Thursday, November 9, 2017 • Vol. 133, No. 19 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1
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Village of Oregon
Hotel gets board’s OK Financial assistance from village still in the works SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Samantha Christian
Oregon Community Resource Network board chair Randy Glysch, left, past board chair Jeff Boudreau, right, and Oregon Area Food Pantry board chair Tom Kirchdoerfer, center, peer into the new walk-in freezer during the OAFP building soft opening Nov. 2. The community is invited to tour the building and bring a nonperishable food item to stock the shelves during a ribbon cutting ceremony and “Fill the Pantry” event at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13.
‘From dream to reality’ New food pantry building opens next week
Observer correspondent
There’s been a flurry of activity around the new Oregon Area Food Pantry building in the last month to ensure patrons have a warm, welcoming place to go before the snow falls. With construction complete, sidewalks poured and paint dried at the 4,232-square-foot structure, volunteers rallied in late October to set
up shelves, organize inventory and spruce up the entrance with landscaping in time for the Nov. 16 distribution at 107 N. Alpine Pkwy. But what the pantry still needs is a broader selection of food, especially with the upcoming holidays. So, in partnership with the Oregon Community Resource Network and Oregon Area Chamber of Commerce, OAFP
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If You Go What: “Fill the Pantry” open house* When: 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13 Where: Oregon Area Food Pantry, 107 N. Alpine Pkwy. Info: obfp.org *Public is asked to bring nonperishable food items
Town of Dunn
Easement would preserve 210-acre farm PDR program could cost $700,000, protect land around Town Hall
conservation easement for the 210-acre Gausman farm at the town’s annual meeting Nov. 14. Owners Bill and Roz Gausman are hoping to put their farm into a permanent conservation easement BILL LIVICK under the town’s Purchase of Development Rights proUnified Newspaper Group gram. That would prevent Town of Dunn residents development on the land if will be asked to vote on a town residents approve of
the acquisition. Dunn Planning and Land Conservation director Erica Schmitz has estimated the cost to purchase the easement at $700,000. The town has been awarded a Department of Agriculture grant to cover half the cost of the conservation easement for the
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If You Go What: Town meeting to consider conservation easement When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14 Where: Dunn Town Hall, 4156 County Road B More info: 838-1081
Village officials and the developer are expected to bring forward a tax-increment financing proposal for the board to consider. said would be the next step. Gracz said he and Coyle are working on a deal that will come to the board soon. Last year, the board approved more than $700,000 in TIF assistance for a 52-room hotel at 1053 Park St., but a local financial backer pulled out of the deal in September. Village officials have long sought a hotel to provide rooms for visitors and promote economic development. The room tax generated from the hotel would also help fund tourism promotion efforts.
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Horse Parade returns Saturday ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
The Oregon Horse Parade is back. T h i s S a t u r d a y, t h e “Horse Capital of Wisconsin” will once again play host to horses and their costumed riders after a yearlong hiatus. “We’ve always wanted to keep it,” said Oregon Area Chamber of Commerce executive director Judy Knutson. Th e fa m i l y f r i e n d l y event starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, and is expected to last an hour. The Horse Parade began as a collaboration between the Oregon Horse Association and the Chamber of Commerce as a way to attract visitors
If You Go What: Oregon Horse Parade When: 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11 Where: Main Street from East Lincoln to Spring Info: oregonhorseassociation.org
to downtown businesses during the holiday season. But about a month before what would have been the ninth annual parade last year, OHA president Barb Waters wrote a Facebook message to the group’s
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SAMANTHA CHRISTIAN
A hotel could be on its way to Oregon. T h e Vi l l a g e B o a r d approved the final two steps in its development process for a 66-room Sleep Inn hotel with a pool Monday night. If financing and other considerations proceed, it will be built at the corner of Park Street and Rosewood Avenue, down the street from where a hotel was approved last year before that plan fell through. Adam Coyle, a member of the family that owns the land the hotel would be built on, told the board he expected the hotel would open around Oct. 1 next year. The building is expected to require tax-increment financing, which village administrator Mike Gracz
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