphere

• Good streets and street maintenance
• More sidewalks and walking
• Aquatic center
• Good parks and good park/recreation department
• Warm atmosphere

• Friendly, talkative, outgoing
• “Small town atmosphere”
• Impressive 35
• Clean
• Pool, parks

• Good schools
• Perfect place to live
• Regional feeling of good place
• Kids seem to use parks
• Organizations

• Main street
• Downtown


4. What are the community's weaknesses?

• Lacking pharmacy
• Lack of elderly housing-they are forced to leave the community
• Lack of convenience
• Limited commercial/retail in town
• Small government and people want additional “Big Town” services

• Limited space in schools
• On edge of being larger, which means costly infrastructure updates
• Need for more programs
• Town sprawl-large lots
• How to stop development

• Discourage intergovernmental cooperation
• Town of Holland-tough issues
• Having trouble keeping up with growth
• Help for big businesses, not small
• Main street support lacking from village customers-amend by promoting/encouraging shopping in town

• Need a hotel
• Need a pharmacy
• Need to keep kids in town, capture $ through theatre, etc.
• Need service type business
• No tourist-defining natural feature

• Need ice cream
• Two transportation trouble spots: Holmen Drive (near Burger King/Kwik Trip) and intersection of Holmen Drive and Sunset Drive (high volume)
• Good paying jobs in short supply
• Manufacturing jobs
• Some parks doing better than others

• Lack of retail
• Struggle with strip mall retail opportunities
• Limited redevelopment opportunities downtown
• Difficulty in attracting business
• Homes not contributing to tax base

• Too much additional parking at Holmen Square
• Visibility
• Need new café
• Need new jobs
• Store diversity

• Need new hotel
• Rapid growth
• Kids and vandalism
• Concerns over low income in area
• Build tax base

• Referendum on schools defeated
• Different school funding mechanisms
• Industry
• Investment in buildings
• Large number of small businesses needed

5. What are the community’s opportunities?

• Bedroom community-this is a desired condition
• Small town sense (people scared to lose that)
• Add more facilities
• Bike trail connections
• Tourism from bikes

• Available land in industrial land
• Infill development
• Advertising main street-need downtown visibility-next summer
• Draw people to come for tourism/family reasons because: era, food, area, trails, natural
• Better community

• Redevelop downtown
• Improve business services
• Need restaurants
• Specialty niche downtown
• New bike trail

• Work with Onalaska on town/city services
• Job market
• Business district (capture $ in Holmen)
• Capture metro growth
• Correct weaknesses (build hotel/restaurants)

• Downtown redevelopment, but physical improvements not a priority
• Downtown historical society/senior center first to build momentum for additional downtown improvement

6. What are the community’s threats?

• Growth
• Trust (but positive about leadership, schools)
• Vandalism
• Understaffing
• High taxes to fund new schools and facilities

• Groundwater-many wells close together and adding another
• Perceived speeding problems-no major shortcuts
• Costly disputes with DNR
• Unfunded mandates
• Stormwater

• Updates to treatment plant
• Unfunded mandates
• County sprawl-5 acre lots
• County and towns
• Need senior, assisted, nursing home housing

• Location of duplexes
• Walk-ability
• Halfway Creek-canning factory
• Job of consultants to determine
• Role of economy on bedroom community-mass out-migration potential

• School improvements if development stops
• Growth
• Vandalism
• Growth is ruining small town feel
• Loitering

• Change
• Mentality changing-family
• Growth, traffic

7. Other Comments/Questions?

• Like planning
• Like that Village is concerned with planning