Panel OKs permit for new McDonald's

By Adam Tobias of the Daily Times staff
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 12:51 PM CST

The Watertown Plan Commission Monday granted a conditional use permit to McDonald's that will allow the company to build a new restaurant at it current location on South Church Street.

McDonald's is constructing a new building at 625 S. Church St. because the existing restaurant was declared a total loss in October 2008 following a fire that caused the roof to collapse.

“We are going to tear down the existing building because the damage was too great to restore that existing building,” said Steve Jeske, an architect with Haag Muller Inc. in Port Washington.

“It also gives us an opportunity to bring the new building up to current standards,” he added. “Items such as kitchens and a lot of the operations have changed many times over since the old building was built, so the new building is going to give us the opportunity to come back and give us a building that provides a better operational system, which means better food, faster food and more happy customers.”

According to Jeske, the new 5,200-square-foot building will feature the most recent styles of the McDonald's corporation. He said the restaurant will also have a playland area and a dual drive through lane.

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“The slowest process in the drive through system is the ordering, so by creating two order points that basically speeds up the slowest process, plus it gets us more cars in there, reduces stacking and again gets customers through the drive through faster,” Jeske said.

The existing building is expected to be demolished starting on Jan. 26, Jeske said. He added it will take about three to four months for the new restaurant to be completed and up and running.

“In addition to taking down the building, we are going to scrap the site and treat this as if this was a brand new site,” Jeske said. “So, we are going to have all new paving and all new curbing. Everything is going to be brand new.”

In other action Monday, commission members approved a certified survey map splitting up an approximately 54-acre property on the south side of the city that was recently annexed.

The certified survey map splits the land, which is owned by David Frohling, into three parcels. The smallest lot that is east of Highway 26 and north of Turf Drive, will be used for the new location of Archie Monument and Stone Inc.

Archie Monument and Stone Inc. is currently located at N8478 High Road, but business owner Wayne Sormrud is required to sell that property to the state Department of Transportation for the proposed Highway 26 bypass.

Commission members also reviewed a timeline that outlines the schedule for updating the city's comprehensive plan.

City Planner Mike Slavney, who helped draft the schedule, said the city's comprehensive plan must be revised by the end of the year to comply with the state's definition of a smart growth plan.

He also said that starting on Jan. 1, 2010, all of the city's annexation, land division and zoning map changed have to be consistent with the comprehensive plan.

“From a legal standpoint, nobody knows exactly what that means and I imagine there will be some litigation to help define what consistent really means,” Slavney said. “We have been doing a lot of talking with municipal attorneys and state agencies about this and we want to add some language at the end of the plan that gives us a stronger ability to interpret the plan ourselves and control to the extent possible what the word consistency means.”

Slavney said the updates to the comprehensive plans must also take into account the proposed Highway 26 bypass.

“We need to look at the bypass and understand what implications it has for changing city growth patterns,” he added.

Commission members also recommended approval of a resolution that implements a public participation plan as part of the process for updating the city's comprehensive plan.

Watertown residents will have the opportunity to discuss changes to the comprehensive plan during Plan Commission meetings in which the comprehensive plan is on the agenda. An open house will also be scheduled at some point during 2009.

The plan commission authorized Deane Neitzel to complete a certified survey map for a small piece of property near the intersection of Airport Road and Gateway Drive that is owned by the city.

This piece of property, in addition to an adjacent portion of excess Airport Road right of way that was recently vacated, is being maintained by Neitzel, who owns 2001 Airport Road and 1931 Gateway Drive.

Neitzel is requesting that the city transfer the small piece of land to him because it is directly in front of his properties and he is already maintaining the area.

Commission members acted on the request because Neitzel wanted to know if the city would be willing to transfer the property before he took on the expense of a certified survey map.