Rural Economic Conference: Session 6

DUSTIN INGRAM: All right. So while everyone's getting seated, I'll just introduce the discussion here today. My name is Dustin Ingram. I work for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. I'll say it's great to be in Iowa. I spent a lot of time here, like a lot of y'all, not from the state, but I did get my career started here in community and economic development, working for a lot of smaller communities like those that we have talked about.

And I'd add, I got a graduate degree at Iowa State University, and like 10 years ago I was in Carlton's urban history class. And I can tell you, we spent a lot of time on that 1916 ordinance. And I am going to congratulate you for packaging a whole course into 10 minutes or so. So thank you for taking me back to school.

But aside from that, it's also great to be back in Newton. About three weeks ago or so, Erin, I think I was here

with another group on a tour of the community, and we got to see a lot of the assets here that you're going to see on the tour. And so I'm excited, especially for you to be able to tell the story and share it with these folks and in this environment.

So when designing the conference, we thought it'd be a good idea to end the panel discussions-- this is the last panel session, of course-- by connecting a lot of the themes and things that we've learned over the past day or so and in particularly looking at zoning but also workforce attraction, housing, and so forth, quality of life, public participation, how all these things fit together while also prefacing the bus tour so that you kind get a preview of what to expect.

And so for the sake of time, I'm going to encourage you all to read the bios, the full bios of each of these panelists up here on the web page for the event, but to get started here, I'm going to go ahead and introduce them in the order they're going to be speaking. So we're going to start with Erin Chambers, who is the community development director here in Newton, Iowa.

We also have Adam Sonntag, the city administrator for Ripon, Wisconsin. And I'll add that it's not "Ripe-on." It's not "Ripone." It is Ripon. So we learned that today. And Emilie LaGrow, who's the village manager for Cassopolis, Michigan. We also have Todd Blake, the city manager and finance director for the City of Fremont, Michigan.

Similar structure as before y'all, 10 minute presentations here. We'll open up for questions at the end. So, Erin, I'll hand it over to you.

[APPLAUSE]

ERIN CHAMBERS: All right. Good morning. Erin Chambers, City of Newton. We're going to first talk about housing in Newton. And as Mayor George previewed with us earlier today, housing has been a focus now for the city for about 10 years.

In 2011, we realized we did not have a single new housing start, which is kind of the biggest alarm bell that we heard. Shortly thereafter, the city adopted the comprehensive plan in 2012. That was an update from a plan that hadn't been adopted or changed since the late 1990s.

Obviously, with changes in the economy, both locally and nationally, Newton was primed for a new comprehensive plan. That comprehensive plan focused on housing and population growth, which then led us to 2014, and the housing initiative, which is still ongoing today in 2024. And it consisted of measures that improved both the quantity of new housing and the quality.

So as Mayor George mentioned, the city bonded $3.5 million to kick off this initiative, and that was split between essentially two uses, how do we address and deal with blight and how do we encourage new construction? So the city threw away the tax abatement program. A lot of Iowa cities just have standard tax abatements for new housing so that people who buy a new house kind of get relief on the tax side of things for the first five years.

And we found that that really wasn't a deciding factor for a lot of new homebuyers.

And so looking at the cost of most new houses, it was determined that essentially, the city was kind of not realizing $10,000 per lot or per house. And so as part of the bond funds, we now give buyers of new construction homes $10,000 cash check at closing. And then they're paying taxes right away. And so the city is basically trading upfront money to a buyer for receiving full taxes on that new house from the get go.

The city has had a D&D program since the late 1980s. D&D standing for dangerous and dilapidated. In the late 1980s, a lot of blighted properties, old manufacturing, and very old commercial properties that were not in good condition north of our downtown square were addressed through this program.

It's kind of shifted now to more residentially focused, and the city has purchased-- or otherwise acquired, through different methods, over 100 dilapidated houses throughout our neighborhoods. And there is not a single neighborhood that was immune. Every neighborhood had, interestingly enough, probably a house that was bringing down housing values in all the neighborhoods.

We've created a nuisance program. Newton had a very haphazard nuisance program prior to 2013 that first was created out of the community development department, and it has now since shifted to the police department.

And let me tell you, when you have community services officers driving Newton police cars, dealing with nuisances, the reaction to address those problems by property owners is a lot more serious than a community development city planner showing up in a city car that doesn't have the Newton police department on it.

We now see a lot of infill development. So we cleared 100-plus houses. We have vacant lots ready and ripe for redevelopment. And so where once the worst house in the neighborhood was, now you have some brand new housing in the neighborhood. And we'll talk a little more about that as the day goes on.

The city has become a developer with some of our housing and economic development partners. Earlier in the previous session, we talked about how it's hard to get infrastructure built. Particularly in Newton, it's a blessing and a curse, our proximity to Des Moines. Why would a developer who can be guaranteed a house sale in the Des Moines metro drive 30 minutes out here for a less guaranteed situation? Why would they do that?

And so we are challenged with developers and builders. And so the city has stepped in and financed the construction of all of the infrastructure so that those same builders can come and build custom homes or spec homes on already ready-to-go lots. And then, downtown living has also been a focus of our housing initiative. And it just increases the valuation of all of those downtown buildings.

To date, we have increased housing tenfold in the downtown area and this spot being one of the places. It was a housing-- or a poor-quality housing building when I arrived in 2006. As the years have gone on, the city acquired the property and found a developer for it, and now we're in a beautiful state.

The D&D program, we've, as I've mentioned, cleared blighted properties. Homes for Iowa is a program started by the Iowa prison industries program. So in Iowa, prison industries exist. They make things anywhere from signs to school desks, and now they build homes. So manufactured homes that can be brought in and put on site visit their website Homes for Iowa. They have a great video of how those houses get brought in.

We're both giving marketable job skills to inmates who are getting ready to leave the prison system and creating affordable housing for communities across the state of Iowa. We will see two houses today placed on infill lots in Newton. And then, we've partnered with Habitat for Humanity to continue to build affordable housing in our community.

There's an example of one of the homes for Iowa houses being brought in on a lot in Newton. Quality of Life Initiatives, as the panel earlier alluded to, it's not just a housing development problem. It's an attractive community problem. Newton needs to be a compelling destination for both visitors and new residents.

And so the city of Newton became a Main Street program in 2014. That has been instrumental in downtown revitalization, which includes housing as a component of that, continued investments on community parks and infrastructure, improving roads, fixing potholes, making your community a place people want to live in.

We've engaged with the community on our planning processes. The last comprehensive plan, we revisited every two years. Sometimes, communities will adopt a comprehensive plan. It'll sit on the shelf for 10 years, and then you'll come back and make a new plan. But this way, we made sure that the conference of plan continues to resonate with the desires and the needs of our citizens.

And finally, we've created and hired a recreation specialist position. And so in addition to providing physical infrastructure, we're providing programming infrastructure for art camps and senior walks and Halloween activities, Christmas activities, those sorts of fun community things that make people want to choose Newton as their home community. We have a few pictures.

And then, we have used tax increment financing to develop new residential neighborhoods in Iowa. That's how we have paid for the infrastructure. One neat thing about residential TIF in Iowa is that the state code requires the city to set aside a portion of the new tax increment for low and moderate income housing uses. The city has adopted a policy for that.

And so the city is actively using those set-aside funds for helping property owners with improvements to their own homes, for helping property owners who are low to moderate income with dead tree removals to acquire blighted properties in census tracts that are lower than 80% of the median household income. Basically, any investment for low to moderate income housing means the city is using those to fund, to help in other areas of the community.

This is an example-- this is a plat of the subdivision that the city has essentially functioned as the developer on in partnership with Newton Housing Development Corporation. We will be visiting this site today as part of the bus tour. This is a significant development for the city of Newton.

Again, in 2011, we hadn't had a single new housing start. And so to have this many new lots available with new high quality single-family homes really is a benefit to the community. It has opened up other homes in other neighborhoods, as probably half of these houses that have been built have sold to existing Newton residents, who then have maybe a more modest house for sale elsewhere in their existing neighborhoods that allow for maybe a young family to come in and buy that starter home and just keep that cycle going in our community.

We have always had a flexible approach to zoning. And that means we have one zone or one in our district that allows for single family only, and it's minimal in terms of our map. Historically, we have always had residential zoning that at minimum allows for 1 and 2 family dwelling districts. Newton has always been stratified.

The historic Maytag family mansions are within walking distance to two room bungalows built for workforce housing in the 1940s. And so Newton has always been very stratified. We don't have gated communities. We have large mansions next door to two bedroom houses.

This is a picture of our zoning map, and the yellow is our R-2 zoning district, which is 1 and 2 family dwelling district. As you can see, the very pale yellow is our one, and there's only just a couple residential zonings for that, one down here in the southwest, northwest, northeast, and that's about it. So multifamily housing is allowed in a lot of different areas in our community.

Additionally, in the mid 2010s, the planning and zoning commission and city council made a move to allow detached secondary-- or maybe you might call them mother-in-law units-- are allowed on residential properties as well.

Partnerships is key to housing development, Newton Housing Development Corporation, Main Street, Newton Development Corporation, The state of Iowa. And that includes anything from the Main Street office to IEDA and all the others in between, Habitat for Humanity, Chamber of Commerce, HIRTA, which is our regional public transport system, the YMCA, and the arboretum. So with that, I'll move on and let my other panelists give an overview of things that they're doing.

[APPLAUSE]

ADAM SONNTAG: Good morning. I'm Adam Sonntag. I'm the city administrator for the City of Ripon. And I just want to thank you for inviting me here today to tell you the story about the city of Ripon. Ripon is a proud community of about 7,800 people, located in East Central Wisconsin. We are equidistant to Green Bay, Madison, and Milwaukee. So it's about an hour and 15 minutes, right in the center of the state.

Ripon has three really, really important things, the first being Ripon College. On one side of town, sits Ripon College. It is a small, private liberal arts college of about 800 students and is our second largest employer.

On the other side of town, you have Alliance Laundry Systems. They are the makers of Speed Queen. They are our largest employer, with about 2,400 employees. They ship out about 4,200 washers and dryers out of Ripon, Wisconsin, on a daily basis. Pretty incredible.

Having a college and a heavy manufacturer as your two largest employers obviously creates a very unique community, very academia college students and then blue collar manufacturing. Stuck in the middle of that is our pretty incredible downtown. We have a historic district. It's called the Watson Street Historic District.

We were one of the original Wisconsin main street communities, and we spend an awfully a lot of time developing the downtown, supporting entrepreneurship, supporting small businesses. And it is recognized as one of the top downtowns in the state of Wisconsin.

That is a miracle [INAUDIBLE], because about 15 years ago, Ripon experienced what has been categorized as the Boca fiasco. $6 million to a developer to help reinvigorate the downtown, and they left. Nothing got done. So that really impacted the community.

And about four years ago when I arrived, the community was-- I would describe it as sleepwalking. A lot of little growth, not a lot of connection, and very little planning. And frankly, it needed-- we needed to get to work. And the biggest struggle we heard time and time again was housing.

I came from a smaller community, Hillsboro, Wisconsin, about 1,400 people. The year I left there and transitioned to Ripon, we had built three times as many houses than we did in Ripon. And that's just crazy to me. So we decided to do a housing study, and that housing study showed that we had a 0% vacancy rate in single-family homes and a 0.5% vacancy rate in multi-family homes. I tried to move there during this time. The only reason I got a house because I was a city administrator. It was incredible.

So we got to work. And a part of that housing plan was to assess our zoning. And we became a case study for a statewide effort by the Congress for new urbanism to create a Wisconsin neighborhood affordability plan that helped us then move into making recommended zoning changes. So we got to work, put in accessory dwelling units.

We have a very historic town. So a lot of the historic residential districts have a certain appeal and look. So we said, well, I live in a house-- the house I bought was built in 1854. I can't build that house today as it was built back then because of the modern zoning code. So we looked at that and said, well, let's provide flexibility so Adam can rebuild his house someday. No. It's the character. It's the value of the community in that zoning district or that residential district that we wanted to promote.

We talked about light touch density, so the idea of putting in single family districts duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes that look like single-family homes but that function is multi-family. Uses by right, really important to eliminate barriers. And then, we also looked at zero lot line setbacks and the use of planned unit development. The picture there is a zero lot line setback view of the property development that we just approved or will be approving on next Wednesday night.

While zoning amendments certainly can help, that is not going to solve really anything. It just creates, I think, opportunities if somebody wants to be more flexible. So we also looked at doing some housing programs. And simply put, rural communities need to position themselves to incentivize housing development. So we have used tax increment finance districts. Everybody understands, I hope, that concept. But without that, in the state of Wisconsin, there would be nothing happening.

We do reduce free land. The apartment complex or the multifamily development there is a six acre lot the city owns. We're going to give it away. We created the Ripon First Housing Program. The principle there is first-time homebuyers.

I don't know anybody who's crazy enough to buy a home for the first time nowadays, but there are. And we give them five grand. And it's been very helpful and a successful program. It's a value as well. It's a value program. It's like we want to-- the community values, young families, first time homebuyers. So we put our money towards that.

We've done lot sale programs where you've reduced the lot sale to $5,000 or $7,500. And then the developer has to build quickly or they have to pay the full value of the lot. So it's kind of a deferred assessment. We use those to promote development. And then we also don't forget about the aging homes in our town and some of the lower income. So we an exterior home repair program that allows for a $5,000 grants to help fix up older homes.

While that's all good, it isn't enough. So we began a process. And it's the first time publicly anybody's actually seen this plan. So-- my counsel hasn't even seen this, but I figured I'd share. I'm safe in Newton, Iowa, to share it. So this is a 30 acre vacant site that's owned by the school district. They were going to build a school there, and it never happened.

So it's sitting there, and we said, can we get a first right of refusal? They're like, sure, and then we started planning. And this is the concept. And we're looking at lean infrastructure, no sidewalks, skinnier roads, just efficient design as best we can on the property, using the terrain appropriately in a phased approach, all to drive down costs because affordability remains the biggest problem.

We are looking at less restrictive zoning, flexible, a mixed use, smaller lots, all of that in this development to try to drive down the cost. We hope to make this plan a reality in the next year or so. That's the biggest project.

That's about a $4.5 million effort. So certainly, a big one for our community, but one that we feel that we have to take the lead on because the private sector just isn't going to necessarily be there to make that investment with us without us, anyway.

So at what point do you say we're going to do it versus giving them money to do it? That's all good and it matters, but you also have to maintain attractive community, which is equally as difficult.

I feel, particularly in the state of Wisconsin, the one thing that is hurting rural areas most is not in my backyard and the position rural communities can take when opportunities arise. So I feel it's very important to position the community to be able to say, yes, obviously with a standard, but work with partners and grow the community and be an attractive place.

We have seen this come to reality in Ripon over the past couple of years, with our college. They're investing in new amenities, including a new on-campus stadium and a science center. We are planning and executing aggressive park planning to reinvigorate our local parks to be more attractive for families and kiddos.

We have a new boys and girls club that's being built as we speak, which will help tackle our child care crisis. We literally moved the birthplace of the Republican Party to make that happen, which was crazy. Like there's a little white schoolhouse moved past my office one day. I was like, whoa, there it goes.

And then, also, new businesses in our downtown. Just investing in new and young entrepreneurs, primarily women has been very impactful in Ripon. So it all matters and happy to answer any questions, but I thank you for allowing me to share a little bit about what Ripon is doing and our story.

[APPLAUSE]

EMILIE LAGROW: Good morning. So I feel a little bit like I'm going to tie together everything we've heard and how that works to tell you a little bit of our story of the village of Cassopolis and our road to creating a vibrant, sustainable, and exceptional community.

The village of cassopolis is located in a small, rural, and low-mod community in Southwest Michigan. And by small, I mean we have 1,684 residents in about 2.3 square mile. And by low mod, I mean our average median household income is right around $36,000 a year.

So here's what we've learned, though. The challenges we all face are remarkably similar, regardless of our size. It's still about creating solutions that not only meet today's demands but anticipate tomorrow's needs for our communities.

Every resident deserves to be proud of where they call home. And it's our responsibility to remember that there is power and collaboration and working with people both within and outside of our community. That drives the excellence, innovation, and creativity, that makes each of our communities special and unique.

We started with what we call the imagined cast project. Our goal, transform the entire community, stop the decline, and unite for the first time in decades under the core principles of community vision, collaboration, citizen-led change and the simple premise, if you invest in yourself, others will invest in you.

At our first imagined caste community meeting, the village was described by our very own residents as dying, tired, rundown, sleepy, boring. And I take that little sticky note slide with me everywhere I go because it is a great reminder that harsh, yeah, but it was true.

So we listened. We listened and then we asked our community to imagine cars. Imagine what we could be. Imagine what we could look like. Imagine where we were going. Imagine the legacy we wanted to leave. And they did imagine. And our residents imagined and dreamed of a community that was bright, vibrant, beautiful, alive, connected, and thriving.

That all sounds great, but as we all know, progress does not come easy, and it is not without risk. How do you convince a board that's used to seeing $500,000 come in a year for taxes that we should pull $9 million in bonds to do some projects to make our town look pretty and not raise taxes? We already knew that our community was dying, and not only could we see it, but our residents told us. If we didn't make the choice to invest in ourselves, how could we expect anyone else to invest in us?

I don't know about you, but every project I have ever worked on encounters a roadblock or two and maybe one of those big Michigan potholes we talk about. Maybe it's your council or your board that approves the $9 million in bonds and then spends the next year trying to take it back. Or how about the learning curve, the learning curve that comes from working with state and federal grant agencies? Free money is great. Never really free, though, is it?

We have to learn about all the things that come with that. Or maybe your largest taxpayer takes you out to breakfast to tell you about this amazing $35 million expansion they're getting ready to do right outside village limits. There goes their tax money. Or maybe it's pulling $9 million in bonds for all of this. We finally get there. You take the leap and two days later, the whole world shuts down from COVID.

Whatever your roadblock is, the key is to remember to water your bamboo. One of my favorite analogies comes from the book Water the Bamboo by Greg Bell. You see, water the bamboo is a metaphor for success. It's a concept based on a type of bamboo that grows like no other plant in the world. Giant timber bamboo can grow 90 feet in 60 days. That is a foot and a half a day. Some claim you can even hear it grow.

What is even more amazing about giant timber bamboo is that once it's planted, it takes three years to break through the ground. Timber bamboo farmers water the seeds and tend to it faithfully, even though there is no visible sign of growth for years. So then you have to ask yourself the question, do you have the kind of vision, faith, patience, persistence, and focus it takes to achieve what you want?

So here's a small glimpse of some of our projects along the way. We took an abandoned road and created a free year round, usable community Plaza. It included a new beach and an amphitheater. We added 36,000 square feet of pavers, including a custom-designed compass so that we would never lose our way again. We added a 230 foot long ADA accessible pier, which includes fishing areas, transient boat slips, and an open end for everyone to just go jump in the lake.

We added a custom fabricated archway, creating a memorable gateway into our village. We added an ADA accessible boardwalk along Stone Lake, adding connectivity to our downtown that can be used by walkers and bikers. And it includes fishing platforms and lookout areas. We eliminated five blighted municipal buildings and created one award-winning state of the art municipal complex.

We installed new playgrounds, areas designed by our elementary school students. We added artwork and murals. And though it's not sexy, we didn't forget about the infrastructure either. We replaced over 7,000 of water, sewer, and storm mains and over 14,000 of roadways.

You see, Imagine Cass wasn't just one or two amazing projects. This was and continues to be a complete community transformation filled with unique, fun, collaborative projects that balance our need for economic growth and prosperity with the overall quality of life of our residents. And we did complete it without raising taxes, passing a millage, or adding a special assessments to our residents.

The Imagine Cass project completely transformed our community into a vibrant, sustainable, rural, relevant, and exceptional community. And every day, with every investment and every collaboration, we have the opportunity to be even more exceptional. And this is where we circle back to if you invest in yourself, others will invest in you. Because when you invest in yourself, it prepares you for the opportunities you don't even know are coming.

Remember when I talked about the roadblock, about the largest employer leaving town? Well, it turns out, we got back together. We broke up. They came back. They needed to be back in the village. So there are 325 acres that are $35 million new facility through the PA 425, which is basically a land annexation.

We brought them back into the village. And not only did we bring them back into the village, but we created this Southwest Michigan advanced research and technology park. And then we landed our first company there, which is Hydro Aluminum $150 million investment.

Now, less than a year after we landed Hydro Aluminum, again, 70 jobs, $150 million. Last week, I got to ribbon cut with them on their second project. Less than 12 months later, $5 million research and development lab right there in that park. And while those large wins are certainly worth celebrating, and I love them, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the small wins that we experienced all throughout our community that create quality of life and a thriving downtown.

Since 2020, we have celebrated moving from about a 20% occupancy rate to in our downtown to about 85%. That means we have opened a fitness center, a Biggby Coffee, StoneLake bar and grill, Holden Green tavern, a law office, beehive collective, living well massage, 144 marketplace in Event Center, Diamond Dance Studio, tax office, Leo's Bait Shop, Savage Bean Coffee, and Pathfinder Networks.

Again, those are the things that matter in your communities. And of these businesses, we've been able to find grant dollars for 10 of them on that list to assist them with that. So we imagined Cass and created a sense of place and pride for our residents. And then we created the smart park, and we're driving economic development to the community. And ultimately, that leads to, where are these people going to live?

So we're taking a three pronged approach, preservation, renovation, and development in our community. First, preservation of housing stock. The village has over 73.2% of our homes were built before 1979, 50% of those being from 1959 or earlier. Low mod community, most of them have not been maintained.

Since 2019, we've been able to successfully hand out $1.9 million in grant funding to assist residents with much needed homeowner repairs, including siding, windows, roofing, heating and cooling, energy efficiency. These dollars equate to approximately hundreds of our 500 eligible homes being assisted in the last seven years.

Renovation, second prong. This is our old village hall building. I'll save you the long story, but recently, we just were able to purchase this back. We received $2.8 million in a combined grant application with our county land bank to transform this into apartment housing for 80% AMI residents.

Third prong of our housing approach, housing development. Can't wait to talk to Adam later about his because we did the same thing. We can't wait around for anybody to do this. We're just going to go for it. $2.2 million in infrastructure being built out right now for this proposed housing development.

Here's the thing. We don't know who's going to build the houses yet. So if any of you are in the market for that-- we're still trying to figure that piece out, but we're taking the lead. We're taking the risk. We're not afraid to move forward.

So what does that mean? It means be the giant. It's not about the size of the community or the zeros on the spreadsheet. It's about the caliber of your team and the leadership you can provide. I don't stand up here today without the amazing team of people in Cassopolis that I work beside every day. Each of them truly has a servant's heart, and they are the giants that lead this. And I challenge each of you to go back into your communities and be the giants.

So what does that lead for us in 2022? Part of the fun of that is our team on the Michigan Municipal League Community Excellence Award. We call it our David versus Goliath moment. Smallest community in the state of Michigan to win this award. We went up against all the giants, and we came out successful. Why? I think it's because we were able to stand up and show you can be small but mighty. And we left in our Hawaiian shirts. Everyone knew who we were. It leads to things like this. I get the opportunity to come here and speak about it. So that's part of that.

So finally, as we move forward with Imagine Cast, every time we see generations of families gathered at the beach, children screaming with delight as they jump off the pier, with every new business that opens in town and every old business that begins to thrive again, for every event where our community comes together, whether dancing in our free concerts or bowing their heads in prayer as we light the village Christmas tree, we realize we have given them exactly what they imagined for their community.

And in experiencing that, our hearts are full and so are theirs. And along the way, we have remembered that just because you are in government or banking or education doesn't mean you can't have fun. So be sure to enjoy the ride. Thanks.

[APPLAUSE]

TODD BLAKE:  Everything they said, right? I've been hearing a lot about what's been going on in Iowa with TFA and housing developments and state regulations that have been softening zoning regulations. The professors here today talked about the history of the zoning and the changes you're seeing.

So in Fremont, in our community, about 25 years ago, we went through a process in the state of Michigan-- if you've been in local government for very many years, you might remember it. It was called Building a Sense of Place. It involved getting students and components of all the different, I guess, age limit or groups involved in what we called a 90% saturation of the community and getting survey feedback. We went door to door. It was by address. And we made sure that-- we wanted to make sure we were hearing from everybody, even those that didn't want to tell us.

Surprisingly, what we found is that here we thought we were minding our own business, thinking, well, we got this great community and everybody's happy. And we found out very soon that everybody wasn't happy. They thought that, huh, there's really not a whole lot here. So we went through this Building a Sense of Place program, and it was the state of Michigan program.

And it was a grant program that helped fund enforcing communities. And when I say communities, like townships and cities all working together, which is not something that was very common or conducive in the state of Michigan with a city Township government. There's always a bit of an adversarial or butting of heads. It's been hard to develop, hard to zone. That's hence my question earlier about the one mile buffer outside of communities around the planning and zoning.

So I guess, one of the number one things that came up was recreational opportunities in our community. So we formed an advisory committee, which then ended up leading to-- after several successful projects, we found very quickly that by having these partnerships, whenever we apply for grant funding, whether it was through the DNR, the state of Michigan's DNR program for their trust fund or we have a local foundation in Fremont, the Fremont Area Community Foundation, which is one of the largest community foundations in the Midwest for small community areas, they really embraced the idea that, wow, I can't believe that all of you are sitting in the same room and actually talking and planning these projects.

So for probably a good 10 years, we were very successful in getting grant funds and start building recreational amenities in our parks. We did ice skating, outdoor ice skating rink. We did skateboard. We did nonmotorized pathway. And that program and project of recreational planning and partnerships now has formed into an authority, which is the two governments, with the townships below south and north of Fremont. And we're still joined together in that authority. And I think our most recent project is actually-- it's actually starting this week.

As I left the community right in our downtown, we're having a splash pad. But a great partnership there was the downtown. We were going to build a splash pad down to the Lake Park. And they thought, well, there's already water down there. Why would you do the water park down at the lake? You have a beach.

So we asked the downtown businesses, we'll put your money where your mouth is. What are you willing to invest to make it happen downtown? And they did. And our foundation funded half the project. The city funded about a quarter of it. And the other quarter, we funded our downtown businesses. Those are the kind of partnerships and collaborations that's been taking place since 25 years ago when we all started meeting and collaborating.

A few years into that, we then started focusing on planning an zoning with the two jurisdictions. We started having requests for construction, which was just outside our city limits, which is obviously where vacant land area was for commercial development.

We used what was referenced in the 425 Agreement, which is a utility extension agreement, and we shared a little revenue with the townships to make that happen. But after about 10 years of that and doing everything we could to obviously keep the jobs that we had in the community, we built that sense of place.

We've really embraced the recreational opportunities in Newaygo County, which I really talk a whole lot about Newaygo County yet, but the northern half of the county is natural for us. The southern half of the county is agriculture. And then you basically have five small communities that are in this County.

We're the largest of the cities in that county. We are also, we are home to a Gerber baby food. The Gerber family grew up in Fremont, Michigan. And their main number one plant is still right in Fremont, and it's right in our downtown, which obviously leads to some challenges as Ripon talked about it as well.

They employ 1,200 employees, and it's a mix of research and development lab. They have their 1-800 call-in lab for baby food. They also have a life insurance division. And then, they have a largest division they have is the plant itself, which is about 600 employees.

One of the creative things the city did is we used a state regulation which allowed for a Renaissance zone. So what we did is we took the area with the 600 employees, work in the manufacturing section of the lab and created a Renaissance zone, which is a tax-free zone.

The write off or the partnership with Gerber products was that they were going to invest $100 million and increase their job base by 100. Well, they increased their job base by 150, and they invested 500 million. So what that did is it created a very sense of comfort in our community because for years, after Gerber went public and went on the market, this public, everybody's afraid Gerber was going to leave.

We've seen all these corporations leaving small communities and the detrimental effect that was taking place in them. So we embraced doing everything we could to keep that corporation there. And it's still there today. And we've even extended-- it was a 10 year Renaissance, and we've been extended another 10 years and give them another Renaissance zone extension.

And since then, now they've invested in another couple hundred million and added another 50 more jobs since then. So that's kind of the trade off there. And obviously, you can imagine the benefits of having a corporation right there in your community that you know is not leaving.

And so then, of course, about five or six years ago, the corporate came to us as well as hospital. We have a hospital in our community as well. Hospital representatives, they were all talking about, we're trying to hire people and they have no place to live in this community. They have no place to live in this county, which I'm sure that's a tune that all of you have been hearing.

So about six years ago, we started focusing-- or refocusing, I should say-- as to instead of on the economic development, but the community development piece to all that and basically to focus on housing. One of the unique things that we did in 2001 is we developed a comprehensive development growth management plan, which a master plan, but what it entailed was a partnership with two townships in the city. We were the first one in the state to do something of that nature.

A couple of years later, then Michigan adopted in 2003, the Michigan Planning Enabling Act, which encouraged local governments to start participating in joint planning efforts. So we were pretty pleased that we were ahead of the game on that, but we knew that we still had a long way to go. The plan that we had, it was a master plan, but we still had separate zoning and separate planning commissions, but we at least were still having the conversation continue.

So it was about 2009-- 2013, we established our first joint planning commission. We threw out all our zoning ordinances. We threw out all the planning commissions. We formed one joint board, which has worked great, as far as embracing the comprehensive plan that we already had in place, embracing the recreation and the natural resources that we preserved throughout the community and then continuing on.

And then, in 2016 was an update. We did to our comprehensive plan, and we realized that we had to start being creative to accommodate new housing growth. We did some things like conditional rezoning, mixed-use zoning, which basically allows a closer collaboration of-- or presence of commercial and residential and closer proximity to each other. We focus on allowing commercial to be any of the main roads in the residential areas, could add a commercial feature to it.

In 2022, we took it to the next level to really go after housing, and that was to really go at softening the zoning ordinance. Since then, we've adopted the lot sizes for residential areas of 4,500 square feet. Living units can be 600 square foot. Now, that's not all the residential areas, but it focused on a good share of most of our residential zones within the city and the townships.

Since that time, we put out an RFP after we did a housing market needs assessment in 2019, and what we found was our community was short and in demand of about 400 living units. In a small community, 400 living units, that's a 10% increase in what we have, and that's the demand. And the demand was not only coming from our companies that we had in our municipality, but the other municipalities in the surrounding county area, they all have some manufacturing piece in them, and they're all struggling with the housing and fitting that need.

A lot of times, companies now what they do is, they do a circle of 45 mile radius, and that's where they assume that they have their access to labor. So we decided to jump on the forefront, soften our zoning ordinances.

And the first time we did our RFP, we got it back. We had one developer that was interested. And I think we found out what everybody's already been talking about, the developers want to stay in the higher populated areas.

They can build them cheaper. They're making more money selling them there. And so why should we come to Fremont?

So that was a big dust bowl from our first RFP program because it did not evolve into the project. So then, we sat down and got to thinking about incentivization. And developers said, well, what are you going to do for us? Well, the history has always shown, well, developer comes, they develop, they even pay to extend utilities. They'll build your roads and then hand them over to you. That's the history of how things have happened in the development. That's not the way it is anymore, and I think we all know that.

So we started building streets, water sewer and extending them. And we've even given land away in certain situations. When we give land away, we place a covenant on it, which basically means you have to start construction or start digging ground within six months or we take the property back and we open it up to somebody else. But those are some other types of ways of being creative.

We've used the [INAUDIBLE] in certain areas, where we've been able to recoup. Developers can recoup costs. The state of Michigan's most recent legislation for the housing tiff, I think that really opened up in the state of Michigan, where housing is going to start becoming a lot more simpler because developers can now-- you don't have to have a brownfield, you don't have to be in a DDA district.

Now you just basically need a piece of land that the city can declare as a tepid district and the developer can now recoup some of their development costs. And what that does is allows them also to offer the homes at a more affordable prices.

So our target has been workforce housing and how can we get the cost of a home for a young couple, if a workforce housing? And that is those types of incentives, which my colleagues have all talked about. So it's been kind of a changing-- definitely a changing game out there in the housing development world. And I think Fremont, we're doing everything we can and I think everything everybody else's can, for my colleagues, what they've been doing, and it's making a difference.

In recent, the city has sold all of its small lots, and we've had single-family homes built on most all of them. We've done some creative zoning to allow mixed family or multifamily Up to 25% of a single-family residential neighborhood can have multifamily featuring homes or condos. And the townhomes that have tri levels-- I'm sorry-- dual levels, the trial units.

We're in the midst of negotiating two pretty decent sized housing projects. The city is 116 unit. And there's also-- we just recently done a 9 and a 12 unit one. We now have a 90 unit manufactured home park that's going to expand. And our thoughts are-- the question came up yesterday, where are the retirees going?

Well, a lot of retirees have interest in going in the manufactured home. That's going to free up a lot of these homes in our community, which will also add a lot more opportunities for young families and working class to buy homes that are already existing homes in the county. So thank you.

[APPLAUSE]

DUSTIN INGRAM: All right. So I could fill the rest of the time with answers to my questions, but you all are an engaged bunch. So I want to start with the audience here and just pass the mic around for questions from all of you.

CRYSTAL THOMAS: Hi. So I'm Crystal Thomas. I'm with Texas A&M. And I have a question because I do extension work and some of my interactions with individuals that live in rural parts, rural cities that are not as vibrant as the ones I saw today.

One of their main challenge is having families that own a lot of the storefronts in the downtown area and that family not wanting to see a change because they are afraid of some developer coming into their city, changing things for them, and then they no longer hold the power within their city. I'm just interested in finding out if y'all ever face a challenge like this, and if so, how do you deal with it?

And I had a second part question as well. A lot of the redevelopment, I heard this today from the panelists, I'm wondering whether or not y'all face any legal challenges, and if so, how do you also deal with those.

ERIN CHAMBERS: All right. Well, to the first question about property or land holders who just want to sit on their property, the city has experienced that, in particular with commercial properties. And for whatever reason that they hold and don't utilize those properties, I guess I'm not privy to, but it is a detriment to economic development for our community.

And so in July, the Newton city council adopted a very aggressive vacant buildings ordinance. And so if you're going to end-- if you're going to have property and you're not going to use it, you have two years to either get it on the market and get a property plan submitted to the city council.

And if you just choose to be unengaged, then vacant property registration and pretty significant fees will probably follow. So it's a way of encouraging property owners to do what they need-- to do something with their properties or at minimum maintain it or give the city the tools to help them maintain it.

EMILIE LAGROW: I think, overcoming inertia is hard in any community when you've been stagnant and haven't seen change in a long time. So there's always a struggle. In rural communities, my experience has been that people want to see change and growth as long as it doesn't change and grow.

So it's that ability to get everyone on board and moving in the right direction or in the same direction as much as possible to understand that quality of life initiatives require some sort of change. And I will tell you that, when we started, the amount of backlash over every single thing we did was so strong that some days we wondered if we were still doing the right thing.

But as each of those have happened, now a project starts and you'll hear one or two people will kind of complain about it. And it's not us who has to shut it down anymore. It's the rest of the people in the community who are saying, yeah, but look, now we're doing this and now we're doing that. So I think it's never ending. And legal battles, it comes with the territory.

So for us, our biggest one was a property in an old industrial park that we sold and actually Michigan marijuana is legal. And so there was a grow operation that wanted to go in out there, and one of the businesses that was there didn't want that tied all this up in legal. So there's now a large grow operation out there. So I'll let you do the math on how that works out.

TODD BLAKE: We had a three story building in our downtown that kind of started us stepping up our blight enforcement. You talked about vacant buildings. We used to have a few buildings that were vacant in our downtown. We amended our blight code, and what we did is we decided to enforce that upon the buildings that were doing nothing.

So basically, what we were trying to force the empty buildings, even though they wanted to sit on them, if you're going to sit on a vacant building, you're at least going to make sure that it's kept up to date. It's not dilapidated. We had several instances where we get to a public hearing process. And we actually had go. The city would hire a contractor, and we would fix their building and then bill them and place it right on their taxes on their property.

We did that with a couple of them. Some buildings close to our downtown that were commercial buildings that they let go, we literally came in and demolished the buildings and took the land. So that's some stuff, and those were some pretty bad buildings that were just sitting there and very ugly.

We've heard in Michigan, to start with you, the zoning code for vacant building code. So [INAUDIBLE] communities I've heard in upstate that are doing that as well.

ADAM SONNTAG: And I'll just add, you use the carrot or the stick, right? And I've always taken the approach of you've got to find that balance between those two. You can do enforcement actions, but ultimately, you have to prepare yourself and partner with potential community partners to address some of that, [INAUDIBLE] those challenges.

So in our case, in rural Wisconsin and Hillsborough, we had programming to incentivize new business opportunities. And it just you tend to then start selling the person who is this vacant property, like this is your opportunity, get out. And you're incentivizing and you're capitalizing on somebody's business idea.

And in Ripon's case, we have a vacant property that we're working on right now with our main street. And the city is going to literally front them alone to fix up the building and secure it and acquire it. So I think you have to be creative. And frankly, while that property owner is playing checkers, you play chess.

TODD BLAKE:   I'd just like to add one note. What I didn't go as far as Scott saying, is one of the buildings that we went in and actually spent about 40 grand on fixing up [INAUDIBLE] falling brick and broken windows, following that, within a year-- we have some programs in our downtown as well. Within a year, that property had found a restaurant to go on the main floor of their business, and they were able to take advantage of our design program throughout downtown.

And we also do low interest loans for any of the businesses in the downtown. Sounds like they're most likely for the most part, we probably had about 80% of the building owners in our downtown all take advantage of the [INAUDIBLE] program, which is a funded capture program. So it's a great that back right back into the building [INAUDIBLE].

AUDIENCE:  I have a few questions on the $10,000 incentive for Newton. Is that income-based? Number two, does it apply beyond single family homes? Number three, have you gotten a lot of interest? How many $10,000 have been offered?

ERIN CHAMBERS: All right, so, first of all, the $10,000 check is not income qualified. So it is simply a benefit in lieu of tax abatement. So any new construction, single family home gets the $10,000 incentive at closing. And then they're paying taxes right off the start.

Over the program, it has been nuanced. There was an iteration for a few years, if the house was valued under a single family home, it was valued under $180,000, it would get $5,000. If it was more than that, it would get $10,000.

Show me where you can build a house for under $225,000 anymore. It doesn't exist. So that went away. It did apply to townhomes when the valuation of each individual unit were owner occupied and had a valuation over that $180,000 mark. So, so that's the $10,000 incentive.

Now, for other types of housing, there are other incentives. So, we have utilizing our low to moderate income housing set aside or TC, we are incentivizing different housing styles at different price points in different ways.

And so the $10,000 incentive is one piece of a very big puzzle that the city of Newton [INAUDIBLE]. The city has probably given away about 90 of those $10,000 incentives since it started in 2014. And the college is giving them away [LAUGHS] until there is a need to spur the economic development.

AUDIENCE: This question is primarily for Emilie, but I invite anyone else to jump in. And I'm just wondering how you're thinking about or what the conversations are around displacement of current residents as you become more successful. Are you familiar with that area from Chicago and the second homeowners perhaps because it's going to be interesting, to say the least.

EMILIE LAGROW: There is some discussion about that. I think the rehab program that we're doing for our current homeowners have been very helpful. Again, we're on pace to hit 100 homes assisted over the course of about seven years, so just shy of $2 million. So that is pretty significant, allowing people to stay in those homes and be able to add the much-needed repairs for them.

We're also working with some other programs, [INAUDIBLE] which allows us to bring in modular homes, so that infill housing. Those are capped at $224,500 which is still high for our area. Adding the apartments at the 80% AMI to try to do that. And then our new housing development that we're currently working on, our goal is for that to be a mixed bag of new homes between single-family duplex, triplex, quadplex.

Our goal is to keep a couple of those and retain control so that they can be rentals, and those can allow us to get a little bit more into what we need in our community in that price point. So we're trying to attack it in multiple ways so that the residents that we have there can increase their quality of life. If you're familiar with the area, so our villages again, we talk about 2.3 square miles [INAUDIBLE].

We sit right next to Diamond Lake, which the average home price there starts at a little over $1 million. Heavy home ownership from Chicago coming in, purchasing those homes. So we have a little bit of [INAUDIBLE] right there in the middle of our community because our residents feel like that they weren't welcome over at Diamond Lake. And then now, we did all of this, and now Diamond Lake wants to be in our downtown.

But they don't pay anything because we're not collecting taxes from them. So it's an interesting dynamic. And we have really worked very diligently over the last several years to try to erase the us versus them and bring that together and remind everyone that we're one community, stronger together and that those lines don't really matter. Because most people don't know where those lines are anyway. So but it is an ongoing conversation and work to be intentional as we [INAUDIBLE].

AUDIENCE: Question for you. I've heard a couple times that you use TIF districts in residential areas. And I heard about those being, obviously, pretty successful in commercial areas. But this is the first time I've heard it being applied to residential areas. So I'm curious, usually, TIFs run 20, 23 years, whatever the state requires or allows. How are those penciling out? Do you have any insight into those? Are they breaking even at least? [LAUGHS]

ADAM SONNTAG: So in Hillsboro, Wisconsin, a smaller community, back in the 90s, what they were experiencing is what now we're experiencing in bigger rural areas and need to attract developers. And they did a pretty substantial residential TIF that I managed the tail end of and my successor is managing the end of. And it has been fantastic in a community of 1,400 people.

I mean, 30 years of a TIF district or so-- 25, 30 years-- creating 60 to 100-- give or take, depending on where you draw the line-- but housing units. But then in Wisconsin, you can use TIF outside of TIF, and we used it to just reinvigorate the entire community. So and that's where it takes a lot of time. But it is in Wisconsin, in my mind, the one and only tool to really move it forward. And obviously, there's risk, but you're not in it for profit.

ERIN CHAMBERS: So in Newton, we are using TIF for our new residential construction that we against the TIF-issued bonds for the construction of the infrastructure. The city is in partnership with Newton Housing Development Corporation on that. Technically, they are the property owner, but they are our nonprofit partner. And so we are using a combination of tax increment revenues and lot sales to pay back those bonds.

And so it's a combination. So we didn't want to charge a lot price that actually fully covers the infrastructure because that sets that price higher than the local market can bear. And so it's a combination of lot sales and TIF revenues to pay that back.

So the comment on community morale is really nuanced because it's not only a resurgence in the community and growth, it's also getting over what I would call a grieving process for the loss of Maytag. When a town of 15,000 loses a Fortune 500 company that employs 4,000 to 5,000 people, it's more than just losing your job. You're losing the sense of identity in the community. And so growth and housing is a piece of that. But there's also a reimagining the identity of Newton.

It's setting the tone of how the region looks at us. I mean, I think if you read newspaper articles from anywhere from 2006 to 2014, 2015, Des Moines Register, regionally, Newton is dying is the messaging. And so having to overcome that. So there's all of that reimagining work that's happening. But I also think if you were to visit our neighborhoods in Newton in 2006, there wouldn't be a block without a blighted house.

Investment in even just regular housing was very low. Today, people have the confidence to do that deck project, do the new siding, do the new roofing. They have the confidence that Newton is not dying. So I think all of the investments have changed not only how neighborhoods look but how residents feel about it.

DUSTIN INGRAM: OK. And We are going to leave it there. So let's give round of applause to our panel.

[APPLAUSE]

All right. Now before the next step. Erin, if you don't mind, very quickly, can you tell us what we're going to see on the tour so we can have that in our head, and then I'll get the rest of the instructions.

ERIN CHAMBERS: All right. So we're going to do three stops. One stop, we actually won't be getting off the bus. During my presentation, I had mentioned a program called Homes for Iowa. This is through Iowa Prison Industries. Here in Newton at one of our prison facilities just outside the city limits, inmates who are getting ready to leave the corrections system and enter back out in the world, have the opportunity to gain real working skills for and build single-family homes that then can be transported anywhere in Iowa.

Newton, but even more so elsewhere in the state of Iowa, getting a developer to come build a new house in your community is really difficult. And so Homes for Iowa was created as a way of getting affordable new housing stock available to be delivered into our rural communities in the state of Iowa and to provide very valuable on-job training for inmates who are going to be entering back into the real world again. And so we're going to be seeing two houses placed on infill lots that were previously owned by the city of Newton.

These houses look awesome in the neighborhood. Because of their size and scale, they fit within our historic neighborhoods. So you have two new houses, but you're surrounded by houses of various eras. And so we just wanted you guys to see how that works. Look into Homes For Iowa as a program. I'm hoping other states can replicate this idea because it's really, really, really helpful. And then we will be heading to a single-family residential subdivision that the city has been in partnership with the Housing Development Corporation, primary developer of.

And then finally, we'll be landing at Legacy Plaza, which is the former headquarters of the Maytag Corporation, which is currently under construction. In December, 78 new residential units will be online for rent. These are not income-restricted. They're market-rate apartments. And then a new hotel is being developed in buildings 1 and 2, which are the original Maytag factory buildings from more than a century ago.

And this is part of the Iowa Reinvestment District which Newton was awarded. I can talk more about that program as we get there. It's just a really great way to see the reuse of factory and headquarter space into--

DUSTIN INGRAM: OK, so If you drove separately, Erin's going to be talking on the bus. So we encourage you to get on the bus. And the bus will come back here and drop you off back to get your car and whatnot. And then the bus will go to the airport.

Your box lunch is outside here-- T for Turkey, H for ham, drinks, again, on the side. Hit the restroom, again, before you go. We are on and gone at 12:15 or earlier if everybody gets on the bus before that. So there we are. All right. So on and gone at 12:15 to start the tour.