Construction on Wheeler Dollar General to start this spring, finish in September
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By LeAnn R. Ralph
WHEELER — Construction on a Dollar General store in Wheeler is expected to start this spring and to be finished in September.
Rob Hakanson, Wheeler village president, reported at the Wheeler Village Board’s March 6 meeting that the information he had received from the Dollar General engineering team is that they are going forward with plans to begin construction in April, and the actual construction will begin in April or May and is expected to be finished in September.
A communication received by the village on February 13 indicated that Dollar General is proceeding with an engineered site plan that will be submitted to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
A representative for Dollar General spoke to the Wheeler Village Board at the December 6, 2023, meeting and asked for a variance on parking spaces, to be reduced from 54 to 35, a variance for a private well and a variance for a private septic.
The Dollar General store will be built south of the Wheeler ball field.
The store will occupy 10,640 square feet and will employ six to eight people, with a mix of full-time and part-time employees, according to the December 6 meeting minutes.
The village’s attorney, Alan Harvey, told the board at the December 6 meeting that the village would have to contact the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and work with WisDOT for a reduction in the speed limit along that section of state Highway 25.
The Wheeler Village Board approved a rezone from Residential to U2 Highway Business and approved the variances requested by Dollar General at the December 6 meeting.
Variances
At the March 6 meeting, several village residents questioned the variances granted to Dollar General for an LP tank and to have a private well and private septic system.
Dollar General could use village sewer and water, and the money generated from Dollar General could help pay for improvements to the sewer and water system, the residents said.
Rand Bates, director of public works, explained that because of the distance involved, it was not financially feasible for the village to install sewer and water lines from where the lines are now out to Dollar General.
The cost would be about $50,000 to run sewer and water out to Dollar General, Hakanson said.
We Energies did not believe it was feasible to run natural gas lines out to the Dollar General location, too, which is why the store is going to run on LP rather than natural gas, Bates said.
The cost to install natural gas lines to serve Dollar General would be about $17,000 for We Energies, he said.
One of the village residents said she did not believe any Wheeler residents would want to work at the Dollar General store because they are not willing to drive to Boyceville or to Colfax to work at those Dollar General stores.
The distance from Wheeler to Boyceville is about seven miles, and the distance from Wheeler to Colfax is about 11 miles.
The Dollar General store will not be a benefit to Wheeler, one of the residents said.
The Dollar General store will add to the village’s tax base, Hakanson said.
Adding to the tax base means that there would be additional taxpayers to help cover the property tax levy. For example, if the village’s total property tax levy was $100,000, and businesses contributed $30,000 in property taxes, then village property owners would pay for $70,000 of the levy rather than the entire $100,000 that would be paid by village property owners if there were no businesses.
Clerk’s report
Don Knutson, village clerk-treasurer, reported that the work on the interior of the village hall has been finished, which includes a new wood finish for the west wall of the meeting room and service windows in the clerk’s office to accommodate the public.
The on-line payment system is almost ready to go live, and access to burning permits will be available on-line, he said.
The Village of Wheeler has a new website that can be found at www.villageofwheelerwi.com.
The burning permits will link to the Menomonie Fire Department permit form, and village residents can then fill the form out online. Then 9-1-1 dispatch will be notified, and the Boyceville Fire Department and the Village of Wheeler will easily be able to find out who has obtained burning permits, Knutson said.
Sewer and water
During a special village board meeting January 22 to find out information from CBS Squared, the village’s engineering firm, regarding United States Department of Agriculture financing for Well No. 2, to be located behind the outfield fence of the ball field, the village board approved a resolution to borrow $150,000 from Dairy State Bank as a short-term loan to cover pre-USDA grant funding for the well project.
The village board held a public hearing on the proposed sewer and water upgrades February 12.
The proposed projects include Well No. 2 behind the ball field fence with a pump, pump house and electronic monitoring capabilities; improvements to the lift station to move wastewater to the sewer treatment lagoons that include upgrading the pumps and increasing the safety of the lift station; and activating a seepage cell at the wastewater treatment lagoons that is about 80 percent completed but has never been used and would eliminate discharge to the river and ease some of the DNR compliance requirements.
At the public hearing, one of the comments was that since there could possibly be an 80 percent increase in the water rates, which would be required by the Public Service Commission of. Wisconsin to make sure the cost of the upgrades would be covered, that people in Wheeler may have to consider drilling their own wells and installing their own septic systems.
There was concern from USDA officials about the comments, Knutson said at the March 6 meeting.
The Village of Wheeler’s ordinances require property owners to hook up to village sewer and water if it is available and that property owners are not allowed to drill wells or install septics if sewer and water is available, Knutson and Bates said.
One of the residents attending the meeting asked how that would work.
The sewer and water lines run under the street and are “stubbed” at the property line. It is the homeowner’s responsibility to bring sewer and water into the property and to the house, Bates said.
As for the seepage cell at the wastewater treatment lagoons, the seepage cell was built about 30 years ago but was never completely finished and has not been used, he said.
The seepage cell was an engineered project, and if it can be brought on-line, instead of the treated water from the wastewater lagoons being discharged to the Hay River, the water will flow into the seepage cell. Some of the water will drain away and some will be evaporated by the sun, Bates said.
The seepage cell will eliminate DNR requirements concerning the phosphorus content of the discharge, he said.
Bates also works as the Director of Public Works in Colfax, and Colfax has applied for another Wastewater Pollution Elimination Discharge permit (WPDES) that will likely require the village to bring the phosphorus discharge lower than the current permit allows.
The problem is that the water coming from the municipal wells in Colfax is already above the limit for phosphorus set by the DNR.
Other business
In other business, the Wheeler Village Board:
• Approved the treasurer’s report. The village’s funds included $244,572 in the general account; $62,490 in the industrial sand account; $55,109 in the Wisconsin sand account; and $35,576 in the Community Action Club account.
• Approved the updated emergency operations plan.
• Authorized the clerk-treasurer to hire five election workers for the November election, which could include up to two high school students. Wisconsin law allows high school students to work at elections, and that helps them be more involved in their community and to become more civically engaged, Knutson said.
