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Monroe RFD clears final hurdle with city
Common Council votes to approve change to allow new firehouse usage on west side
rfd truck
Monroe Rural Fire Engine 2 sits outside its current firehouse located at 840 W. 8th Street on Monroe’s far west side.

MONROE — Months after receiving a letter from the City of Monroe notifying them that they could not operate out of their new building, the Rural Fire District is able to breathe a sigh of relief and finally begin to settle down in its 8th Street firehouse in Monroe.

“It’s a positive attitude down there,” Captain Andrew Kubly said. “Everybody wants to learn, everybody wants to strive to be better.”

The RFD’s journey to its newly permanent firehouse was not a short one, but it finally came to an end April 21 when Monroe’s City Plan Commission approved unanimously a conditional use permit for indoor institutional use at the property. Indoor institutional use allows the RFD to operate as a fire station out of the building.

The property had previously been zoned as a Suburban Mixed Use property, which, per the city’s code, does not allow indoor institutional as a conditional use. The council voted against a zoning change to Institutional in January, but Common Council members voted April 19 to approve a change to Neighborhood Mixed Use. NMU properties do allow for indoor institutional as a conditional use.

Alders Kelly Hermanson and Richard Thoman voted against the ordinance while alders Rob Driver, Mickey Beam, Donna Douglas, Joshua Binger and Tammy Fetterolf voted in favor.

Prior to the vote, alder Kelly Hermanson spoke for ten minutes against the ordinance, insisting other alders follow her in voting against it.

“This has been going on too long,” Hermanson said. “In my opinion, this is nothing more than disgruntled employees using their public position and influence of other municipalities’ elected seats to serve their personal interest.” 

Hermanson asked other alders to explain how the change will serve the public interest of the city rather than just the townships.

The City Plan Commission, however, found the change to be in harmony with the comprehensive plan.

“We should be concerned about the greater good, and I think that’s part of where we’re headed with this,” Plan Commission member Ron Spielman said.

With a central location just off of Wis. 11, the 8th Street property allows fire fighters to quickly respond to calls in any direction.

“We have easy access to the highways to be able to respond anywhere in our district, or in anybody else’s district for that matter,” RFD Chief Nick Bartels said. “It’s finally nice to know that we can start to make it our home.”