Omro Area Development Corporation News Letter

Thank you for your interest in the Omro Area Development Corporations News Letter.  This newsletter is produced quarterly by the Omro Marketing Department.  If you would like a hard copy of the letter, place call the Marketing Department at (920) 685-7005.  

OADC Prepares for 50^th Anniversary Bash

In 1954, a group of Omro business owners along with civic leaders, decided that Omro needed more energy to be spent on promoting Omro for business development. That idea, along with some long hours and hard work, produced what we all know as the OADC.

In 2004, the OADC will commemorate the 50th Anniversary of this organization’s birth with a major dinner & dance on Saturday, April 3rd at Van Abel’s Club 21.

The event will start with the Annual Meeting at 5 PM. This meeting is free to all stock holders and everyone is urged to attend.

Following the meeting, the OADC board is hosting a 50th Anniversary Dinner/Dance Gala complete with cocktails at 5:30, a sit down dinner at 6:30 PM and a live band dance from 7—11PM. The cost for this part of the event is $25 per person, or you can reserve a corporate table for 8 for $200.

The night will also include door prizes and a silent auction.

Tickets for the event will go on sale through the OADC board members and will also be available at the Chamber/OADC office at 117 W. Main St., Omro.

Please help spread the word and make this 50th Anniversary a huge success in celebrating the time and energy of our community’s leaders in promoting Omro as a place to live, work and do business.

Ind. Park expansion in the hands of DOT

The year-long efforts to finalize the expansion of the Omro Industrial Park has now gone to the hands of the DOT. The issue whether they will grant us a very key access to Hwy 21 at what is being called Schwab Ave, at the eastern most section of this recently annexed property.

The original plan for this new street went to the Green Bay office of the Department of Transportation back in August. In October, the Green Bay office showed signs of concern on the future plans for this new street and how it would branch off and help in gaining access for other properties along 21. The thought of the Green Bay office was that when the Hwy 21 bypass comes through (in 12—14 years), those businesses to the east of this new road, might not have Hwy access and may need a south frontage road to branch off to the east of Schwab Ave.

Martinsen & Eisele then took the original plan and added this possible future frontage road along the back of the current businesses on what will be City property.

The revised map has now gotten passed on to the Madison office of the DOT in hopes of having the access approved.

OADC tackles tough job of Ind. Park clean-up

In the past three years, the City of Omro has seen a tremendous growth in the occupancy within our Industrial Park. This quick growth has brought along with it, more responsibility to increase all efforts to make sure the park doesn’t decrease in its aesthetics.

One thing that has been in place to control this growth and the direction that the OADC’s founding fathers wanted to see it take, was the Industrial Park Covenants. While some parts of the covenants have remained the same throughout the 50 years, other areas have been changed to meet with the times. However, one thing has remained constant and that is the focus of the OADC board to make sure that existing and new additions to the park don’t detract from the property values, but instead add.

In October, the OADC’s building and grounds committee made up of Steve Jungwirth, Al Butkiewicz and Chris Hardy closely reviewed the current covenants and then toured the Industrial Park to see if the written restrictions were being abided by.

What they found was that almost all properties had at least one issue that needed to be addressed. Many of those were not only covenant infractions, but city and state infractions as well. Those included: lack of addresses on buildings (which is an infraction of city fire codes), abandoned or not running vehicle storage (which is also a city infraction), and the open storage and burning of garbage piles outside of secured buildings (which hits in pretty much every level of government).

These infractions are not only covered under the covenants, but are also punishable under city ordinances. The fines for such can range upwards of hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the frequency of occurrences.

The City has been under a great deal of fire over the last year by residents who don’t want to keep up the appearance of their property, pointing to the problems within the park. While the city has been cognitive of the park’s issues, they have taken a hands off approach to this point, with the understanding that much of this new building which has taken place takes some time to get settled. However, the question remains how much time is enough.

In October, a letter went out from the Buildings & Grounds committee to all property owners asking for them to address the issues found. The plan of the committee is to meet personally with each property owner and set up a time-line for resolving these issues.

The committee is fully aware that some issues regarding aesthetics might need to be changed within the covenants, as long as it doesn’t hurt the overall health and well-being of individuals and does not pose future problems leading to lower property values.

This totally volunteer committee is in no way isolating any specific property owners and are guided strictly by the covenants that have been presented to each property owner upon the purchase of their land. It is their hope, by working together, they will create a park that will increase in value for the owners and present an inviting location for future entrepreneurs.

OADC prepares for Christmas Parade Exposure

The OADC is turning 50 years old next year and they are kicking off the formal announcement of their big Dinner/Dance with their entry in the Annual Omro Holiday Parade, Saturday, December 6th at 5 PM.

The board has appointed a committee to put together a decorative float advertising the big 50th Gala complete with banners and balloons.

Come join the complete day of holiday festivities. For more information on the Holiday Parade Day Celebration, call the Chamber of Commerce at 685-6960.

Now a Word from your President-David A. Dyer

As we quickly come to the close of another incredible year for the OADC, I would like to thank my board and all the people that made Omro their new home for business in 2003. It is truly amazing the growth we have seen over the last year and we look forward to even more success in 2004.

I would also like to thank our Economic Development Director, Steve Volkert, who has done an outstanding job in creating this growth through his hard work and experience with the City and OADC.

Looking ahead to 2004, I see great things to continue as we celebrate our 50th Anniversary year with more new businesses joining us and more growth from within those already a member of our growing Omro family.

One way in which we are ringing in our golden anniversary is with a very special event scheduled for Saturday, April 3rd. The OADC board will be hosting a huge Anniversary Dinner & Dance at Van Abel’s Club 21. This event is open to everyone, as we want to have a packed house helping to celebrate 50 years of promoting and building Omro.

Please accept my invitation to join us on this very special night as we put on a Gala of prizes and fun.

Finally, as we come to the end of this year, and enter the holiday season, I would personally like to wish all of you and your family a very Happy Holiday and prosperous New Year. We have been truly blessed to have such a great few years here in Omro and we hope to continue to grow and serve you even more in

Colonial Cheese House celebrates 10 years
Family and friends joined dozens of Chamber members as they celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Colonial Cheese House with Randy, Penny and Bev Schmiedel early in September.

The Schmiedels originally purchased the Cheese House in 1993, after Randy had become very familiar with the Omro community as the Manager of Hardees.

Since that time, the Schmiedel’s have made many changes to this former deli-styled facility to expand to handle more ice cream treats and pizza sales.

Along with hosting the quarterly Chamber-After-Hours on September 4th, the Cheese House had it’s big celebration the following Saturday as they had a live band, free give-a-ways and samples, and a major drawing that took them through the entire month.

As a way of commemorating the occasion and thanking the community of Omro for their support for the last decade, the Schmiedels donated $500 to the Omro Library to be used for their reading programs. Omro Head Librarian Theo Knigge was on hand on the 4th to receive this generous gift.

Congratulations to the Schmiedels for 10 delicious years!

Fox Valley Cheese Cake Co. gives new taste/look to downtown

Some people asked if having Curve’s for Women was really a good idea for downtown Omro. After Fox Valley Cheese Cake Company opens this week, that idea looks really good.

Starting Saturday, November 15th, Fox Valley Cheese Cake Company will be opening their doors in the former Omro Fire Station and waistlines may never be the same.

Along with serving their many mouth-watering flavors of Award Winning Cheese Cakes, the Co. will now be offering an extended bakery and deli counter. The smells of specialty breads, baked ham, fresh-made cookies and more have already been lofting down Main St. to the delight of those anxiously awaiting the big opening.

Robin Lucareli, the owner of Fox Valley Cheese Cake Co. for the past four years, was looking for a larger building for her blossoming business. When the Fire House opened up, Robin knew it was just what she needed. Since June, Robin and her many employees and friends have been busy transforming this former garage-like structure into a fully licensed restaurant, complete with large offices in the front, work kitchen in the middle, and dining room and service counter in the back.

Another great addition was a French-Quarter styled patio complete with water fountains and antique light posts. This patio is gated off and will be available for rentals or their own customers to come and enjoy a piece of decedent cheese cake and coffee on.