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Wal-Mart is Stoughton issue
6 seek 3 seats on council

By Karyn Saemann
Correspondent for The Capital Times
March 4, 2006

There are three races on the ballot.

• In District 1, Larry Weiss and Phil Rowlands are competing for a seat being vacated by Kathleen Kelly.

• In District 3, Ross Scovotti and Carl Chenoweth are competing for a seat being vacated by Melissa Lampe.

• In District 4, Dan Brein is challenging incumbent City Council President Jim Griffin.

Except for Griffin, none has ever held elected office.

Weiss and Brein say the current council should not have annexed 185 acres from the town of Pleasant Springs. The site, near County B and U.S. 51, could become the home of a Wal-Mart Supercenter and surrounding new neighborhood. No actual development plans have yet been submitted. Stoughton already has a smaller Wal-Mart farther south on U.S. 51.

Brein and Weiss said the December annexation should not have occurred without first doing a host of traffic and other studies.

"I do feel very strongly that the Linnerud annexation is an improper place for a Wal-Mart and I feel that a Supercenter is not appropriate for a town of Stoughton's size," Weiss said. "I believe Wal-Mart should be allowed to expand, but they should expand where they are."

Weiss said he treasures the view of open land as he drives south toward Stoughton on U.S. 51. "I don't want to see a big box," he said.

Weiss said the site would take up more police and emergency time than the current Wal-Mart because it is simply farther out of town. And the amount of multifamily housing proposed around the store is out of character with the city's otherwise mostly single-family homes, Weiss said.

On pushing off the studies until after the annexation, Weiss said "we should not be making decisions on insufficient data."

Brein said he would prefer to renovate the existing Wal-Mart rather than build a Supercenter. He also said the city already has ample other land for residential development, which should have been filled with homes before more land was annexed.

And both Weiss and Brein said the Supercenter and new neighborhood would greatly burden the sewer system.

Rowlands, Scovotti, Chenoweth and Griffin said the studies were not necessary before the annexation, although they are critical to the upcoming development process.

Chenoweth said Wal-Mart's existing store "has been a good business partner for the community." But he said he can't say until the studies are done whether a Supercenter would harm existing businesses, or whether it would be good for the community in general.

Chenoweth said the most important question, right now, is how the city is going to plan in general for development on the northwest side.

"We are at step two in the process and I really think Wal-Mart is a step six," he said.

The other three say a Supercenter could co-exist with existing retailers and they don't foresee major harm to the community.

Rowlands, a member of the local pro-Wal-Mart group Alliance 53589, said he believes most Stoughton residents want to keep Wal-Mart in the city, and there is good possibility that the current store will close if the new one is rejected.

He said he believes the ongoing fight against expanding Wal-Mart here is being led by people from outside the community with a broader anti-Wal-Mart agenda "who are trying to get us to launch their crusade."

"It utterly disregards what is good for this community," he said.

Scovotti said the city already has a Walgreens and several other small, successful pharmacies, which proves that big boxes and independent retailers can co-exist.

But Scovotti said if residents of his district decide a Supercenter is not in the city's best interest he will reject it, even if he personally supports the store's construction.

Finally, Griffin said annexing land is necessary if a city is to grow its tax base. That is the only way it can succeed financially under state budget caps, he said.

He said the Linnerud annexation was just an annexation that did nothing more than shift who the property owners pay their taxes to. He said suggesting that complex studies be done prior to the land being brought into the city was "silly, and in all honesty I looked at it as a stalling tactic."

Griffin also said he "is confident" that the current Wal-Mart will close if the Supercenter is not approved. He said that would be a great disservice to city residents, who deserve to have a low-cost, general retailer.

Candidates said other issues of concern include: an increase in city debt in recent years and adhering to budget constraints without cutting services; easing the divide that has arisen over Wal-Mart; the need for a local shuttle to transport seniors and the disabled; the need for more citizen volunteerism; development along the Yahara River and protection of that waterway; nipping youth drug and gang activity; the need for more industrial park land, a potential new fire and EMS facility and a need for the council to vote based on citizen input, not personal opinion.

THE CANDIDATES

• Larry Weiss, 69, has lived in Stoughton for six years and works as a computer consultant for Compuware in Madison. He was previously appointed to zoning appeals, railroad and municipal airport boards in Wausau.

• Phil Rowlands, 42, has lived in Stoughton for seven years and is a sheet metal worker for Sub-Zero Freezer Co. in Madison.

• Ross Scovotti, 55, has lived in Stoughton since 2004 and is a regional sales manager for Cygnus Business Publishing. He currently sits on the Stoughton Board of Appeals and represents the city on the Dane County Collaboration Council.

• Carl Chenoweth, 51, has lived in Stoughton for 18 years and is a civil engineer who designs commercial building sites for Ruedebusch Development & Construction in Madison.

• Dan Brein, 27, has lived in Stoughton for one year and is an electrician with Advanced Cable and Electric in Verona.

• Jim Griffin, 59, has lived in Stoughton for 11 years and has been on the council for six years. He is a self-employed manufacturer's representative for a company that makes orthopedic implants.