‘Best of’ Awards voting kicks off

ELLSWORTH – Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce members learned about the village’s Comprehensive Plan process from Christopher Holtkamp on Thursday, Jan. 20 at a luncheon meeting. All community residents are encouraged to fill out the survey, which will help provide direction to Ellsworth’s future.

Holtkamp, an assistant professor of conservation and environmental planning at UW-River Falls, connected with Village President Becky Beissel through a colleague that took part in the 2018 Design Ellsworth process. The village has hired Holtkamp and his team of UWRF students to help update the village’s Comprehensive Plan, which is required by state law to be updated every 10 years. The village’s due date was 2020, but it’s been given some leeway thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The community is building this plan, not just us at the village,” Beissel said.

Holtkamp was an urban planner for 20-plus years in Texas, where he worked with primarily small, rural communities similar in size to Ellsworth. He has been with UWRF since 2018.

“It really does set the vision for what the communities do for the next 10, 20 years,” Holtkamp said of the plan.

In the first 1.5 weeks since the survey went live, the village has recorded 500 responses. Holtkamp said it’s beneficial for the village to be updating its plan right after the 2020 Census, with fresh data.

“It gives us a big picture understanding of what’s going on in Ellsworth,” Holtkamp said. “Why do people live here? What challenges do they face? Opportunities?”

Holtkamp and his team drove the Ellsworth streets on Monday, Jan. 17, taking an inventory of land uses and parcels, and compared them to current zoning areas. It helps the team see how Ellsworth has developed over time and why. It also helps them recommend a plan that makes sense going forward.

Residents have until Feb. 4 to fill out the survey, which will help the team identify key themes and priorities that are important to residents. Beginning in February or March, a series of town hall meetings will be held to provide all people an opportunity to attend, regardless of schedules.

“Public engagements help in knowing what initiatives to pursue,” Holtkamp said. “It can also help combat the naysayers who always show up.”

Initiatives identified as priorities by the Comp Plan don’t all have to be undertaken by the village. Some can be spearheaded by community volunteer groups or individuals.

The Comprehensive Plan must be organized by nine required topics (per the state): Issues and Opportunities, Transportation (including trails, sidewalks and bike paths, along with streets), Land Use (how will the village grow over time, using a land use map to plan, redevelop, revitalize and reinvigorate), Housing, Cultural & Natural Resources, Economic Development, Utilities & Community Services, Intergovernmental Cooperation (relationships with surrounding municipalities) and Implementation (where the rubber hits the road).

“The hardest part of planning is implementation,” Holtkamp said. “That’s when the hard work begins.”

The Comp Plan will help provide the village a clear direction for allocation of resources. The plan is typically more detailed in the early years, and more vague as time goes on, to allow for flexibility.

“Who knows what will happen in 10, 20 years?” Holtkamp asked. “To really be effective, the plan should be used every day. It must be flexible and looked at often. It must allow you to react to changing directions.”

The entire process should take roughly seven to eight months. Once the plan is drafted, it will be presented to the public. In the meantime, Holtkamp wants to provide residents plenty of opportunity to the public to engage. It needs to reflect the community’s values and priorities. In some cases, it might event be “a plan to plan.” For example, the Comp Plan may show the need for a sidewalk plan, which would involve taking an inventory of key destinations in town and how accessible they are.

“If you can point to a Comp Plan that has significant public engagement, it can provide more leverage when dealing with organizations like the DOT, etc.,” Holtkamp said.

The ideal number of people he’d like to see at town hall meetings is 200 to 400, he said. The village-appointed steering committee will act as ambassadors to help reach marginalized communities who might not show up at the town halls.

“Ownership of the plan and/or goals is vital to keeping the plan viable and alive, whether it’s the Village Board, Plan Commission, a nonprofit,” Holtkamp said. “Planning is the easy part, the fun part. Implementation is the hard part.”

It’s common when planning gets underway for people to blaze forth with unrealistic expectations, then become disappointed when big change doesn’t happen overnight. Holtkamp advised for people to be patient, but persevering. Look for low-hanging fruit, he said, projects that can be done fairly quickly, that allow residents to see some success right away.

“It will help motivate you to keep going,” he said. “To make fundamental change in your community, it doesn’t happen overnight. You wouldn’t want it to happen overnight.”

The Comp Plan will include an implementation guide complete with funding resources to pursue.

To fill out a survey, go to https://tinyurl.com/EllsworthSurvey2022 Hard copies can be obtained at the Village Hall (130 N. Chestnut St.) or the Ellsworth Public Library (312 W. Main St.)

Best of Awards

The Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce has opened voting for its 2022 ‘Best of’Awards. The first round of voting concludes at midnight on Wednesday, Feb. 2. The three nominees in each category who receive the most online votes will be finalists and advance to the next round of voting. The final voting round will take place Friday, Feb. 4 through Friday, Feb. 11.

The winners in the following categories will be announced at the annual chamber dinner, to be held Monday, Feb. 21 at Kilkarney Hills Golf Course in River Falls. Categories include:

•Best New Business

•Best Restaurant, Bar, Tavern

•Best Tourism Destination, Attraction

•Best Health & Wellness

•Best Professional Services

•Best Professional Home Services

•Best Non-profit, Civic Group, Religious Organization •Best Customer Service Head to http://www.ellsworthchamber. com/best-of-awards to vote. Please select one nomination per category. One survey entry is allowed per person. You may not vote for the same business in more than two categories.

The QR code above leads to the Plan 2022 Ellsworth community survey.