Zion Lutheran Church in Appleton is exploring turning its campus into an affordable living community. PC: Fox 11 Online
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – An Appleton Church is looking to repurpose some of its land and property for the good of the community. Zion Lutheran Church recently received a $25,000 grant from the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region’s Community Vision Fund to help develop the idea.
For more than 140 years, Zion Lutheran Church has been a pillar in the Appleton community.
Over time it’s added a couple of school buildings, a parsonage and other facilities. Other than the church and church offices, the remaining space is rented out temporarily for other community needs. The rest sits vacant.
As the church looks to the future with its buildings and adjacent land, it wants to redevelop and renovate some of its existing structures while constructing new ones to help with the lack of affordable housing in the area.
“I kind of view this as a prototype. There are tons of churches in the same position as this church is. It benefits the church, it benefits the people who can’t find housing,” said Bonnie Nussbaum the project manager.
The first phase of what’s being called the Zion Affordable Housing Project would consist of renovating the parsonage into housing and welcoming nested businesses – maybe a grocery or food supplier. There is talk of a commercial kitchen and laundromat, maybe even a hydroponic farm being added to school building space.
According to Nussbaum, “My initial thing is let’s get some things happening in the parts of the building that the school isn’t using, get the cash flow happening, help that cash flow fund our other parts of the process.”
The other parts include construction of a small apartment building on the church property. Nussbaum added, “What we really are hoping to be able to do is build a three story building that is on a co-op model so people buy into the co-op, they don’t own their unit but they buy into the co-op.”
And then finally, a residential community with two to three dozen small footprint homes. “The part that I’m most interested in is the intentional community part because that’s where I hope to live at some point and that will probably be the last phase of the whole project,” said Nussbaum.
While those planning the Zion Affordable Housing Project are just starting to explore the possibilities, the idea has neighbors buzzing about the future.
“I think there’s a need, there’s willingness of the neighborhood to support these types of projects and there’s motivation from the church and the community to solve the problem so I’m optimistic,” said Oliver Zornow, an Appleton resident who lives across the street from the church property.
Because it’s still in the exploratory phase, there isn’t a price tag or a timeline for the project. But Bonnie Nussbaum is optimistic and hopes to see renovations and development within the next three to five years.
Neighbors and interested parties are invited to learn more about the project during a listening session, scheduled for January 4 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Columbus Elementary School on North Oneida Street.
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