Welcome mat out in Cooney?

Posted: Feb. 8, 2010

City leaders say they're working to attract businesses downtown and offer incentives for Oconomowoc entrepreneurs. But local merchants say their experiences with the city don't always make them feel like the welcome mat is out.

Downtown was the place to be

Maureen Stapleton, owner of Stapleton Realty & Appraisal in downtown, who has lived and worked in the community for the better part of her life, reminisced about a time when Main Street, was "the street" to be on.

She said over the years merchants retired and buildings that housed Synder Clothing and other high-end retail establishments were left vacant.

Stapleton agreed that maybe the high-end retail isn't what Oconomowoc is about anymore.

"Maybe retail in Oconomowoc will be anchored by two stores, Goodwill on Highway 67 and St. Vincent de Paul on Brown Street.

"Maybe we truly are a blue-collar, bedroom community, and maybe we never thought of ourselves as that before," she said.

But Stapleton and others downtown have said that a changing shopping culture isn't the only thing to blame for the vacancies.

"If you want to get retail, you can't charge impact fees and penalize people for coming here.

And you have to go out and get businesses," she added.

She said Oconomowoc, unlike its neighbors, charges impact fees to downtown businesses.

"Why don't we change that ordinance and have a redevelopment district like they did in the Third Ward?" she asked.

We have goals

Oconomowoc Director of Economic Development Bob Duffy, who also serves on the Community Development Authority, said the CDA board continues to discuss what it can do to make the process of locating here easier.

"There are strategies that we have used to encourage people to come," he said. "There needs to be an awareness to people that the city has not stopped looking for opportunities to attract people downtown."

He said the Fowler waterfront revitalization is embroiled in this discussion, as well as recent Common Council approval to build the city's new community center downtown.

"We are focusing on attracting another group of people; to attract families.

"We already have a nice beach, and we want to bring more people here for an event, or concert, dinner or ice cream. To start to make this into a community-friendly atmosphere that supports the image and identity of Oconomowoc," he said.

Duffy said that just because residents see that the city has approved a plan - such as Rockwell or the waterfront, for instance - and there is no immediate construction doesn't mean it won't happen, or that the city has stopped working on it.

"What we do from the city's perspective is reanalyze and prioritize and look at these things and achieve little pieces and pick certain pieces (to do) given the current environment," he said. "I don't want to think there's nothing going on. What we're working on now may not be what people get excited about.

"They're definitely not very exciting things to help sell newspapers and read about, but they are the foundation of how you build this. There are usually three or four years of dealing with things people don't see," he said.

Investing downtown

Duffy said people should know that the city has been very supportive when it comes to improving downtown.

Beyond making a large investment with the road reconstruction, Duffy said, the city has pitched in to help market existing retail.

"We specifically did a lot of things promoting downtown during the Christmas shopping season. We realize that this has been a tough time for them with the poor economy, and the city did quite a bit of advertising for downtown to help that," Duffy said.

Mayor Maury Sullivan said the city spent $50,000 for advertising in magazines to promote Oconomowoc. "And the utilities which are included as operating costs for any business are among the lowest in the area. That turns out to be a benefit," he added.

"Obviously, we want to be in a position where we can say we tried to do something," Duffy said. He pointed out the city also works to help improve the downtown streetscape by securing grants for facade improvements.

At the end of 2008, a facade improvement program was funded with $31,000 from the Waukesha County Community Development Block Grant. The program aimed to encourage owners to improve their building facades.

"So when that was invested here, it benefits downtown, but again the economy can get involved too … these are just our small pieces of what we can do," he said. "We're working with a small amount of money, too, to offer these things."

Working with the city

While the city pointed out to facade program, street reconstruction and advertising as recent initiatives to help, many merchants say they have been frustrated by how they are treated when working with the city on approvals for their business.

While many merchants would not speak on the record for fear of retribution, some shared a few thoughts.

Kristy Zingsheim, owner of Betrothed Your Special Day Boutique and the floral shop Modern Bloom, said the overall vibe she got at City Hall was uninviting.

"The people are nice, but it's always a response like, 'We'll just have to see if you qualify,' " she said. Zingsheim said one example was approval of her main sign.

"I had to go in front of seven men and have them nitpick it," she said. "If something looks good and will work, why can't we move on?" Zingsheim said city officials didn't like the font she had used.

She said that every time she had to go for an approval it was at least a $50 fee. "They nickel and dime you. I don't know how other towns do it, but there were a few times when I wondered if this is the right location for me just because of the city itself," she said.

Zingsheim noted that her business has been downtown for 11 months and not once has the mayor or anyone else from the city stopped by to welcome her.

"I just think it's kind of funny," she said. "I was reading how the mayor offered La Fuente some money. No one offered me anything, not even a greeting card, and I didn't put one but really two businesses here, and this is one of the largest bridal shops in Southeastern Wisconsin."

Angie Scharnell, who owns Scharnell's Catering with her husband, Steven, said their hearts are downtown, that's why they're there, but sometimes the merchants feel the area is neglected.

"Maybe some incentives to come downtown and fill some storefronts that are already here," she said. "Things we don't understand is why more is being built when we already have those here."

More on this issue in next Tuesday's paper.