MONROE - The city's Plan Commission tackled a full agenda Wednesday, making way for several developments to proceed.
• Amlat LLC got the commission's go-ahead on design color and materials, to go along with the facility site layout. Landscaping and signage will come at a later date for further approval. Brick, metal siding and roof panels in earthy tones and glass will envelop the company's new, baby formula facility, with a 48,450-square-foot footprint. The company is expected to break ground Nov. 25 in the north industrial park.
• ByTec Resource Management also got conditional-use approval to proceed with operating a solid waste storage facility at 1037 8th Ave. The company is limited to its plans for collecting and de-watering grit pulled from industrial catch basins. Most of the water is filtered back into the basin when collected, but the final de-watering will happen onsite in the company's building. The company has the utility's approval to send the final water to the city waste water treatment plant. The remaining solids are collected until a 3-4 ton load can be obtained for transportation to the Janesville landfill. The company also has DNR approval to operate, with a variance in its permit to operate less than 1,000 feet from Wisconsin 11. Strong, objectionable odors are also not allowed under the city's conditional-use permit.
• Quest Industrial is installing a wind turbine next to its facility in the north industrial park. Approved as a conditional use in the zone, the light commercial turbine is only 75 feet high, at its highest blade height, sitting atop a 65-foot pole.
• Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program Inc. wants to turn a residential structure at 1017 17th Street into a clinic, with a lab and pharmacy, for Neighborhood Health Partners, and to include limited onsite and street parking for staff and clients. They wanted the city to rezone the lot from residential to general business. However, the commission preferred to add the definition of clinic to the list of conditional uses in residential zones. The city code currently lists several, specific types of businesses that could be allowed as conditional use of residential zoned property, and the Plan Commission retains the right to outline specific conditions for the property's use in these cases. Commissioners rejected rezoning the lot to commercial, which would allow myriad other types of businesses to locate there, in close proximity to homes, in the future. Changing the city code require a public hearing and council approval. The commissioners expect the process to happen over the next month.
• The Plan Commission also approved a certified survey map for division of private land about one mile outside the city boundaries in the city extraterritorial zone, on Youth Cabin Road.
• The Commission also received an update regarding a sign at 911 8th Street, whose light is said to be troubling neighbors. An agreement between the neighbors is not yet signed, and conditions of the agreement, to plant a line of trees to block the light, is stalled for the season, according to the sign owner. The incident is prompting Mayor Bill Ross to ask for some city codes to be written regarding signage in the city.
• The Commission also approved a change in the city code wording for the general business district, to include light trucks with automotive as an acceptable sales, service and repair business. The change will provide wording consistency with the newly added automotive and light truck business definition in the manufacturing zone.
- Tere Dunlap
• Amlat LLC got the commission's go-ahead on design color and materials, to go along with the facility site layout. Landscaping and signage will come at a later date for further approval. Brick, metal siding and roof panels in earthy tones and glass will envelop the company's new, baby formula facility, with a 48,450-square-foot footprint. The company is expected to break ground Nov. 25 in the north industrial park.
• ByTec Resource Management also got conditional-use approval to proceed with operating a solid waste storage facility at 1037 8th Ave. The company is limited to its plans for collecting and de-watering grit pulled from industrial catch basins. Most of the water is filtered back into the basin when collected, but the final de-watering will happen onsite in the company's building. The company has the utility's approval to send the final water to the city waste water treatment plant. The remaining solids are collected until a 3-4 ton load can be obtained for transportation to the Janesville landfill. The company also has DNR approval to operate, with a variance in its permit to operate less than 1,000 feet from Wisconsin 11. Strong, objectionable odors are also not allowed under the city's conditional-use permit.
• Quest Industrial is installing a wind turbine next to its facility in the north industrial park. Approved as a conditional use in the zone, the light commercial turbine is only 75 feet high, at its highest blade height, sitting atop a 65-foot pole.
• Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program Inc. wants to turn a residential structure at 1017 17th Street into a clinic, with a lab and pharmacy, for Neighborhood Health Partners, and to include limited onsite and street parking for staff and clients. They wanted the city to rezone the lot from residential to general business. However, the commission preferred to add the definition of clinic to the list of conditional uses in residential zones. The city code currently lists several, specific types of businesses that could be allowed as conditional use of residential zoned property, and the Plan Commission retains the right to outline specific conditions for the property's use in these cases. Commissioners rejected rezoning the lot to commercial, which would allow myriad other types of businesses to locate there, in close proximity to homes, in the future. Changing the city code require a public hearing and council approval. The commissioners expect the process to happen over the next month.
• The Plan Commission also approved a certified survey map for division of private land about one mile outside the city boundaries in the city extraterritorial zone, on Youth Cabin Road.
• The Commission also received an update regarding a sign at 911 8th Street, whose light is said to be troubling neighbors. An agreement between the neighbors is not yet signed, and conditions of the agreement, to plant a line of trees to block the light, is stalled for the season, according to the sign owner. The incident is prompting Mayor Bill Ross to ask for some city codes to be written regarding signage in the city.
• The Commission also approved a change in the city code wording for the general business district, to include light trucks with automotive as an acceptable sales, service and repair business. The change will provide wording consistency with the newly added automotive and light truck business definition in the manufacturing zone.
- Tere Dunlap