Wal-Mart Supercenter -- Nearby residents want concerns addressed before it's built in Minocqua

By Dean S. Acheson - Daily News

About 20 residents from three nearby residential developments showed up Wednesday for the Minocqua Planning Commission's review of preliminary drawings of roads that would service the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in Minocqua.

Residents are concerned about how traffic patterns will develop, how much noise the store's air conditioners will generate and how the view outside their windows may change once the Supercenter is built.

Although it wasn't a public hearing - that will come later - they were allowed to ask questions of the commission and of Wal-Mart's representative, surveyor Jim Rein.

Creation of a 750-foot long, 10-foot high berm with plantings would shield the complex from residents of Virgin Pines condominiums north of Wal-Mart.

"It would be at Wal-Mart's expense, wouldn't it," said resident Della Erickson. (Developer Bob Rynder in an aside to the press, surmised the berm would cost about $50,000.) Erickson said that before anyone "makes a rash move" on the berm, Wal-Mart representatives should meet with the association to discuss it.

Rein, of Wilderness Surveying, said their concerns should be included in an agreement that would bind Wal-Mart to the terms.

Wal-Mart plans to pay for the road construction, including paving, water and sewer and turning lanes. If the state Department of Transportation in the next five or six years says traffic signals at Highway 70 and the new access road are needed, then Wal-Mart would also pick up that cost, he said.

A road that meets town specifications would be built on a platted road known as Paradise Road. Motorists would use that road and Donna Drive to access Highway 47, thus serving Woodruff, Arbor Vitae and Lac du Flambeau.

Rein's preliminary drawing on suggested roads, including the main access road off Highway 70 past the new Park City Credit Union, will undergo further revisions. Once the affected municipalities (Minocqua, Woodruff and Arbor Vitae towns, and Oneida County) agree that the design satisfies their concerns, then the drawing goes to Ayers & Associates, a design and engineering firm. From there, the finished drawing and traffic impact analysis go to the state Department of Transportation for its review and approval, before returning to the municipalities.

Rein will also meet with the board of directors of the credit union February 20 to ensure they are satisfied with the proposed turning lanes past their facility. He will also meet with the Woodruff Town Board on February 28 at 6 p.m.

Bob Eckert of Moran Oaks worried about emergency vehicles reaching Morgan Oaks, which has many elderly residents. "They are going to have to fight Wal-Mart traffic," he said. Morgan Oaks is located west of the current Wal-Mart. The Supercenter site is just north of the current Wal-Mart.

Other concerns are also being addressed.

"If the (road) design is done right," replied Rein, "the traffic should flow easier."

Bill Mason, also a Morgan Oaks resident, offered that what he saw was "an excellent proposal."

Responding to another concern, lowered property values in nearby Richardson Plat, town Superintendent of Public Works Butch Welsch said the town's assessor told him there would be no impact if Richardson Plat Road is closed to the south and a cul-de-sac created there. Motorists now can access that road directly from Highway 70.

Byron Wechter, also of Morgan Oaks, said a delegation visited the Rhinelander Supercenter and described the noise coming from air handling units as quite loud. "Like a jet plane taking off,” he said, adding that Wal-Mart should install quieter air conditioning units.

Rein said afterwards that Wal-Mart would submit the conditional use permit to the county sometime in early March. If all goes smoothly, then Wal-Mart could break ground by May with completion scheduled a year later.