2014 Oregon Focus

8/10/2019 2014 Oregon Focus

1/7

16 - The Oregon Observer - Oregon Focus - October 30, 2014

Oregon Focus

Its going to be part of abalanced breakfast.Headquarters Bar and

Restaurant owner JamieBush opened the popular

Gastropub in Oregon earlierthis year. The restaurant hasbeen adapting to customerswants since it first opened.

Rail line helps Lycon grow 17

Thysse keeps expanding 18

Housing is booming 19

Bike trail construction begins 20

Inside

2014


2/7

October 30, 2014 Oregon Observe rConnectOregonWI.com 17Oregon Focus

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Freight trains bring material for concrete productionLycons Ready Mix plant has been operating

since last October

BILL LIVICK

Unified Newspaper Group

Freight trains began run-

ning on the rail line fromMadison to Oregon in lateSeptember, for the firsttime in 17 years.

The line was reactivatedon Sept. 29 so that Wiscon-sin & Southern Railroadcould begin serving theLycon Ready Mix concreteplant in the Alpine BusinessPark.

Wisconsin & Southernworked on the tracks thissummer in preparation forthe line being reactivated.

Ken Lucht, Wisconsin& Southerns director ofgovernment relations, metwith the Village Board in

September and said Lyconis ready to begin acceptingrail shipments of aggregatefor its facility.

The company built a spurto connect its productionplant to the main rail line

just north of Braun Road.They need two or three

trains running to give themenough material to oper-ate for the rest of the year,Lucht told the board.

Fitchburg city adminis-trator Tony Roach told theObserver that Lycon hasreserved 20 cars for theirshipments three times aweek.

For the fo re s eeab le

future, trains will run only

from April to October,when Lycon is producingconcrete in the businesspark. The line will be used

only as far south as Nether-wood Road.

In August, the VillageBoard approved the sale ofthe line to the WisconsinRiver Rail Transit Com-mission, an entity that thestate legislature establishedin 1980 with the purposeof protecting and preserv-ing freight rail corridor insouthern Wisconsin.

The Village of Oregonand City of Fitchburg had

jointly owned the line fromMcCoy Road in Fitchburgto Butts Corners Road, amile north of Evansville.

The municipalities pur-

chased the line in 1999from Union Pacific Rail-road after UPR notifiedstakeholders of its intentionto abandon the line. Oregonand Fitchburg bought therail corridor to prevent itfrom becoming a Rails-to-Trails bike path.

Lycon purchased 80 acresin 2005 from the AlpineDairy for the business park.The company f inishedconstruction of its facil-ity last October, after it haddelayed building the plantfor more than six yearsfrom its original plan.

Village officials said thedelay was due largely to

the Great Recession and

the accompanying lack ofresidential and commercialconstruction.

Lycon bui l t i ts newfacility on four acres, andemploys 12 or 13 peoplethere, village officials havereported.

The company scaled backits facility to about half thesize of the plant it original-ly intended to build.

Photos by Bill Livick

A recently reactived rail line,above, helps bring aggregatematerial to the Lycon plant in theAlpine Business Park. The com-pany uses the line to increase

production of concrete that isthen shipped out for use in con-struction project, right. The railline was activated Sept. 29.

Message from the Village President

Village Board has

productive yearThis past year has been a

productive and worthwhileyear for the Oregon Village

Board.Economic develop-

ment, getting the bike trailstarted and a variety ofprojects thatenhance ourreputationas a fam-ily friendlycommunityhave beenareas ofemphasis.

In April,the Boardwelcomed Doug Brethauerand Jeff Boudreau to seatsat the table. I would like tothank Phil Harms for his

years of dedicated serviceand hard work when he wasa member of the Board.

The Village Board hasbeen working for severalyears on getting a bike trailthat connects our village toMadison.

The trail starts on WestNetherwood and parallelsCusick Parkway north toland owned by the Depart-ment of Corrections andthen turns west and goes toFish Hatchery Road, with atrailhead at Swan Pond.

All easements have beenestablished and the firstsection is under construc-tion with section two slated

to start construction in thespring. We will apply fora DNR Stewardship Grant

next summer to be used tocomplete the trail in 2016.

The Town of Oregon andDane County are interestedin advancing the trail toPurcell Road, which wouldconnect our trail to the Bad-ger State Trail and thereforeMadison. This is somethingour cyclists have been hop-ing would happen for a longtime.

The Oregon Rotary Clubhas donated $10,000 to thetrail fund, to be used forasphalt at some time in thefuture. The trail has beennamed the Oregon RotaryTrail.

The work of the club isappreciated. Completion ofthe trail is much anticipatedby our residents and willhelp establish Oregon asa destination among DaneCounty cyclists. The trailwill bring many bikers toOregon and will benefitmany businesses.

Another enhancement forthe future of biking was thepurchase of a house on Jef-ferson Street. The propertyhas 16 acres of land thatwill allow a trail connectionbetween the west side trailand North Burr Oak.

The village was able tosell the house very quickly

but retained the propertythat was north of BadfishCreek.

During 2014, the Villageand Fitchburg sold the railline to Wisconsin SouthernRail and the line has beenupgraded and activated.

The line will serve theindustrial park on the northside. At the present timethere are no plans to extendservice beyond West Neth-erwood Street, althoughcars may be stored southof town. The freight carswill deliver aggregate toLycon and each rail car willremove four dump trucksfrom highway use.

Resident Randy Glyschhas made a commitment to

restore the Water TowerPump House. He has beenvery diligent and hard-working in his efforts andhas already made consid-erable progress with theimprovements. The PumpHouse will serve as aninformation center whencomplete.

The past year saw theretirement of chief of policeDoug Pettit, who had servedin that capacity for 29years. A very capable inter-im chief, Dale Burke, hasbeen hired to serve until apermanent chief is in place.

Turn to Staton/Page 19

Staton


3/7

18 October 30, 2014 Oregon Observer ConnectOregonWI.comOregon Focus

Thysse keeps on expandingOwner says he never would have

guessed it would go so quickly

SETH JOVAAG

Observer correspondent

When Jason Thysse uprooted his familys70-year-old business from Madisons Eastside in 2011, he did so knowing his companyneeded space to grow.

Three years later, Thysse admits he didntexpect things to happen this fast.

This week, Thysse Printing Serviceplanned to move staff and equipment intoa 15,000-square-foot addition to its 281 W.Netherwood Road headquarters that openedin June 2011. The roughly $1.5 million expan-sion more than doubles the size of the original12,000-square-foot building in Alpine Busi-ness Park.

Also in the works is a new 3,000 squarefoot, second-floor mezzanine that will addoffices and workspace to the original building.

Today, the company has 47 full-timeemployees and another eight part-time work-

ers, a three-fold increase from the 18 workersit employed when it moved to Oregon, Thyssesaid.

I never would have guessed we wouldbe where we're at now, said Thysse, 39, thethird-generation owner of the company. Itreally it comes down to... our employees. Wereally have a great crew here that does a great

job. (Our growth) is really all because of themand their skills."

The company offers a broad array ofdesign and printing services that range frombrochures, direct-mail postcards and busi-ness cards to wedding invitations or stand-alone signs. But in the past two years, it hasbranched out in ways Oregon residents mightrecognize.

One of its new forays was interior design,including the eye-catching sports-themedmurals and scoreboard inside HeadquartersBar and Restaurant, which opened in February

at the corner of Concord Drive and WolfeStreet on the villages south side. Anotherlarge project involved redesigning a show-room of a Portage-based manufacturing com-pany.

Around the time the company moved toOregon, Thysse acquired Eastside Press inMadison and a small Monona-based graphicdesign company. Since then, it has beefed upits design team and has created a separate, in-house division, Thysse Design, that allows itto handle jobs from inception to completion,

Thysse said.

The company was originally lured toOregon, in part, by a village offer in 2011 of$250,000 in tax-increment financing to helppurchase the land and cover various movingcosts. It marked the first time the village hadused TIF to attract a business here since 2005,when it offered more than $2 million to GaryGorman to turn the Red Brick School intoGorman and Co.s headquarters.

Earlier this year, the village offered near-ly $77,000 more in TIF incentives for thisyears addition, mostly to offset costs associ-

ated with prepping the soil to handle the new

construction.Thysse had predicted it would take less than

eight years to pay back the villages latestinvestment through increased property taxescollected from the new addition. In a recentinterview, the Oregon resident said that time-frame could actually be shorter, given that therecent expansion cost more than the original$1 million building.

In addition, the companys swelling work-force should be a boon to Oregon, he said."Its

just more people in town spending money

here.

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Jason Thysse, owner of Thysse Printing Service, plans to add at 15,000-square-foot expansion in the Alpine Business Park. The $1.5 million expansionmore than doubles the size of the company that moved to Oregon in June 2011.

Message from the Chamber

Collaborating to keep

Oregon an inviting placeThe Oregon Area

Chamber of Commercecelebrated 50 years andkicked it off with the 50thAnniversary Annual Dinner

celebration.With over 140 peopleattending, we had a recordnumber in attendance.Chamber member GaryGorman (Red Brick build-ing) pro-vided a greathistoric set-ting in whichto hold ourcelebrationof such asignificantmilestone.

Monthlymembermeetings are held for train-ing, informing and educat-ing our members, includingProtecting Your Identity,taught by member LeviCutler, CPR and AED,taught by Oregon fire cap-tain Tom Eithun regardingthe safety of the public.Nancy Mistele, directorof the Wisconsin Depart-ment of Administration,discussed business forwardand how she can help withred tape to keep your busi-ness going, as well as start-ing a business. We also hadsomething light and fun,How to pair cheese andwine, by member JeanneCarpenter, and a visit to theSenior Center.

We hosted a school boardcandidate forum in March,and approximately 70 com-munity members attendedto listen to the candidates.

We also endorsed andhosted a school referendumlistening session for allcommunity members.

Of course, Summer Festwas great. The communitycame out to enjoy the fire-works, carnival, live music,car show and the parade.We also had over 240 reg-ister for our 5K/10K run.What a spectacular week-end that was as the fire-works were brought backfor our 50th anniversary.

Governor Walker visitedOregon in support of theOregon business commu-nity. He came to All ColorPowder Coating in Julyto see their new additionunder construction.

The chamber assisted theOregon Soccer Fall Furytournament in September,which brought hundreds ofsoccer players and familiesto Oregon to enjoy andpatronize our businesses.What a great energy we hadaround town that weekend.

In an effort to welcomevisitors, we have erecteda Welcome to Oregonsign on County Hwy. MMsouth.

And we saved the bestfor last. We already havebeautiful snowflakes and

star lights to bring holidaycheer to downtown Oregon.But with business districtsat either end of town anda desire to create holiday

welcome to everyone asthey enter town, it is impor-tant that we hang lightsalong the entrance corri-dors, as well.

With the generous con-tributions of both Oregonbusinesses, organizationsand residents alike, weare moving forward to putholiday lights on the streetpoles on Main Street andon Janesville Street cominginto town.

Be sure to help us kickoff the holiday seasonby attending the HolidayHorse Parade on Nov. 8.Also, plan to join us for theupcoming Holiday TreeLighting in downtown Ore-gon on Dec. 5, followed byhot chocolate and cookiesat BMO Harris Bank.

Many business membersopened their doors thisyear, including Headquar-ters Bar and Restaurantin February and OregonFrozen Yogurt in June,Papa Murphys in July andSharkus Hometown Den-tistry. We have had OregonFloral under new ownersand American Family-AlexPeterson, ReMax/Preferred,Krause Donovan estatelaw and DLM Financial

Knudtson

Turn to Knudtson/Page 19


4/7


Housing market

maintains momentumBuilders remain busy

as individuals seek

new homesKATHRYN CHEWObserver Correspondent

This year, the housingmarket has been keepingbuilders busy with a high-demand for new houses,prompted by low lendingoptions, low interest ratesand desire for new technol-ogy.

The village has seen 37new home starts this yearthrough early October, com-parable to the 45 the villagehad seen at mid October lastyear, according to numbers

provided by the Village ofOregon.But we expect by the end

of the year to go above 42,said Fiduciary vice presidentCraig Raddatz. Its niceto see a good, continuedimprovement.

Most of the new homesare in Fiduciary Real Estate

Developments Bergamontsubdivision, said zoningadministrator Mark Below.

And between 70 and 75

sites are ready to be builton, he added.

There are also some mul-tifamily buildings, one4-unit and one 7-unit arecurrently under construc-tion, with two more 4-unitsto break ground this fall andone duplex, that might be acondo, wrote village build-ing inspector Mike Kleish inan e-mail to the Observer.

Overall he believes that,(the housing market is)heading in a positive direc-tion. Its like riding an esca-lator with a yo-yo, overallyoure going up, but youhave the ups and downs with

the yo-yo during the ride.Low interest rates andlower lending options, havealso helped this housingmarket along.

Last year you wouldneed to put 20 percent downto built a new house, nowsome lenders have you onlyput 5 percent down, Zoerb

said.However, the demand for

new homes is so high thisyear that Oregon has beenon the verge of facing ashortage of developed lots,said Realtor Laurie Zoerb.But thats where the newconstruction comes in thats

been keeping builders busy.Raddatz explained thatBergamont still has fivemore phases of developmentto go through, consisting of35 lots each and totaling 175lots, which, if timed appro-priately, should put Oregonin a good position to handlethe high-demand for houses.

Village administratorsKleish and Below agreewith Raddatz in that, at leastfor the next few years, Ore-

gon should be able to handleits housing demand.

As far as future expansiongoes, the Merri Hill subdi-vision on the north side hasbeen approved by CARPC,along with a small area onthe south edge of town alongHighway Mm, said MarkBelow. There is also talk ofpossibly expanding east ofHighway 14 in a couple ofyears, but that will likely becommercial retail, he said.

Market shiftPerhaps the most notable

difference between this yearand last is a shift away from

builders buying lots towardindividuals buying lots andthen hiring their own build-ers, said Raddatz. It showshealth back in the market ingeneral.

Zoerb agrees with thistrend and added that buyers

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Making a connectionA new extension of Alpine Parkway is allowing owners of the Bergamont development to sell morevacant lots, but it also reduces traffic in nearby neighborhoods.

The new street, which connects the road to South Perry Parkway, was under construction this summer

and was officially opened Oct. 6.

New home starts

Year New permits

2010 20

2011 22

2012 26

2013 58

2014 *37

* as of Oct. 9; 42 projected

2014 saw the openingof Headquarters Restau-rant by owner Jamie Bushon the east side of town.With its ongoing interest

in economic developmentthe Village provided TIFassistance to facilitatesite preparation of sub-standard soils. The projectwould not have gone for-ward without this help.

The Board also utilizedTIF assistance to aid in theexpansion of Thysse Print-ing in the Business Park.Village assistance helpedget the printing businessto relocate to Oregon andits rapid growth led toexpansion much soonerthan anticipated. Both

of these businesses havestrengthened our businesscommunity.

During 2015 the Vil-lage Board will continueto analyze the area on theeast side of U.S. Hwy.14 for possible develop-ment opportunities. Also,we will have engineeringwork done on the exten-sion of North Perry Park-way from the ice arenato park Street. Anotherimportant activity will bethe hiring of a new chiefof police.

It has been a pleasure tocontinue to serve our resi-dents in 2014. I appreciateyour support and input.

Steve Staton is the villagepresident of Oregon.

Strategies have found newlocations within the vil-lage.

All of the 200 localbusinesses that make upour membership are thepillars moving our com-munity forward. TheChamber is proud of theway we have been work-ing together in a positiveway with the Village ofOregon and the OregonSchool District to makeour village an inviting,friendly community.

The Village of Oregonremains one of the finest

communities in Wisconsinto raise a family and owna business. We have allthe advantage of living ina small community, yetreside literally minutesfrom all the benefits andamenities of a major city.Thank you to the manyresidents and businessesthat are directly involvedin the wide variety ofactivities that take place inOregon.

Judy Knudtson is theexecutive director of theOregon Area Chamber ofCommerce.

Staton:TIF has been

helpful tool this past yearContinued from page 17

Knudtson:Chamber hasmore than 200 membersContinued from page 18

Turn to Housing/Page 21

Photo by Scott Girard

Bank gets new lookOregon Community Bank and Trust is in the midst of a MainStreet remodeling project. The bank will reopen early next year.


Construction continues on new houses like this one at the intersection of Tramore and Medinah streets in the Bergamont development.


5/7

20 October 30, 2014 Oregon Observer ConnectOregonWI.comOregon Focus

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New Gastropub plans

to add breakfast menuHeadquarters opened Feb. 15

BILL LIVICK

Unified Newspaper Group

Jamie Bush has made hundreds of subtlechanges to Headquarters Restaurant and Barsince launching the business on the villagessouth side more than eight months ago.

But Bush plans a more substantial change inNovember, when he begins opening at 6 a.m.for breakfast each weekday.

Because Oregon is largely a community offamilies with young children, Bush said, thereis not much of a late-night crowd in the vil-lage. Thats prompted him to tweak his busi-ness model.

In the summer, when we have volleyball,we have a draw and can keep people here a lit-tle later, he explained. But from the fall untilthe spring, our late nights are never going tobe that busy, which is one of the reasons I will

be opening for breakfast in early November.The restaurant will continue to open at 8a.m. on weekends.

Overall, business at the new 6,500-footsports bar is meeting Bushs expectations.

We are falling within the range of what wehad hoped we would do, he told the Observ-er.

Headquarters was the first business to openin the villages newest Tax-Increment Financedistrict (TID 4). Village officials are hoping itwill serve as sort of an anchor in the districtand draw more business to the area.

Located at the intersection of Wolfe Streetand Concord Drive, Headquarters featurestwo outdoor sand volleyball courts, a fullystocked bar with about 20 craft beers on tap, afull kitchen and dining rooms with seating forabout 100.

The business created about 60 jobs when it

opened Feb. 15.

Along with the addition of breakfast, thekitchen turns out some popular dinner specials fried chicken twice a week, meatloaf, pastadishes, and prime rib on Saturdays.

Diners can enjoy meals in-house or as a car-ryout order, which has proven to be especiallypopular, Bush said.

An entire section of Headquarters exten-

sive menu is dedicated to Bushs smoke-house. Beef brisket, pork and chicken aretransformed in the smoker and take on a newflavor when treated with one of the kitchensfour homemade barbecue sauces.

Some followers of the Madison-area diningscene have labeled Headquarters a gastro-pub.

What we serve is American food, Bushsaid. The difference that I try to bring to thetable is how much we do from scratch. Wehand-batter our cheese curds, and we make

jalapeno poppers from scratch. I dont knowanybody else who does that. Whatever it is, ifwe can make it by hand, thats how we do it.

Bush told the Observer hes still consider-ing building a banquet facility at Headquar-ters, an idea that was included in the initialconcept. Bush said hes been discussing the

timing and other details with village officials.


Most of the Oregon Rotary Bike Trail will be covered by crushed limestone. Asphalt could be added later.

Village begins work on bike trailBILL LIVICKUnified Newspaper Group

Village president SteveStaton proposed the idea ofbuilding a new recreationtrail on the villages northside about four years ago.

After more than threeyears of planning, engineer-ing and applying for grants,the village began buildingthe 3.1-mile Oregon RotaryBike Trail in August.

Statons idea was to buildthe trail from the AlpineBusiness Park to FishHatchery Road. Once thats

established, he hopes the

county would be willing toconstruct a connection fromFish Hatchery to the Bad-ger State Trail near PurcellRoad.

From there, it would bean easy ride into Madisonor south toward the Illinoisborder.

Staton recalls that villageadministrator Mike Graczwarned him and the restof the Village Board thatbuilding the trail would bea lot more complicatedthan putting in a street.

He was absolutely right,Staton told the Observer.

You have a variety of

property owners and a vari-ety of types of property, so itgets complicated.

The trail will be built inthree segments and cost anestimated $895,000.

Segment A a 1.8 milepath beginning at CusickParkway in the AlpineBusiness Park is expectedto be completed this year,said Oregon Public Worksdirector Mark Below.

The first 350 feet of thetrail will have an asphaltsurface. In order to cutcosts, the Village Board

Turn to Trail/Page 21

N

Headquarters Bar and

RestaurantAddress:101 Concord Dr.

Oregon, WI

Principal owner:JamieBush

Opening date:Feb. 15 2014

Number of employees:Around 60

Charity connections:Youth

Sports and the schools sys-tem

Oregon connection:I havelived in Oregon for 5 yearsand felt that the communitycould use another option fordining and entertainment.

Whats special about yourbusiness? I am biased, but Ibelieve that the HQ is a greatplace to bring your family orfriends, with a unique lookand is reasonably priced.

Oregon Frozen Yogurt

- OFroYoAddress:856 Janesville St.

Oregon, WI

Principal owner or leader:Randy Joswig and TinaJuneau

Opening/arrival date: June26, 2014

Number of employees:16

Charity connections:Oregon Senior Center, OHSClass of 2015, Oregon YouthTriathlon, Lang House ofTerror, United Way/City ofFitchburg, American FamilyChildrens Hospital.

Oregon connection:Beingpart of the community is criti-cal to us. We get our cookiesfrom Firefly coffeehouse;brownies from Bills FoodCenter; our architect, builders,

attorney, accountant, insur-ance, electrician are all localbusinesses that we used. Oursuccess reflects on them, andthey want us to succeed sothey help promote our busi-ness within the community.

Whats special about yourbusiness? We are locallyowned and independentlyoperated. We want to be theplace that Oregon and the

surrounding communitiescome to take a happy break.We have cones, waffle bowls,pints to go and just startedmaking ice cream pies for alloccasions.

Papa MurphysAddress:710 Janesville St.

Principal owner or leader:Mark Venditto

Opening date:June 30,2014


Charity connections:Wehave done some fund raisingwith the Oregon HS band,But would love to do as manycharity fund raisers as pos-sible. If you know of any nonprofit group such as church-es, schools, have them callthe store at 608-835-0883

Oregon connection (whyare you here?):I live inWaterloo, Wis.

Whats special about yourbusiness? We made thefreshest pizza, as we madeour own dough daily, grateour own cheese, and cut veg-gies daily. Our pizza is readywhen you are.

Sharkus Hometown

DentistryAddress:787 N. Main St.

Principal owner:JeffSharkus

Opening date:July 1, 2014


Charity connections:Touched Twice Clinic, GiveKids a Smile, WDA Mission ofMercy

Oregon connection:All ofour employees are local resi-dents and have strong ties tothe community.

Whats special about yourbusiness? We not only offerthe latest technologies fromlasers to our 3D Cone BeamCT scanner, but also providethe little things to welcomeour patients such as ourhomemade bread and cook-ies. We also provide warmneck wraps, blankets and TVsin every room to ensure ourpatients comfort.

Fitchburg FarmsAddress:1839 County Hwy.

MM, Fitchburg

Website:FitchburgFarms.com

KK Lawn and SportAddress:220 Janesville St.

Website:KKLawnSport.com

Dollar GeneralAddress:303 Douglas Dr.,

Brooklyn

Website:DollarGeneral.com

ReChic BotiqueAddress:662 Janesville St.

Website:Search Re-ChicBoutique Oregon, WI onFacebook

File photo by Jeremy Jones

Headquarters owner Jamie Bush opened theGastropub in February.


6/7


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are looking at staying in their homefor the long term and are willing tospend a little extra to get the right fitand a home that they will not out-grow.

So if buyers cant find what they arelooking for, they are building it, shecontinued.

Features such as an open floor plan,large kitchen, four bedrooms and anice master suite with tiled showerremain popular, she explained.

Garage space has also been provento be important, with people wanting a3-car lot or 2-car lot with a bump out.

Newly built homes are also more

energy efficient and therefore, costefficient. With better insulation, win-dows, you really save a lot of moneyover a period of years, Zoerb said.

High-tech homesInventive new home technology pos-

sibilities have also been making this anexciting time for new home builders.

You are seeing a lot of young folksbeing more and more techie, saidZoerb. And that has been influencingthe way houses are being built.

For the past two to three years, DaveBrickley with Trademaker Homes hasbeen building homes with the Nest Ther-mostat a thermostat that programs

itself, can be controlled by a smartphone

and automatically saves energy whenresidents are away, said Zoerb.

And this year, one Oregon residentis taking the smart home concept tothe next level by installing a Control4system.

Control4, which is just a hoot,pretty much computerizes your wholehome, said Zoerb.

With an iPad built right into thewall, it can control lighting, sur-round sound, blinds, TV and heat, sheexplained. Although I dont know if itmakes dinner yet, Zoerb joked.

Of course, technology like this stillcomes at a price.

Hopefully we will see those prices

coming down, she said.

voted to build the rest ofthe route with a crushedlimestone surface.

Staton thinks once the

initial path is built, itwould be relatively easy toreturn and put asphalt overthe limestone sections.

The estimated cost forSegment A $438,000 is being paid for through avariety of funding sources,including $120,868 fromTax Increment FinanceDistrict 2, almost $100,000in village borrowing, and$219,000 from a Depart-ment of Natural Resourcesgrant.

So far we have oneDNR grant, some bor-rowed money set aside andsome TIF money for thetrail, Staton explained.We also have another$75,000 from the countyfor the trail, and the Townof Oregon chipped in

$9,000. Also, the OregonRotary has committed$10,000 to $20,000.

Segment B will a half-mile stretch that will takethe trail within a mile of

Fish Hatchery Road isexpected to be built nextyear. Construction of thefinal segment is plannedfor 2016.

Staton said the trail willpromote physical fitnessand would also be goodfor the villages businesscommunity. He foreseesa time when cyclists fromthroughout Dane Countywill be able to ride the sce-nic trail to the Alpine Busi-ness Park, then pick up thevillages west-side biketrail and pedal into down-town Oregon.

It will be kind of likethe Capital City Trail out

by the Lussier HeritageCenter, near Lake FarmPark, he said in describ-ing the trail.

Trail:Cusick Parkway

segment started this yearContinued from page 20

Housing:Young buyers looking for more technologyContinued from page 19

Photo by Jim Ferolie/Special thanks to Oliver Himsel

Construction along Jefferson Street and Alpine Parkway continues this year as the Village of Oregon had 37 new homes start as of Oct. 9,and is on pace to have around 42 by the end of the year.

Get ConnectedFind updates and links right away.

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22 - The Oregon Observer - Oregon Focus - October 30, 2014

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