Colfax approves site plans for Timber Tech, Cedar Country and Anderson Bridges

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX —  The Colfax Village Board has approved site plans for expansions and remodeling at Timber Technologies, Cedar Country Cooperative and Anderson Bridges.

The Colfax Plan Commission reviewed the site plans July 2 and forwarded them to the village board for approval at the July 8 meeting.

Timber Technologies is planning a 110-foot by 72-foot addition on the south side of the existing building on property purchased from Don and Marcia Henderson that the village has annexed from the Town of Colfax.

Russ Kiviniemi of Cedar Corporation presented the site plans to the village board.

Kiviniemi said he was filling in for Patrick Beilfuss of Cedar Corporation, who reviewed the site plans and discussed them with the plan commission.

According to a memo from Beilfuss, the site plan for Timber Tech meets the setback requirements of the manufacturing district.

Beilfuss also noted in his memo that the additional property is close to the one-acre threshold that would require a Department of Natural Resources stormwater permit.

If more development is planned in the future at Timber Technologies, it could be considered the same “common plan of development” and would count toward the one-acre threshold, Kiviniemi told the village board.

Scott Gunnufson, village president, asked if representatives for Timber Tech were aware of the one-acre threshold.

Kiviniemi said Beilfuss had told him that Timber Tech was aware of the threshold and that if future additions are planned, the company would most likely have to formulate a stormwater plan.

Cedar Country

According to the site plans for Cedar Country Cooperative, the existing car repair shop will be torn down to make more room for gas pumps and a new gas canopy.

Kiviniemi said there was nothing in the plans that would prevent construction, although a number of recommendations had been made on the site plans.

The original site plan had included angle parking next to the Cedar Country building on the west side that would have required removing the village’s decorative streetlight, would have required customers to back over the sidewalk and would have required backing out onto Main Street/state Highway 40.

Upon recommendations from Cedar Corporation, the plans have been changed for Cedar Country’s parking along the west side of the building.

The angle parking has been removed, and two parallel parking spaces have been included along the side of building parallel to Main Street. One parking space will be a handicapped parking stall, Kiviniemi said.

“At least we do not have the issue of angle parking and backing out into Main Street,” he added.

In addition, the site will be paved with concrete, and the ground underneath the portion of the building that will be torn down will follow existing contours, Kiviniemi said.

The Cedar Country site will not create additional runoff to the area, although not all of the runoff will flow to Highway 40. Some of the runoff will come off the alley to Railroad Avenue, he said.

The construction project for Cedar Country will not add additional water to the storm sewer system, Kiviniemi said.

Beilfuss also had been concerned about runoff from the roof in front of the doors that could create icy conditions in the winter, he noted.

Downspouts will be included near the doors, and according to a memo from Beilfuss dated July 8, “the submittal indicates that the proposed slope away from the door is sufficient to drain the downspouts. This should be shown on the grading plan. I caution that discharging roof water directly in front of the doors may result in ice formation.”

Beilfuss also noted in his memo that village code requires parking spaces to be no less than 180 square feet, which is typically a 10-foot by 18-foot space or a nine-foot by 20-foot space but that the size of the parking spaces was not indicated on Cedar Country’s plan.

Mark Halpin, village trustee, wondered about removing the village’s street light.

Kiviniemi said the street light was no longer an issue since Cedar Country had changed the plans for parking next to the building.

If Cedar Country Cooperative had kept the plan for angle parking, the cooperative would have had to receive approval from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to allow backing over the sidewalk and onto to Main Street, and the DOT most likely would not have approved the plan, he said.

Anderson Bridges

A site plan for the Anderson Bridges expansion was not available for the plan commission to review July 2.

Cedar Corporation will be reviewing the site plan as soon as possible, Gunnufson said.

A meeting with Anderson Bridges was set up for Tuesday, July 9, the day after the village board meeting, Kiviniemi said.

The Colfax Plan Commission recommended that if Beilfuss detected something of importance in the site plan, then the plan commission would hold a special meeting to review the proposal, he said.

The Colfax Village Board approved the Anderson Bridges site plan pending the review by Cedar Corporation.

“We’re working backwards (on Anderson Bridges). This is not the status quo for site plans. We are interested in having businesses develop and expand (but) this will not be the status quo,” Gunnufson assured the village board.