Zion Affordable Housing Newsletter ​​
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Weekly Update for 8-8-25
We're continuing to do tours with smaller developers who are interested in the Zion Affordable Housing Project and potentially submitting a proposal for developing some or all of the Zion campus that's available for development. Vicar Jake is scheduled to tour another small local developer today and one small developer who has toured previously has requested an additional tour which will be conducted next Monday.
The closing date for submission of proposals is September 10th so we will see how many proposals are received by the deadline. Again, Zion may potentially select several proposals if they are for different sections of the campus and fit together with each other and with Zion's mission and vision.
Next Wednesday starts the 2nd annual round of Town Makers meetings, sponsored by AARP and Strong Towns, to cultivate small developers who will fill in the gaps in the current developer pool. These small developers are mainly focusing on infill projects, missing middle housing, and the like. We're hoping in our 2nd year to bring some new projects across the finish line, at least in terms of planning and contracting, including the Long Chen addition, a pocket neighborhood or two, and the Zion Project. Any interested person can attend these free meetings held downtown at the offices of Downtown Appleton, Ste. 100 in the Paper Valley Hotel at 5:30 pm.
Bonnie also attended the monthly Zoom meeting, hosted by Harriet Redman, for parents/caregivers/agencies involved with adults with disabilities. Much of the conversation centered around housing issues and the dire need for more options for loved ones with disabilities. Susan Garcia Franz was encouraging those present to tell their stories to legislators who make the decisions about funding services and projects vital to the quality of life for people with disabilities. She's also hoping to possibly video people telling their stories so the recordings can be used to make the case for more support, including housing options.
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Weekly Update for 8-1-25
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We've gotten a few comments recently following the hard copy mailing of the 2024 Annual Report of the Community Foundation of the Fox Valley Region which featured Vicar Jake Czarnik-Neimeyer and Bonnie outside of Zion Lutheran Church talking about the affordable housing project as the Community Foundation was instrumental in funding our early efforts to get the ball rolling on this project. There should be a digital version of the report coming out soon and we'll put the link in an upcoming Weekly Update for all of you to read. We appreciated being featured in the report because the more press, the better as we are awaiting replies to our Request for Proposals.
The Request for Proposals (RFP) for developing the Zion campus has been eliciting some responses from area developers. Vicar Jake toured a small local developer this week and there's another small local developer who is looking to schedule a tour as well. An additional developer did reply after some initial interest that their schedule was too full to consider adding another project. Win some, lose some!
The closing date for submission of proposals is September 10th so we will see how many proposals are received by the deadline. Again, Zion may potentially select several proposals if they are for different sections of the campus and fit together with each other and with Zion's mission and vision.
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Weekly Update for 7-18-25
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CUE THE HAPPY DANCE! The Request for Proposals (RFP) has been sent out to area developers, large and small, asking for their proposals for the development of the Zion campus, along with folks who have relationships with developers and can partner on such a project. There are roughly 70 recipients who received the RFP email and we've begun to receive some calls and emails in return with questions so we are off to a great start!
This week Bonnie met via Zoom with the Zion Real Estate Committee to share the final version of the RFP and answer questions. It was a great meeting marked by collaboration, discernment, and enthusiasm as we move things forward.
It was also a solid week for moving things forward on other fronts related to affordable housing, including a Zoom meeting with the Fox Valley Housing Coalition, contact with several people including Paul Nulton and Julie Filapek regarding the affordable housing lever arising out of last Fall's faith-based housing summit, and other such contacts.
Weekly Update for 7-11-25
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This week's big news is the Request for Proposals (RFP) has been handed over to Zion Council for final approval, then Bonnie will be sending it out to area developers, large and small, asking for their proposals for the development of the Zion campus. There are roughly 50 recipients lined up for the RFP email, including some individuals adjacent to developers who might have ideas for sharing the RFP with developers currently not on our list. Developers will have 8 weeks to respond if they wish to submit for all or part of the Zion property that's available for development.
Developers will be able to tour the campus prior to submitting, if desired, by contacting Bonnie to set up a date and time. There will be a week set aside for presentations from interested developers to Zion leadership on their proposals and a week of discernment time for Zion before responding to those proposals. Send up some prayers for several good proposals coming our way!
This week Bonnie met with both Vicar Jake and Kandie Wilz to make sure everyone was on the same page with regard to the affordable housing project. Bonnie also attended the final round of the first year of Town Makers, sponsored by AARP Wisconsin and Strong Towns.
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Weekly Update for 6-20-25
Apologies for missing last week; somewhere in there the whole week disappeared! The rough draft of the Request for Proposals (RFP) has been handed over to Zion for approval, then Bonnie will need to create the timeline for that prior to sending it out to area developers, large and small, asking for their proposals for the development of the Zion campus.
Many thanks to Paul Nulton for being willing to present the update for the Affordable Housing lever led by the Churches United in Care (CUIC) as neither Bonnie nor Noel Halvorsen from NeighborWorks Green Bay were able to make the meeting on June 10th due to other commitments. Paul also expressed a willingness to assist in developing some funding for administrative support for our lever as neither Bonnie nor Noel have bandwidth to cover administrative tasks as well as the lever work itself. We will be scheduling upcoming Zoom calls with those churches who expressed interest in being a part of the work developing affordable housing through faith-based efforts and a second meeting with churches that weren't able to be at the Housing Summit last Fall, but are interested in participating. We will be looking for those members/churches willing to step into Leadership roles with this work and then will be focusing on education aimed at equipping member churches to develop the unique opportunities faith-based communities have in serving the people most negatively impacted by the housing crisis.
The Fox Cities Housing Coalition did a free presentation on June 16th at the Appleton Public Library from 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm on homelessness and housing issues in our area. Gary Neumann and Vicar Jake Czarnik-Neimeyer from Zion Lutheran attended the Housing Coalition on Monday to hear a presentation about the housing needs in the Fox Valley and some ways they can be addressed. The well-attended presentation highlighted some of the challenges faced to provide more affordable housing, including zoning in the city of Appleton and the need for new construction that promotes community and more units on limited available land in the city of Appleton. Statistics were available about housing costs and projects in other cities in the Fox Valley. There was mention about Zion's effort to possibly provide affordable housing on their campus. The session ended with time for questions and answers at the end of the presentation.
That's it for this week's update. There may or may not be an update next week as Bonnie leaves for Iceland on Thursday and will return July 3rd, so things may be quiet for several weeks.
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Weekly Update for 6-6-25
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This was a quieter week for the Zion Affordable Housing Project. Bonnie has been working on the revamp of the Request for Proposals (RFP) to be approved by the Zion Real Estate Committee and then sent out to area developers, large and small, asking for their proposals for the development of the Zion campus. Bonnie and Kandie are slated to meet tomorrow to put some finishing touches on the proposal.
Noel Halvorsen from NeighborWorks Green Bay and Bonnie discussed next steps forward for their "Lever" for Affordable Housing coming out of last Fall's Faith Communities Housing Summit sponsored by Churches United in Care (CUIC). We will be scheduling upcoming Zoom calls with those churches who expressed interest in being a part of the work developing affordable housing through faith-based efforts and a second meeting with churches that weren't able to be at the Housing Summit last Fall, but are interested in participating. We will be looking for those members/churches willing to step into Leadership roles with this work and then will be focusing on education aimed at equipping member churches to develop the unique opportunities faith-based communities have in serving the people most negatively impacted by the housing crisis. Noel and Bonnie want to thank in advance Paul Nulton for being willing to present their update to the CUIC as they are unable to make the meeting on June 10th due to other commitments.
Yesterday, Bonnie attended the monthly Zoom meeting of parents of adults with disabilities hosted by WisconSibs founder, Harriet Redman. Bonnie was invited to give an update on the Zion Affordable Housing Project and talked about the Project Thrive proposal and some of the difficulties related to creating affordable housing, including Appleton's parking requirements and setback requirements. Bonnie encouraged parents to become more vocal with regard to the needs of their adult children with disabilities and Harriet also talked about the invisibility of this population of their loved ones and needing to raise the awareness around their issues. Bonnie also mentioned the overrepresentation of people with disabilities among Appleton's population of people experiencing homelessness. The consequences of this cohort's invisibility can be dire.
To that end, Fox Cities Housing Coalition will be offering a free presentation on June 16th at the Appleton Public Library from 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm on homelessness and housing issues in our area. If you've never heard their presentation, of which the Zion Project is a part, Bonnie would highly recommend it! (The pdf with the invitation is too large to include in this Update, so please email Bonnie if you'd like it sent to you directly).
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Weekly Update for 5-30-25
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The planners of Project Thrive, a development to offer housing and programming for adults with disabilities, seniors, and others in our community, have gotten back to Zion, stating that their developer would be working on their project during June and indicating their desire for Zion to proceed with soliciting other potential developers in the interim. Bonnie responded to them indicating she would include them in the list of recipients for the upcoming Request for Proposals that will go out from Zion. On that note, if you know of any developers who might be a good fit for the Zion property, please forward their contact information to Bonnie to be added to her list if they are not already on it.
Yesterday Vicar Jake and Bonnie had a photo shoot on the Zion Affordable Housing Project requested by Jan Padron from the Community Foundation of the Fox Valley who is gathering content for their Annual Report and wants to include the Zion Affordable Housing Project in the Report as having received funding from the Community Foundation to move our project forward. We are hopeful this is another opportunity to showcase our Project and draw in some additional support and interest from area developers and other groups.
Vicar Jake and Bonnie also had a good discussion, catching up on details of the Project, and clarifying roles. Bonnie will be contacting Carrie Sanders from Hope Community Capital who is assisting Zion in future planning to catch up with her as well.
Fox Cities Housing Coalition will be offering a free presentation on June 16th at the Appleton Public Library from 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm on homelessness and housing issues in our area. If you've never heard their presentation, of which the Zion Project is a part, Bonnie would highly recommend it! (The pdf with the invitation is too large to include in this Update, so please email Bonnie if you'd like it sent to you directly).
Last bit of news is Kandie Wilz, Zion Project Manager, and Bonnie will be meeting this evening to go over a draft of the Request for Proposals which will then be forwarded to the newly-formed Real Estate Committee for approval before sending it out.
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Weekly Update for 5-23-25
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This week saw a wonderful presentation by the planners of Project Thrive, a development to offer housing and programming for adults with disabilities, seniors, and others in our community. Zion Leadership was able to ask questions and suggest possible solutions to some of the concerns related to this project being proposed for Zion property. Many of us left with steps to take to get answers to additional questions that came up in the course of the presentation. It will likely be several weeks before more information is available as we make the connections needed to gather more grist for this particular mill, but I think everyone left feeling hopeful that a potential collaboration could occur.
Vicar Jake Czarnik-Neimeyer is back from being a snowbird and participating in the ongoing work of the Zion Affordable Housing Project. Due to his limited hours as Interim Pastor, he had previously been called to focus on other aspects of his ministry. Glad to have his energy, enthusiasm, and connectedness to the local area back in force!
Also, it's been brought to my attention that we have had and do have some opportunities for our project to be shared with a wider audience! First, I was contacted by Jan Padron from the Community Foundation of the Fox Valley who is gathering content for their Annual Report and wants to include the Zion Affordable Housing Project in the Report as having received funding from the Community Foundation to move our project forward. Vicar Jake and I will be meeting with her toward the end of this month. Looking forward to showcasing our momentum!
And, second, I attended the Fox Cities Housing Coalition Zoom call earlier this week and was pleased to note that Zion's project is part of the Affordable Housing Committee's ongoing presentations to a variety of local groups about homelessness and housing issues in our area. If you've never heard their presentation, I'd highly recommend it and there's an upcoming opportunity to do that on June 16th at the Appleton Public Library at 5:30 pm for the general public. Definitely worthwhile attending to learn more about this growing issue!
Last week I stated that Zion was again preparing to send out a Request for Proposals (RFP) detailing the areas of the Zion campus that are available for development, articulating what would be desirable to have in a project(s) submission, and sharing this RFP to a much wider audience than the previous RFP reached. This RFP will be forthcoming, but we do want to be respectful of the potential opportunity already on the table for Project Thrive, so are giving it several weeks to see how things unfold.
That's about it for this week's update. By the time you receive this, I am out of town for a 4-day sabbatical so will return to work on Tuesday of next week. Feel free to email with any questions or comments regarding the Zion project.
Weekly Update for 5-16-25
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Things are picking up a pace again lately. Much of the progress has been incremental in nature, in other words, we're not moving forward in leaps and bounds, but in smaller measured steps. It helps with the frustrations about how long these kinds of processes take to bear fruit if one thinks of it as occurring in Divine Right Timing and Order. "You can't push the river." So we proceed in good faith, trusting that we'll be guided to the next right step in the process.
Given that, here are some of the recent occurrences that are moving things forward: a proposal was submitted that would utilize much of the land Zion has available for a much-needed facility to serve people with disabilities (the size of the Zion space may be a factor in whether or not this proposal is pursued). Zion also has been having ongoing meetings with Carrie Sanders from Hope Community Capital focused on laying the foundational pieces for whatever development(s) come to fruition.
Several meetings, Zooms, and email conversations have ensued around working with the City of Appleton to modify parking restrictions and setback allowances to make it easier for developers to utilize spaces available in Appleton. Town Makers met Wednesday and discussed how best to address these issues. We were all clear that complaining is not a useful approach, but rather we wish to offer feedback on the benefits to us and the City of making some of the desired changes to the municipal code, the City's Comprehensive Plan, and the future land use map. Jennifer Stephany, Executive Director of Appleton Downtown, Inc. is planning to set up a meeting between some of the Town Makers members, including Bonnie, with City officials to discuss some ways forward.
Bonnie had an interesting Zoom call with R. John Anderson, principal with Anderson/Kim Architecture and Urban Design who bills himself as a "builder, developer, urban designer, and recovering electrician". The discussion was around better ways to work with City government to accomplish housing development outside of the standard approaches. Many thoughtful ideas were shared and some of these will be brought to bear on the Zion Project(s).
Lastly, Zion is again preparing to send out a Request for Proposals (RFP) detailing the areas of the Zion campus that are available for development, articulating what would be desirable to have in a project(s) submission, and sharing this RFP to a much wider audience than the previous RFP reached. We'll be looking not only for those who are interested in developing the whole campus (aside from the church itself which is not on the table), but also smaller developments that might be intended for just a portion of the available space. Looking forward to seeing what we get for responses!
Weekly Update for 5-2-25
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Here's your weekly update. Feel free to pass this update along to anyone you think might be interested. If you do not wish to receive these, please feel free to opt out.
TOP PRIORITY: Please complete the survey for the City of Appleton (even if you think you already offered your opinions at a listening session) at the link below and be sure to include the following two points:
1. We are advocating for the elimination of Appleton's current parking requirements that hinder housing development projects like what's being proposed for Zion. The current level of required parking stalls is shutting down much-needed housing projects and we're requesting those requirements be eliminated, or at least greatly reduced.
2. We are advocating for greater flexibility in required set-backs as these, too, are limiting the ability of housing developments to generate the number of housing units desperately needed in Appleton.
Thank you in advance for filling out the survey which will influence the City of Appleton's Comprehensive Plan which is being updated. If we can influence the City to include these two changes above, it will go a long way toward making it easier for small and large developers alike to add more housing to Appleton's housing stock.
Bonnie had a great Zoom meeting last Friday with two smaller developers who have been working on creating sustainable housing developments in Oshkosh and other locations. The goal was to learn more about how they're doing what they're doing and establish a connection to more folks doing what we hope to do. They did share a huge list of resources, including many companies building with modular components that might suit the project being proposed for the southeast lot.
Speaking of the southeast lot, Bonnie submitted a very preliminary proposal to Zion with her thoughts for a development on that lot which would include up to 8 small "starter" homes (approximately 700-900 sq ft) in pocket neighborhood style. This idea was presented to Zion leadership and Zion suggested a timeline of 90 days for a more complete proposal. Given the number of components to this project, it is unclear how far the proposal can be advanced in 90 days, but it's certainly something to try to meet.
Bonnie also met with 5 people who are potentially interested in joining the Intentional Community project at Zion. There was much lively discussion about the plans and their level of interest in such a project. Their main concerns were related to the potential for the City to not modify their parking and set-back requirements which would delay, if not halt entirely, this development. They were also concerned about wanting to see the project further along in development even though Bonnie made it clear that an Intentional Community, by design, involves a "founders' group" of people who work TOGETHER to create the community. ​​​​
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