Shawano and Waupaca counties can tend to draw residents not only through job opportunities, but through something called the “halo effect:” People come on vacation and decide the wide open spaces, lack of traffic and access to recreation are just what they’re looking for in a place to call home. Jeff Anderson, the new president and CEO of the Waupaca Area Chamber, was just such a person.
“In our younger years, when [my wife and I] were first together, we vacationed in Waupaca, boating and camping on the Chain of Lakes,” Anderson says. “When it came time to start a family and plant roots, this is where we ended up because this is a community we fell in love with as visitors first.”
This is not uncommon, says Suzanne Wittman, executive director of the Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce. But once someone decides they want to move to Shawano, she says, they’re invariably met by two major challenges: housing and child care.
“Let’s say you bring in that worker from a different area,” Wittman says. “What is available here? Why would I move here? There’s a lot of opportunity for people to come here if we give them the housing that’s needed, which is why we all need to be involved in developing housing.”
Housing projects get underway
The city of Waupaca is still working to recover from a period of underbuilding (2005-2019) that has resulted in a job-to-housing ratio of 1.9 to 1.
Construction will start this summer on Waupaca’s River North housing development, the first phase of which will include 35 single-family homes and 124 apartment units, says Jarod Kivela, the city’s community and economic development director. The multi-phase development, located just a mile off Highway 10, is being spearheaded by Tycore Built of Howard; additional phases could bring the total project value as high as $69 million.
In the same area, occupancy is anticipated this fall on Mosaic Ventures, LLC’s River North Cottages project, which was awarded WHEDA tax credits last year. Additionally, a project that will add 30 units of market rate apartment housing at 223 Division St. downtown is forthcoming, says Waupaca City Administrator Aaron Jenson.
Elsewhere in Waupaca County, construction is set to begin this summer on the $17 million Wolf River Avenue development that will bring 98 market-rate units to New London’s downtown riverfront. The city has entered into a developer’s agreement with S.C. Swiderski and committed four acres of land, as well as more than $1 million in aid, to the project.
In the city of Shawano, Muscha Properties LLC is developing the Woodland Trails Subdivision near Shawano High School. The project is expected to add 100 units of single-family housing, says Peter Thillman, chief economic development officer for Shawano County Economic Progress.
Thillman says that, overall, efforts to expand housing in Shawano County have slowed recently due to high interest rates. At least one housing project in the county has been delayed, he says; several are on pause. “It probably won’t move until interest rates go under 7%,” Thillman predicts.
Child care conundrum
In April, Shawano County voters rejected a $54.5 million school referendum that would have added day care services for 88 children within one of the district’s elementary schools. There are currently three child care openings for every five kids in the county, and lack of access to child care remains a central workforce issue, Thillman says.
At a Shawano County Progress Summit in March, Samantha Sperberg, chair of the Shawano County Young Professionals, presented results from a survey her organization conducted on the impact of child care shortages. Respondents were asked, “Has the availability and cost of child care affected your decision to extend your family?” An alarming 69% answered yes. In response to the question, “Has your employment been affected by child care?” more than half responded in the affirmative, Sperberg says.
Those numbers set off alarm bells for Wittman, who is keenly aware of the downstream impacts of negative population growth and migration out of the county.
“Part of what we were trying to do was inform our business community … that child care is an issue for the employers because it affects the workforce,” Wittman says. “Something’s gotta change.”
In the wake of the referendum’s defeat, Wittman says she remains committed to tackling the issue.
“We have to go to a plan B and figure out what are the next steps,” she says. “We’re willing to work together; we’re willing to look outside the box.”
Child care issues are far from unique to Shawano or Waupaca counties; the Greater Fox Valley Child Care Alliance was formed to address what officials say is a nationally broken system: Child care workers, by and large, earn poverty-level wages, yet tuitions for families are also unaffordable, resulting in a “lose-lose” scenario.
In Waupaca County, officials hope the forthcoming establishment of a community fund will help stem the flow of child care providers out of the business due to low profits and wages, says Jeff Mikorski, executive director of the Waupaca County Economic Development Corporation.
“That’ll be something we’ll be talking about in the coming months,” Mikorski says. “It’s moving forward in that direction.”
Other noteworthy developments in Shawano and Waupaca counties include:
Waupaca County Catch-a-Ride, which launched in 2023 with funding from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., has provided 10,000 rides and served 58 businesses in its first year and a half; Mikorski says the county is currently exploring ways to continue the program after its Workforce Innovation Grant funds expire next year.
Last fall, First State Bank opened its new headquarters in downtown New London; the bank has donated its former building to the city for development of a new library.
Fox Cities-based metal coating provider Alliance Industries plans to open a third location in Waupaca in 2024; Jenson says he expects the expansion will bring approximately 15 jobs to the community.
Anderson started his role with the Waupaca Chamber May 6, replacing the retired Terri Schulz, who led the organization for three decades. He previously served as the organization’s vice president of tourism, so “this feels a bit like a homecoming for me,” says Anderson.
