Another Kwik Trip coming to West Bend
Plans are in the works to build another Kwik Trip in Washington County.
Hans Zietlow, director of real estate for Kwik Trip, said they do have a piece of property currently under contract and they’re working through the process.
The property is the former Walgreens, 806 S. Main Street in West Bend.
That location, according to the West Bend City Assessor’s office, has been vacant since late 2010 when Walgreens closed because its new store opened just south of Paradise Drive.
Halloween Express did open in this location, but that was temporary and seasonal.
If this site plan is approved by the city of West Bend this would be the fifth Kwik Trip in Washington County. There’s one currently on Highway 60 in Slinger and another further up the road in Hartford, Germantown has a Kwik Trip on Maple Road and West Bend’s first Kwik Trip opened on Silverbrook Drive on Oct. 27, 2016.
Zietlow said he likes this location for several reasons, but primarily because it’s the center of town.
“West Bend by any stretch of the imagination doesn’t have a bad part but this is a central location,” said Zietlow. “Everything else is going to the edges such as Highway 33 and Paradise Drive so this leaves us a little bit of gap in the center.”
On more of a neighborhood note, folks on Decorah Road will appreciate it because they’ve been without a convenience store since Pat’s Jiffy Stop closed in November 2016.
Zietlow said Kwik Trip has not submitted any paperwork yet to the city. “Until we have the approval we can’t really set a time frame on when we will be opening,” he said.
A couple other notes about the proposed Kwik Trip site on Main and Decorah:
– the 2017 property assessment for the empty Walgreens is $2.52 million
– Zietlow’s comment about being welcomed in West Bend. “I don’t think we’ve ever been as warmly received in a community as this one. I’m going to guess we’re going to be even more well received the second time around.”
– The first Kwik Trip in West Bend opened Oct. 27, 2016 in the 1700 block of Silverbrook Drive just about a half-block north of Paradise Drive. Zietlow it’s doing “very, very well.”
-The lot size on Main and Decorah is about 1.4 acres. The lot size on Silverbrook is about 3.02 acres.
-The gas station/convenience store on Silverbrook is 7,000 square feet with 26 gas pumps on five islands and a car wash. Zietlow said plans for the station/convenience store on Main and Decorah will not have a car wash.
-Questioned if there will be two Kwik Trips in West Bend could there be three? “Well there’s room for three but we don’t have any other plans for anything else,” said Zietlow.
-If this Kwik Trip would get approved it would build it in 2018.
-Zietlow said Kwik Trip is looking at building about 50 new stores in 2017 and having several acquisitions as well. “We’re actually looking at building 50 new stores a year for the next five years,” said Zietlow.
Booklet for Junior Livestock Auction has arrived
This week the UW-Extension mailed its 48th annual Washington County Fair Jr. Livestock Auction booklet to area businesses. The 5-page booklet contains a list of potential 4-H youth exhibitors for swine, beef and sheep. The annual auction at the Farm Progress Show Arena gets underway at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 27.
West Bend School Board votes on high school principals
After a little more than 35 minutes of discussion the West Bend School Board on Thursday night, during a special meeting, voted 4 – 1 to implement a standard of two principals at the West Bend High Schools rather than the current standard of one principal for both schools.
Tiffany Larson, Tonnie Schmidt, Nancy Justman and Joel Ongart voted in favor of the two principal motion. Monte Schmiege was the lone dissenting vote. Ken Schmidt and Tim Stellmacher were not in attendance.
Details such as cost, salary and implementation of a two-principal structure were not discussed. Calls have been placed to school board candidates and we will post those details once more information is provided.
Below are some bullet points from the meeting:
Tiffany Larson – “If two principals in the original setup can improve the responsiveness and the understanding and the identity communication then I would regret waiting another year to promote that kind of positive change.”
Monte Schmiege – “Was the listening session about dividing up into two principals?”
Tiffany Larson – “There’s been multiple listening panels over the past year. The most recent one was, no not about dividing into two principals it was it was simply the wonderings after the interview session and one of the wondering was I wonder if we’d function better with two principals. Is this job too big for one person?”
Monte Schmiege – “This has come up rather quickly, in my opinion too hastily to provide the opportunity for the entire community to express their opinions and …. you know I believe the superintendent was intending to have this matter looked at in this coming year and have it studied and come up with a reasonable recommendation to divide into two principals I would certainly endorse that plan and approve it without any hesitation. But it has not been studied so this is just a hasty move.”
Monte Schmiege – “I find it a little surprising that there’s an agenda that says ‘high school administrative reorganization’ and we have three or four speakers who already know it’s about two principals. I don’t know how the community would know that from this notice but four people currently know about it. So I don’t think the community has been properly involved in making this decision.”
Monte Schmiege – “I’m in favor of delaying this decision until there’s been a proper study and input by the community on the decision.”
Tiffany Larson – “In my opinion the two-principal structure was studied for about 40 years and then we studied the one principal arrangement for three or four and we decided it just wasn’t working as effectively as the old model. So I don’t see it necessarily as a hasty decision as much as one that was perhaps three years in the making. And we’re finally at a point where we can actually make a decision and I consider it really doing what’s best for kids…”
Joel Ongert – “I’d like to make a motion. I don’t have a prepared motion in front of me so I apologize for that. I move to proceed with the hiring of a principal for East High School and a principal for West High School for the upcoming school year.”
Update posted Friday – In less than 24 hours since five of seven members of the West Bend School Board voted 4 – 1 to hire two high school principals for the 2017-2018 school year it appears the board is ready to “possibly approve appointments.”
The Monday, July 24 agenda shows an action item: “Possible Board appointment of East High School principal and appointment of West High School principal.”
Calls have been place for the second time to elected members of the school board following Thursday’s 5:10 p.m. meeting.
Pizza Ranch at Ponderosa moving forward
Designs for the proposed Pizza Ranch in West Bend will go before the West Bend Plan Commission on Tuesday, Aug. 1. Last April, WashingtonCountyInsider.com reported Pizza Ranch had a purchase agreement in place with Steve Kilian for the former Ponderosa building, 2020 W. Washington Street.
A segment of the April article read:
For the past year, since its initial announcement in March 2016, neighbors have been supporting the development of Pizza Ranch in West Bend. Many chimed in on social media, itching for the restaurant chain to take over the old Ponderosa building on W. Washington Street which has been vacant since Kilian purchased the property in 2011.
During a Friday afternoon conversation, Miller acknowledging the Ponderosa parcel was actually one of their first preferences.
“We looked at this property a while back, but because of the higher price we didn’t really think it made sense,” said Miller. “After considering the better location with the frontage road, we are real comfortable with the whole situation and we signed the purchase agreement. Steve Killian has been excellent to work with in putting this deal together.”
As far as the timeline on moving forward, Miller said it should be rather swift. “The nice thing about the old Ponderosa is it has concrete walls, which we can keep as well as the steel roof support. We’ll completely gut the interior and upgrade the facade to Pizza Ranch standards.”
Miller said the “site also requires no excavation work, allowing for a quicker start.”
Miller said that the principal owners Matt and Stacy Gehring will be managing the property.
It’s taken several months to draw up new plans to remodel the old Ponderosa.
Some of the details to be reviewed by the Plan Commission on the 1.9-acre lot include:
– a 5,154-square-foot building
-100 parking stalls
– two proposed building additions including one pickup area
The West Bend Plan Commission gets underway 6 p.m. in the council chambers at West Bend City Hall.
West Bend aldermen to vote Monday on deer management
There will be a recommendation before the West Bend Common Council on Monday concerning the Deer Management Assistance Program.
During a meeting in November 2016 the Deer Management Assistant Program reviewed whether to issue special permits to allow bow hunting to trim the deer herd in local parks as neighbors asked city officials to help manage the deer in the city.
According to Park and Rec director Craig Hoeppner the Park and Rec staff did an old-fashioned deer drive and the count was 28 deer at Lac Lawrann, Ridge Run Park had 41 deer, Regner had 9 and Silverbrook Parkway had 18.
In March, Lac Lawrann voted unanimously that it be a test and sample site for a controlled hunt.
The Park & Recreation Commission voted unanimously at its June 29 meeting to forward the following recommendations to the Common Council regarding deer management in city parks.
Primary recommendation is to take no action at this time, for the following reasons: Public Safety, costs to the City of West Bend, DNR has stated this is not a big problem overall and recent hunts in similar communities have had limited success and effectiveness.
Secondary recommendation, if the Common Council feels there is a deer problem in West Bend that needs to be addressed, it is strongly recommended to start with a test pilot program at Lac Lawrann Conservancy only. The test to be done in the wintertime, during weekdays and under controlled circumstances.
Monday’s Common Council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall. The meeting is open to the public.
The Corner Score is closing
The Corner Score, 104 N. Main Street in West Bend is closing. Owner Mary Jo Joyce opened the business three years ago. The building, on the corner of Walnut and Main Street, is owned by Ron Gundrum. The Corner Score, which sells vintage toys and books and whatnot, is due to close the end of August. The space is approximately 4,000 feet total, with 2,000 on the first floor and a full basement for additional storage. Adam Williquette with Anderson Commercial Group is listing the property. The lease is $1,700 a month.
On a history note: That location at 104 N. Main Street has had quite a few businesses over the years. Many neighbors remember Alice’s Flower Shop and Heuer’s Sewing. There was also Schoeber’s Camera followed by Schoeber’s Jewelers. J&L Business was in there for a while and Jeanne Mueller had a shop as well. There was also an exercise place in there and a religious book store.
Updates & tidbits
– A new T-Mobile store has opened in the West Bend Shopping Center. T-Mobile is a national provider of wireless voice, messaging, and data services. There are a bunch of T-Mobile stores in the Milwaukee area. The new store is in the strip mall space north of Papa Murphy’s Pizza.
-Pete Rettler and Steve Volkert have joined the St. Joseph’s Hospital Board of Directors. Each will begin a three-year term. Rettler is the campus dean for the West Bend Campus at Moraine Park Technical College and Volkert is the city administrator for the City of Hartford.
– The Downtown West Bend Association is looking for vendors for Maxwell Street Day on Wednesday, Aug. 2. The event will run 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Contact at 262-335-3909.
– The Local Collective is moving out of downtown West Bend to Hartford on August 1. Moving into its former location on N. Main Street is Wood N Art, currently located at 111 N. Sixth Ave. above Slesar Glass. Owner Janalee Bach has custom-made wood signs and photography.
– The Starbucks on 18th Avenue in West Bend has been issued an occupancy permit.
-The annual Cedar Community Butterfly Release is Saturday, Aug. 12 at Cedar Ridge Campus. This fundraising event benefits Cherished Moments, Cedar Community at Home’s hospice program, and helps with the purchase of a new pontoon boat for residents. Reservations are $25 and the deadline is Friday, July 28.
-The Kettle Moraine YMCA will hold its 16th annual Golf Outing Friday, Aug. 14 at the West Bend Country Club. All proceeds benefit the YMCA’s Annual Campaign. The Kettle Moraine YMCA provides over $325,000 in financial assistance, helping a total of 1,600 individuals, which is one in six of our members. Register today – a foursome is $700.
-The annual Jingle Bell Open is Monday, August 7 at West Bend Lakes Golf Course. The fundraiser is for the West Bend Community Christmas Parade. Registration is 10 a.m. with an 11 a.m. shot gun start.
-The Washington County Fair opens Tuesday, July 25. Here’s a story by Kate Delcore from Washington County 4H – Something new and exciting for this year’s Washington County Fair, is the 4-H Feathers & Fur Auction. The traditional Poultry Champions Auction has been expanded so that this year there will be Champion birds along with more meat birds and even some rabbits. That means more opportunities to bid and support 4-H youth! This event will take place on Friday July 28, 2017. Registration is at 5:30 p.m. with the auction starting at 6:30 p.m. While you are waiting for the auction to start, you will be able to view the animals that will be in the auction and see (or participate) in the amateur rooster crowing contest. Feel free to stop by the small animal barn if you have any questions. See you at the fair.
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