This site provides information on a successful downzoning effort by the East Side Neighborhood Association in Menomonie, Wisconsin, home of University of Wisconsin-Stout. The text below provides a brief overview of the downzoning effort.

Menomonie approved the downzoning, which placed a cap on the existing lodging houses (student rental houses) within an area of the city known as the old East Side. Houses which had already been licensed for student rental were allowed to continue the current use by grandfathering in all existing licensed houses.

A brief history of the Menomonie downzoning

From 1985 through 1990 in Menomonie, my wife and I and our two children lived across from an elementary school in a turn of the century area that was predominantly family, with some student rental houses mixed in. Three student rentals on a block was considered a heavy concentration. We rented an efficiency apartment in our house to a graduate student.

We loved the neighborhood and the mix of people. However, many absentee landlords did little or no upkeep on their properties. And, since whenever a house came on the market there was a chance of it selling for a lodging house, potential single-family home buyers seemed reluctant to purchase a home in the area because of the cost of renovation combined with the uncertainty of adjacent homes would become lodging houses (which in many cases meant they would have their front yards graveled for parking, and enter into a deferred maintenance mode).

There was a cap on enrollment at the university, but it seemed every time a house in our area went on the market it was purchased for student rental (not surprising considering the income they produce).

The city plan also listed the area's projected use as R-1, single-family residential. That seemed enough of a base for the neighborhood to begin considering a downzoning petition.

Because our area was approximately 77 percent owner-occupied, in the fall of 1989 I decided to form a neighborhood group to petition the city plan commission to place a cap on converting houses to lodging houses (city code required any home with more than three un-related occupants be licensed as a lodging house, a use which was allowed in all but single-family zoned areas) in our 12-block area. I talked with representatives of student government first, and had their support on the project (with an enrollment cap in place, and existing lodging houses being granfathered in, they saw no reason to oppose it).

We had block leaders to gather signatures on the petition from residents of their block. Our petition requested that our area, which was zoned limited-multiple (single family, two family, and lodging house), be downzoned to single family (which in Menomonie allowed single-family and two family residences).

The city plan commission approved our request and sent it on to the city council. Wow, what an outcry from the landlords! They went so far as to send letters with incorrect information on how the change would impact property owners to every home owner in the area.

In the spring of 1990 my family and I made a work-related move to another college town. By that time the rezoning petition was well underway, with block captains, who deserveve all the credit for the rezoning approval, coordinating the activity.

In the fall of 1990, the downzoning was approved by the city council. The area continues to be a healthy mix of families and students. A new grade school has made the area more desirable (while prices remain low enough for first-time homeowners [which include Hmong refugee families] to purchase homes in the area). In particular though, people who buy older homes in the area and plan to live in them have some assurance that renovation expenses won't be lost because the house next door is bought by a slum lord and turned into a lodging house.

The items below are from August, 1990. By this time the city plan commission had approved the rezoning request and forwarded it to the city council for an August 20th vote. During this period absentee landlord opposition to the rezoning was becoming very active. These items are provided to present a snapshot of the final stages of the neighborhood association's work on behalf of the rezoning.

Letters to the editor

• Letters to the editor, Dunn County News, 8/1/90
  
• Letters to the editor, Dunn County News, 8/8/90
  

• Letter from R. Karrow to C. Buelow in re neighborhood association rezoning issues (page 1 of 2).
  
• Letter from R. Karrow to C. Buelow in re neighborhood association rezoning issues (page 2 of 2).
  

• Handout for block captains describing requested zoning, and including example properties.
  

• Cover memo
  
• Letter to neighbors (page 1 of 2)
  
• Letter to neighbors (page 2 of 2)
  
• List of city council members
  
• Map of rezoning
  
• Reasons to support rezoning
  

• Excerpt from city attorney's letter to Mayor Stokke.
  

• Letter from neighborhood association to city administrator, 8/4/90.
  
• Letter from neighborhood association to city attorney, 8/4/90 (page 1 of 2).
  
• Letter from neighborhood association to city administrator, 8/4/90 (page 2 of 2).
  

• Letter from T. Phillips personally and individually addressed to each rental property owner in rezoning area, 8/4/90. (Phillips was an owner of student rental properties. He and his family lived outside the rezoning area.)
  
• Letter from S. Hake personally and individually addressed and referenced to rental property owners in rezoning area, 8/7/90 (page 1 of 2). (Hakes also was a landlord living outside the rezoning area.)
  
• Letter from S. Hake personally and individually addressed and referenced to rental property owners in rezoning area, 8/7/90 (page 2 of 2).
  

• Letter from Mayor Stokke to all residents in Eastside Rezoning District, 8/8/90. Stokke presents his view of effects of the rezoning proposal.
  
• Attachment to letter from Mayor Stokke to all residents in Eastside Rezoning District, 8/8/90. Memo from building inspector to mayor, city administrator, city attorney.
  

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