New Monona Kwik Star will offer 'market feel'
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
Monona’s new Kwik Star convenience store will be one of the first of its kind constructed in the area.
Although the exterior of this “generation three” store will look similar to the “generation two” location in Guttenberg, with full brick and a green, metal roof, the interior will have what Kwik Trip Inc. real estate manager Dax Connely described as a “market or grocery type feel.”
The new store will be constructed at Kwik Star’s current location just off Highway 18/52. It will be 9,500 square feet, providing much-needed additional space.
“As we’ve grown, as our product has increased at Kwik Star/Kwik Trip, we need more space. We need to be able to fry our chicken, make some pizzas. We have a bigger sales floor,” said Connely, who spoke at the March 22 Monona City Council meeting.
This newest model store will offer “a lot of grab and go grocery, the meat department, our take-home meals, stuff like that,” Connely continued. “We’ve also added some seating arrangements so you could grab one of our take-home meals or something off the hot spot and sit down and eat inside the store.”
Most of the Monona Kwik Star’s square footage will be gained in the kitchen area, where it’s most needed, said Connely. This will also allow the store to continue to grow.
“Eighty percent of everything in our store is made and produced in La Crosse and shipped fresh every day to the store. We’re just going to continue to grow that,” Connely said. “With this 9,500-square-foot store, we’ll be able to adapt to whatever products we want to be able to put in the store.”
In addition to a larger store, the Monona location will include a car wash as well as more islands to pump fuel.
“This store will have 10 pumps, so that gives us 20 fueling locations. Then we’ll also have our two lanes of side diesel, which will allow the larger vehicles—the box trucks, the semis, the dump trucks—to get out from under the main canopy,” Connely said. “We added about 12 locations to park semis and get them angled in there. That will be comfortable for overnight and allow them to get in the store for groceries or food.”
Connely said the new store will likely employ 40 people, 12 to 18 of whom will be full-time.
Construction is anticipated to start in spring 2022. This year, a project will extend city water and sewer utilities to the property, which was recently annexed into Monona’s city limits.
At the March 22 meeting, the council approved a developer’s agreement with HRZ LLP (Kwik Trip, Inc.), authorizing the annual appropriation tax increment payment and pledging certain tax increment revenues to the payment of the agreement.
“The gist of the development agreement is we would bid out the [utility extension] project, get a bidder and Kwik Star would reimburse us on a monthly basis, on invoices that we pay first, up to the cost of the bid but not to exceed $600,000,” explained Monona City Administrator Barb Collins. “After the entire project is finished, then part of this agreement is to set it up as a TIF area. In the next 20 years, we could use TIF money to then make payments back to Kwik Star to reimburse them for just the cost of the project.”
“There was a minimal assessed value which was $1.2 million that we will be assessed right away. I’m sure that assessment, over the years, will climb, and I would think get to $2 million,” said Connely. “That’s a positive thing for you. That’s going to build that money back.”
Connely said the utility extension will not only help Kwik Star, but Monona as a whole.
“We struck a fair deal and we’re going to help bring the city services up to that area and be able to have future connections for future businesses,” he noted. “I think it’s a very positive thing for Kwik Trip and it’s a very positive thing for the community to have more opportunities to bring more businesses along the highway.”
Water and sewer topics discussed
The council continued a discussion last week about potentially upgrading the operation and maintenance agreement between the city of Monona and PeopleService Inc., to eliminate the need for a new public works employee to be certified to handle the distribution side of the city’s water and wastewater systems. Collins went over the five-year estimates of the cost of continuing the current contract or approving a new contract which would add another PeopleService employee and have PeopleService deal with all water and sewer items. A new contract would mean an estimated $14.16 per month increase on residents’ water bills, she noted.
The council opted to table the decision until determining if a new city employee could be hired who meets the necessary qualifications.
Council members also discussed a plan to hold several town hall meetings to explain the current sewer issues Monona is facing. At the March 8 meeting, they approved proceeding with a Phase III Sewer Project to finish lining the city’s remaining sewer lines and updating remaining manholes, in an effort to address inflow and infiltration issues in the city’s collection system.
Collins said the project will cost an estimated $700,000 to $750,000, and presented several funding options. The first would be a Community Development Block Grant for up to $500,000 through the Iowa Economic Development Authority. This grant is based on the city’s low to moderate income level. The second funding source would be a State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan with a 2 percent interest rate, financed through the Iowa Finance Authority for 20 years. The third opportunity is a $200,000 COVID-19 payment that was approved through the federal government’s latest “American Rescue Plan.” Collins said the city of Monona is currently listed to receive $200,000, and this money could be allotted to a water or sewer infrastructure project.
The council approved entering into a contract with Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission for help with the Community Development Block Grant. Members also gave the go-ahead to enter into an engineering agreement with Veenstra & Kimm, Inc. for the Phase III Sewer Project.
Police officer resigns
Monona is searching for a new police officer. The council accepted the resignation of Riley Doeppke, who has taken a position with the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office.
Budget approved
Monona’s fiscal year 2021-2022 budget was approved. The tax levy is $14.52634 per $1,000 of valuation, down slightly from $14.52703 in the current fiscal year.
