Report Says Village Should Pursue Public Plaza And More To Spur Economic Development

A comprehensive report by the Madison Region Economic Parternship (MadREP) says several moves should be “undertaken quickly” to “put the village in the best position to succeed longterm.”

The report, compiled by Paul Jadin, is more than 17 pages and covers a range of topics. It was recently reviewed by the village board, and its recommendations are already being considered for implementation.

It includes four primary suggestions.

The first is to annex available and eligible land, allowing for the creation and certification of a business park in the village.

The second is to develop a plan “with key property owners” to identify “where various types of housing can be constructed,” possibly using Tax Increment Financing (TIF ) as a financing mechanism. 

The third is to create, as soon as possible, a public plaza downtown. The Depot Plaza is a “prime candidate because it would have an immediate impact on how the village is perceived and would jump-start the entertainment environment in the village,” according to MadREP. 

MadREP has had conversations with the Department of Natural Resources, which appears to be “anxious to accommodate the village’s redevelopment plans around the depot, including making arrangements for the [MIlitary Ridge] trail that will not offend its natural vegetation considerations or winter use of the trail by snowmobilers.”

A variety of grants could be pursued for the plaza, some of which have already been explored. 

Also according to the report, street-scaping is a project that could be undertaken quickly.

“Additionally, MadREP was quite impressed by its meeting with village president Randy Littel, whose vision includes a downtown with expanded entertainment options, especially for youth,” the report stated. “While it may not be feasible to develop a theatre or other private entertainment venue in the near future, it is imperative that community leaders start the process of identifying where such a facility would fit and how it would become financially viable. Within a couple of years developers could be courted for such an opportunity and much of the due diligence will have been completed. The right use might also be eligible for grants.”

Finally, the report suggests that the aforementioned ideas “cannot be effectively implemented and managed without the proper economic development capacity.” 

“Therefore, it is recommended that the village bring its development team back into Village Hall where it can be supervised by a capable and respected village administrator. Restoring this function to the village will also marry the funding with the authority once again,” it continued. “The opportunity exists to include economic development duties in a soon-to-be-vacant position that will be filled in 2020 and MadREP can assist with the job description. In the process of reorganizing again it would be wise not to ignore all of the extraordinary volunteer talent that has helped build and manage the EDC. An Economic, or Community, Development Authority could be recreated with appointments to that board from among those individuals who have contributed mightily over the last decade.” In other words, the Mount Horeb Economic Development Corporation, which has been working in collaboration with the village but outside its official auspices, should have its work brought in house and made an official component of village government. 

In addition to making recommendations for the future, the MadREP report makes several observations about the current state of Mount Horeb’s culture and economy. 

Jadin writes that it is “obvious that the community is built on the backs of small business as 70 percent of all businesses have fewer than 10 employees and 90 percent have fewer than 20 employees.” 

“What has been a little more difficult to pin down is how to define the Mount Horeb economy,” he continued. “Based on industry location quotients - a ratio of density in the community to density in the rest of the country - the village’s top three industries are Arts, Recreation and Entertainment; Government (includes hospitals and education); and Retail Trade.”

Among the noteworthy data uncovered for the report is the fact that more than a third of the village’s workforce commutes to Madison every day and less than a third of the people who work in the village are from Mount Horeb.

MadREP called Mount Horeb “a vibrant exurban community with significant recent successes in economic development.”

“Those successes have precipitated some modest growing pains but have also kindled a desire to continue the momentum and develop in a more strategic and professionally-guided manner,” the report continued. “It is governed by a Village Board with a full-time administrator and has an Economic Development Corporation (EDC) which receives the majority of its funding from the village and employs a part-time executive. The village also has an active Chamber of Commerce with a full-time director and a vision that has recently shifted to complementing the village and EDC’s economic development endeavors.”

Both the EDC and the Chamber have boards of directors that have been active in their engagement over the past several years.

“These three players have plenty of assistance/input from the private sector beyond simply the individuals who serve on the three boards,” stated the report. “That includes property owners, realtors, downtown stakeholders and retirees with a longstanding interest in the community. Each of the major players has expressed some degree of frustration with the inertia that they perceive regarding implementation of community development plans that have been completed in the past decade or more.”

As part of an effort to combat that “inertia,” the community agreed to participate in economic development training in July and follow up with a more concentrated “strategic doing” Summit on October 30. The Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) facilitated both of those activities. 

In preparation for the report, MadREP interviewed community leaders and stakeholders while examining existing plans and completing research on a variety of metrics that tell a story about Mount Horeb. 

The report was intended to summarize some of the recommendations made by “attraction and entrepreneurship specialists” prior to hearing from the community. “Following a robust dialogue, the community weighed in with its second round of ideas which became the basis for the final recommendations [in the report],” it states.

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