By Jason Arndt
Village residents will be invited to attend a public hearing that will soon be scheduled to discuss rezoning of a vacant lot to allow Dollar General to move forward with plans to construct a new store in Union Grove.
The issue was discussed Monday night at a meeting of the Village Plan Commission.
The rezoning hearing will be set up by the Commission within 30 days of it receiving proper paperwork from engineering firm Point of Beginning of Stevens Point – the initial developer of Dollar General.
“The paperwork has been turned into the Village and that’s the reason for resolution on changing the zoning on that lot,” Trustee Gordon Svendsen said.
The vacant lot is located along State Highway 11 and York and was the site of a former industrial business that manufactured rubber-based products.
Point of Beginning came forward with initial plans at an Aug. 5 Planning Commission meeting where they discussed building structures and potential plans around the vacant lot – and required an application to rezone the land.
There was a concern about Dollar General’s flexibility regarding the structure and design of each store, which will be addressed when a developer’s agreement is made pending the outcome of the public hearing.
“It is a process. It starts with the public hearing and then the developer’s agreement,” Svendsen explained. “It all takes time.”
Dollar General’s structural design could change the flow of traffic along State Highway 11 and there could be involvement by the state Department of Transportation depending on the location of the store entrance.
The parcel of land is outside the Village of Union Groves Tax-Increment Financing (TIF) District. There will not be any cost to the Village for holding the upcoming public hearing.
“They will pay for it,” Svendsen said. “Point of Beginning will pay for the public hearing and everything.”
Point of Beginning had hoped to have the new store in place by fall 2014 when they presented the initial proposal at the Aug. 5 Commission meeting.
Gun repair shop
In other Plan Commission business Sept. 16, village resident Brett Buisse received approval to seek a permit by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to open a gun repair shop in the industrial park on Commerce Drive.
Buisse assured commissioners the shop will not sell firearms, after member Ann Kerkman questioned him about it.
“It will be mostly repair, the license that I will carry will cover all,” Buisse responded. “A little retail.”
Prior to the meeting, Buisse said his intent of opening the business is not to become a firearms dealer.
“There could be, but that is not what I went to school for,” Buisse said. “I went to school to be a gunsmith.”
Buisse hopes to open his business near the location of Rasmussen Industrial, an electric equipment business.
Village President Mike Aimone expressed concern about the possibility of discharging repaired firearms on the property.
“There will not be any discharging,” Buisse said, explaining that he will “go to nearby firing ranges (to test) them.”
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