Bonduel rolled out the red carpet for Sam Rikkers, deputy secretary for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, as he came to town Dec. 4 to see how the village is progressing with growth in both the business and residential sectors.
Rikkers got the opportunity to talk with business owners, peruse their shops and check out some of the residential developments in Bonduel. Frigid weather canceled plans to walk around the downtown area, but state and village officials were able to talk about how the village and WEDC are partnering through the Thrive Rural Wisconsin grant program, which is helping to breathe life into smaller communities.
There are currently 17 vacant buildings in Bonduel, the majority of them in the downtown area, according to Jesse Rankin, Bonduel’s municipal operations director. The empty buildings clash with the motor vehicle traffic flowing through the community, as state Highway 117 is one of the busiest streets in Shawano County with an average daily traffic count of 6,200.
Rankin noted it has been slow going, but there are some new businesses opening and another slated to open by the end of the year.
The challenge has been showing that there are businesses open in the village, but Bonduel has been offering businesses facade grants to improve their exteriors. With $100,000 available through the state, the village has approved $40,000 of it so far for businesses, Rankin said.
“We have a couple more applications coming to our RDA (Redevelopment Authority) meeting,” he said.
A lot of the vacant buildings are currently being used as cold storage. One building had the heat turned off, according to Rankin, and burst pipes created water damage as a result. The challenge has been to convince building owners to put in the effort to turn them into functioning businesses again.
“There’s plenty of traffic, but now we need to make a reason for them to stop,” Rankin said.
Bonduel’s descent into being a ghost town started 30 years ago when state Highway 29 was rerouted south of the village boundaries instead of going through the downtown area. Keith Block, who owns a vacant brick building at the intersection of Green Bay Street and Highway 117 that he’s renovating, noted that businesses welcomed less traffic coming from County Road BE, which Green Bay Street is part of, but then the realization that fewer people coming through meant fewer customers set in.
“As the highway disappeared, the first reaction of everyone, including the community, was kind of a sense of relief that the through-traffic was out of the downtown,” Block said, noting a similar thing happened to Wrightstown, where he lives. “I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief that the traffic was gone, but then that’s the sort of thing that kicks you in the rear end. It was a thriving community when traffic was here.”
Rikkers said the situation with Bonduel is not unique, as many small cities and villages are trying to entice people to visit their communities.
“What you guys are doing to put plans together to address it, most communities don’t get there, and then there’s no way to get out of the situation,” Rikkers said.
Rankin noted that the exodus of businesses leaving was intertwined with the reality that no new housing developments had come to the village in 20 years, but that’s also changing. Early in the fall, ground broke on an apartment complex across from Kwik Trip that will provide 48 two-bedroom apartments for the village when completed.
There are also homes being built in the northeast corner of the village through Black Diamond Builders. Seven have been or are in the process of being completed, and six of those have already been sold with an average price of $450,000.
Rankin said there are a couple of other spaces where the village is looking at potential housing for single families and elderly.
“There’s some opportunity here,” he said. “Now that we’ve proven that the need for housing here is a legit need in the village, with those homes already being sold, we can move forward.”
Peter Thillman, executive director for Shawano County Economic Progress Inc., noted that a factor working in the village’s favor is that it has utilized all of WEDC’s programs, including Connect Communities and Small Business Development Grants.
“The beauty of Bonduel is that they’ve taken advantage of all of WEDC,” Thillman said. “They’re part of the mainstream program. They’ve seen all of these opportunities, and they’re taking advantage of it. There are a lot of other communities that aren’t taking advantage of it.”
Rikkers praised the work that the village has done, saying it has what it needs to move forward and revitalize the community.
“You guys created the spark,” Rikkers said. “Now you keep feeding that fire.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
