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More on this topic Background on Wal-Mart in Sheboygan County Multimedia Wal-Mart's Conditional Use Permit application Drawing of new proposed traffic access

PUBLIC HEARING ON WAL-MART PROPOSAL WHEN: Begins at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 8; public comment starts at 5:40 p.m. Written comments should be submitted by Aug. 4. WHERE: Fire station at 3911 Highway Y

Traffic impasse may turn to green light for Supercenter after $2M offer

By Eric Litke and Troy Laack
Sheboygan Press staff

A proposed $10 million Wal-Mart Supercenter in the Town of Sheboygan is a big step closer to breaking ground after Wal-Mart, the Town of Sheboygan and the state Department of Transportation tentatively settled a long-running dispute over traffic access to the site, officials said Friday.

To win town and DOT approval, Wal-Mart is planning to pay $2 million for a half-mile extension of Vanguard Drive between state Highway 42 and county Highway J and fund a possible roundabout at Vanguard Drive and Highway 42 as well as other improvements to Highway 42 and Highway J, according to Wal-Mart spokesman Gerard Dehrmann. The company also will pay more than $500,000 for changes to nearby Lincoln-Erdman Elementary School.

If the changes are approved in the near future, construction could begin on the approximately 200,000-square-foot Supercenter late this year, with a grand opening planned for fall 2007, Dehrmann said. The 24-hour store will create about 400 jobs, he said.

The DOT has required the Wal-Mart site to have access to Highway J, but the town has refused to allow it, citing traffic concerns and safety issues with Lincoln-Erdman.

The parties have been deadlocked on the issue since the Town Board unanimously approved Wal-Mart's plans — assuming no access to Highway J — in March 2005. Dehrmann said the parties are now close to signing an agreement but have no target date.

Now Wal-Mart plans to spend $565,000 to move the main entrance to the school from Highway J to North 50th Street and fence off access to the school from Highway J. The highway will also be widened and improved at the 50th Street intersection.

But Dan Graves, a member of Save Our Sheboygan, a grassroots citizens group that has opposed the Supercenter since plans were introduced in March 2004, said the new proposal is worse than the original.

"So now, not only will I have this big, old, stupid store behind me, now I'm going to be on a corner lot with all this traffic going in right next to my house," said Graves, 50, who lives just east of the Vanguard and Highway J intersection. "(Town Chairman) Dan Hein promised … 'We will not have an access to J.'"

Hein said he changed his mind about the access from Highway J because safety concerns for the school would be addressed by moving the front entrance and widening Highway J at 50th Street.

Joe Sheehan, Sheboygan Area School District superintendent, said the planned changes to the school satisfy the district's concerns about student safety.

"This whole thing is going to make it much safer," Sheehan said. "We told (Hein) what we needed and he got it."

The DOT likes the Vanguard Drive proposal — which was among the access alternatives proposed by the DOT in a May 2004 traffic impact analysis — because it allows Sheboygan shoppers to get to the site without going through the Interstate 43 intersections, instead traveling west on Highway J and north on Vanguard, said Scott Nelson, a DOT traffic engineer

"You've totally eliminated that trip through the interchange," he said. "The last thing we want is backups onto a 65-mph (interstate)."

To make room for the extension of Vanguard Drive, the Supercenter would be built about 200 feet east of where original plans placed it, Hein said. Other changes include downsizing the Supercenter by 20,000 square feet and eliminating a planned gas station.

To approve the changes, the town must revise the conditional-use permit it approved last year, and a public hearing will be held on those changes during a joint meeting of the Town Plan Commission and Town Board at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 8 at the fire station at 3911 Highway Y, Hein said.

Graves said the meeting sounds like a setup.

"It looks to me like they've got this all figured out, that it's a done deal," Graves said. "To me, it sounds like they're just going to ram this through regardless of what the people come up and say at this meeting."

But Hein said the board should approve the plan, otherwise the current owners of the proposed site could annex their land to the city and take the tax revenue with them.

"This has been going on too long," Hein said. "We need to make a decision 'yes' or 'no.'"

Readers respond

Go for it. — Kathie Hilgenberg of Sheboygan

I hope they put themselves in the "hole." We only have 51,000 people in Sheboygan. I feel bad for those that live in that area. Just remember, voting is soon. — Jeni Braeger of Sheboygan

Why do we need two superstores in Sheboygan? Enough is enough. Hopefully the city sees the danger to the children and neighbors putting all this traffic in that area. Think of the residents, not the taxes you would get (city). Please think of the children. — Freida Woelffer of Sheboygan

Congratulations to the Town Board! You've managed to make a horrible situation even worse for the residents that live in the area of the proposed Wal-Mart. Apparently, you feel as if you have no obligation to defend the rights of the property owners who pay the taxes that pay your salary. Once again, Dan Hein has proven that a politician's word is meaningless. — Tammy Strebe of Sheboygan

I still do not understand why the Sheboygan Area needs two Wal-Mart stores. They are leaving a perfectly good store on Taylor Drive so there will be another empty store. Wal-Mart is not my store of choice especially since I have found out how much pressure they put on suppliers to produce cheap goods. People are putting far too much value in price and forgetting that quality goods last longer and will cost you less in the end. Vote no on another Wally World store! — Ruth Berger of Sheboygan Falls

When is Wal-Mart going to get the idea that we do not need another of their stores in this area? The jobs should not be the issue. Just check with any employee and find out how low the salaries are and the lack of benefits. We have a Supercenter in Plymouth - 12 miles, one in Manitowoc - 25 miles, and soon one on the south side of Sheboygan. Why do we need another? It's wrong for environment, the city, the people who live here, those who pass through and we will have another empty shopping area - this time on Taylor Drive. Let's stop this nonsense! — Marilyn R Cooley of Sheboygan

Why turn down J? When there is a faster way! Drive from the city of Sheboygan down Highway 42 on your way to Wal-Mart. 1: Turn left onto Mueller Road; 2: Go straight until North 46th; 3: Take a right; 4: Go straight on 46th until Birchwood; 5: Turn left onto Birchwood; 6: Drive to north 27th place; 7: Take a right onto North 47th Place. Your first stop is at 47th Place and Highway J; 8: 47th Place turns into Vanguard Drive. One-stop shopping from the city of Sheboygan. — Steven Frasch of Sheboygan

I realize we do not need two Wal-Mart stores. But what about Menards expanding in the township? No one is fighting against that. … If we are to keep our taxes down and make more jobs for the people in the area, county as well as city, I say go for it. There are too many people out of work. And if all these people are against working for Wal-Mart. Then why is it, everyone is so helpful when you do shop there. I think it is time for a change. Let’s get out of the back woods and push forward. — Fern Dewey of Sheboygan

Reach Eric Litke at 453-5119 and elitke@sheboygan-press.com and Troy Laack at tlaack@sheboygan-press.com and 453-5133.