November 30, 2021

GRO (at-large) meeting held at 3:30pm at Brickfield Brewing

In attendance: Brent Kapfer, Kelly Gerber, Gordy Lewis, Hallie Pardun, Dale Bistram, Lauren Finch, Dicey Spring, Cris Peterson, Terry Kucera, Nick Kelly, Nicki Peterson

 

Nicki provided some images from a presentation she gave at the Wisconsin Rural Economic Summit. Creating the presentation was eye-opening in how much we have accomplished since GRO’s formation in 2014. Some projects we reviewed/reminisced about were:

  • Madison Ave construction / development – new street, sidewalks, crosswalks, light poles, banners, benches and garbage bins.
  • Fitness trail development by swimming pool
  • Trail kiosks – graphics and structures by Sinclair and Memory Lake
  • Trail map development
  • 14 new businesses to downtown area since 2018
  • Several upgraded facades downtown
  • Housing grant
  • Blueberry Rentals development

We all discussed additional ongoing, new or future projects:

  • 40 acre lot – housing development on Russell/Jackson. Will be in phases starting with 20-22 twin homes. 2nd phase will be single family homes. There’s room for 80 homes. Someone mentioned there will be walking paths, lots of trees/ambiance, etc. Curt Lee, Josh Prusinski & Scott Mclain are involved in this development.
  • Josh Prusinksi’s plans for the former Boyd’s Hardware was discussed. He’ll move Edward Jones back downtown using half the space. Looking to possibly rent out the other half. Basement possibly will become an indoor archer range run by Rich Bistram.
  • Other vacant buildings were discussed with no major updates
  • Terry gave an update on the future campground expansion development. Approximately 30 sites would be developed with a mix of temporary and seasonal sites. Temporary sites drive more $$ to the local economy. Dale said the study showed $400,000 per year in increased revenue in the town could be generated.
    • The update was that the Village has used some COVID money to apply for a grant to provide the financials needed to develop the campground.
    • We inquired whether a playground could be included in the grant but the grant had already been submitted.
  • Watercross was discussed as rolling into the GRO umbrella but will run and be financed separately. This could be a great revenue generator for GRO projects.
  • Splash pad fundraising update was given. We’re at $70,000 of our $170,000 goal. Splash pad committee needs to meet with Village board to understand the future funding of the swimming pool.
  • Kelly is going to ask John Richards if we could create a new banner for the billboard the IDC has by the school in order for it to show off our Grantsburg logo and be cohesive with our downtown banners.
  • Discussion was held around community events such as Big Gust Day – if that should fall under GRO so that there is a cohesive plan. This led to discussion about the Chamber of Commerce as it will be dissolving as of the end of the year if no one takes it over. Hallie & Lauren were interested in learning more about what it would entail to be on the Chamber Board and were interested in running events. There is some overlap / gray area between GRO & the Chamber but the overall difference is that GRO is for the whole community and responsible for carrying the community’s vision for the future forward through various projects whereas the Chamber also has members who pay dues and receive benefits accordingly.

We then went through the GRO committee breakdowns and assigned ourselves to a committee:

Branding/Marketing:
Hallie Pardun, leader
Members: Brent Kapfer, Lauren Finch, Nicki Peterson

Renewal:
Kelly Gerber, leader
Members: Dale Bistram, Cathy McCabe, Nicki Peterson
invite Jerry (Village public works director)

Highway 70
Nick Kelly, leader
Invite Paul Stevens, Tyler Meyer, Katie Worrel, Dan Ohnstad, Scott McClain, Beth Anderson and others who may be interested.

Housing
Cris Peterson, leader
Ben Binversie, Ted Gerber were former members – ask to regroup


Natural Resources
Lauren Finch, leader
Gordy
Invite Beth Anderson from Wild River Outfitters and others who would be good fits

 

Next meeting will be Feb. 15 at 3:30pm at Brickfield Brewing. Each committee is encouraged to meet monthly. Then send at least 1 rep to the at-large meetings which will be held quarterly to report project(s) progress.