Stevens Point Current: Zoning rewrite meetings set; city seeks to improve rental housing (2025)

  • Stevens Point is hosting public information meetings to gather community input on its first zoning code rewrite in decades.
  • The city approved conceptual images for its downtown development master plan to attract potential developers.
  • A new Rental Housing Improvement Program offers low-interest loans to landlords for property upgrades, aiming to improve rental housing quality.

Stevens Point Current is a regular column in the Stevens Point Journal by Service Journalism Reporter Erik Pfantz that covers a range of topics in city and county governments and local school districts to highlight the many items that flow past our local decision-makers.

If you have items you would like to see highlighted in this column, please reach out to Erik atepfantz@gannett.com.

Residents invited to meetings about zoning code rewrite

Opportunities for Stevens Point residents to be involved in the rewrite of the city’s zoning code were set by the Community Development Department following the Common Council’s approval of the project in February.

Public information meetings have been set for eight of 13 neighborhoods across the city, according to the city’s website outlining the project. The first meeting is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. May 20 regarding the Northside neighborhood to be held at the Pfiffner Building on Franklin Street. Three are scheduled for June, two for July, and one each in August and October.

“While we make periodic changes to the zoning code, as we see the need, this will be our first comprehensive rewrite in decades. Ideals come and go and we tend to shift our thinking as new ideas emerge or technology advances,” Mayor Mike Wiza said in a March 31 release announcing the meetings. “This rewrite is our chance to set the tone for our community for a generation or more. I encourage people to be part of that process.”

The intent of the meetings is to hear from residents and business owners in each district about current land use in the neighborhood, development concerns and “to establish a vision for orderly development in Stevens Point,” according to the release. The rewrite process is expected to take until mid-2027 to complete.

Riverfront conceptual image approved

People who dream about the future of Stevens Point will have a few more conceptual images to draw inspiration from after the Redevelopment Authority approved a recommendation to the Common Council on April 3 to include three new images in the city’s Downtown Targeted Area Master Plan.

Stevens Point Current: Zoning rewrite meetings set; city seeks to improve rental housing (1)

The new images include two new site plans for the former Shopko property and a Riverfront Connection concept that was first produced in 2019 but not officially adopted into the area’s master plan document. The new Shopko property images will assist in a likely upcoming search for developers for a section of the property while the Riverfront image is meant more to inspire future collaborations and conversations.

“This is an image we have kept on file and when developers have asked what the vision is for downtown Stevens Point and asked for a very striking visual,” Chris Klesmith, neighborhood planner and economic development specialist, said in the meeting. “We get the best response from potential developers when they can actually see what it is or if it’s going to be happening.”

“Having this image certainly gets them excited and a little more motivated to be working with folks to execute projects,” Klesmith concluded.

The committee’s recommendation came with several requests for further information from city staff for future work on the concepts. For the Riverfront plan, replacing potentially lost parking spaces near Pfiffner Park and environmental remediation efforts for the site of a former coal gasification plant between Crosby Avenue and First Street were noted while moving the location of an updated transit center was noted for the former Shopko property plan.

Common Council will likely consider the recommendation at its next regular meeting at 7 p.m. April 21.

Stevens Point creates rental improvement program

Stevens Point residents may soon see improvements to rental properties in the city following approval of a Rental Housing Improvement Program by the Redevelopment Authority on April 3. The program expands the Redevelopment Authority’s revolving loan funds, which also includes the Housing Modernization Loan program.

“Our last housing report and new data show that our community is in high need of improving its rental housing, and we need to try and keep costs down,” Mayor Mike Wiza said in an April 7 release announcing the program. “Rental housing is just as important to our community as owner-occupied housing, and the units targeted by this program are locally owned and managed, keeping the funds circulating in our community.”

The program will offer qualifying rental property owners 2% interest loans in exchange for higher quality housing options, according to the release. The program is based on recommendations made in a 2017 Stevens Point housing study, a recent regional housing study and the 2023 housing task force report.

The program joins about a half dozen other grant and loan programs for homeowners offered by local government and organizations in the Stevens Point area. Other programs include housing modernization loan program, Neighbor Helping Neighbor grants, residential infill grants, multi-family conversation grants, community development block grants, energy assistance programs and more.

Further information on these programs can be found online at https://stevenspoint.com/595/Homeowner-Help or by contacting Chris Klesmith, neighborhood planner and economic development specialist, at cklesmith@stevenspoint.com.

Erik Pfantz covers local government and education in central Wisconsin for USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin and values his background as a rural Wisconsinite. Contact him atepfantz@gannett.com.

Stevens Point Current: Zoning rewrite meetings set; city seeks to improve rental housing (2025)
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