Panel OKs use permit for clinic at ShopKo

By Adam Tobias of the Daily Times staff
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 12:40 PM CDT

The Watertown Plan Commission Monday granted a conditional use permit to ShopKo that will allow a group development at the local store on South Church Street.

According to Ken Berndt, a representative of Bellin Health System, a hospital system that works with the ShopKo corporation, a 500-square-foot fast care clinic will be built in the northwest corner of the store.

The clinic will be staffed by a nurse practitioner from Watertown Regional Medical Center and will be known as Watertown Regional Medical Center Fast Care.

Berndt said the clinic will offer a limited scope of services that will include seeing patients with illnesses like upper respiratory infections, Strep throat, ear and sinus infections.

All patients must be 18 months or older, Berndt said.

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Other than vaccines, fast care clinics do not keep any prescription or over-the-counter drugs on site.

The fast care clinic will be open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Berndt said.

“They are open seven days a week, so people can get in with no appointment and get simple things done,” Berndt said.

A similar clinic opened in the ShopKo in Beaver Dam in July of this year, Berndt said.

In other action Monday, plan commission members tabled making a recommendation on an annexation request for 54 acres south of the city.

David Frohling and Wayne Sormrud has asked the plan commission to review the annexation of land east of Highway 26 and north of Turf Road but commission members tabled taking action because they were unsure of the exact boundaries of the annexation.

Because neither Frohling or Sormrud were present at the meeting, plan commission members made a recommendation for the two to submit a certified survey map so the annexation boundaries are known and documented.

Plan commission members also granted a conditional use permit to St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church and School, 301 Clark St., that will allow the organization to erect an electronic message sign on its property.

City Building Inspector Joe Heimsch reminded the representatives from St. Luke's that the wording on the message board cannot change more than once every 60 seconds.

The plan commission approved an extraterritorial land division request from Mary Horack for her property at N9098 Horseshoe Road in the town of Watertown.

The land division meets the subdivision code that states a property owner in the city's extraterritorial district must have a parent parcel that is at least 35 acres in order to split off one new buildable lot.

A request from Luther Preparatory School to construct two dugouts in the area of its softball diamond was approved by the plan commission.

Plan Commission members also approved a change in the operator for a proposed restaurant at 1308 W. Main St. The operator is changing from Sharon Bleeker to Mike Cederberg.

In the summer of 2007 the plan commission reviewed and approved a request from Bleeker to use 1308 W. Main St. as a restaurant, but she never opened the business. Now Cederberg wishes to continue with the restaurant.