New Grafton Woodman's proposal, commission moves plan forward
Grafton Woodman's proposal moves forward
The Village of Grafton Planning Commission voted to move forward with a proposed plan for a new Woodman's grocery store.
GRAFTON, Wis. - A new Woodman's location is one step closer to reality after the village of Grafton took action on a proposal Tuesday night.
The backstory:
The Village of Grafton Planning Commission voted to move forward with plans for a proposed 245,000-square-foot Woodman's grocery store at the corner of Port Washington Road and Arrowhead Road. For comparison, a village report states the nearby Costco warehouse is roughly 150,000 square feet and Meijer is roughly 200,000 square feet.
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The proposed Woodman's location would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It would also have a convenience store with a gas station and a car wash. The proposal for the grocery store calls for 597 parking stalls, with additional spaces for the convenience store, and 5.86 acres of stormwater retention ponds.
A report states the building would be "consistent" with the look of other Woodman's locations, a combination of brick and concrete panels with red aluminum canopies over the main entrances.
To manage increased traffic, the proposal recommends expanding Port Washington Road to four lanes from the Costco entrance north to Arrowhead Road and decreasing the speed limit from 45 mph to 35 mph on that stretch.
What's next:
The full village board is expected to vote on the commission's recommendations in October.
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What they're saying:
Pushback from village residents were voiced during public comment stating safety concerns, traffic, having too many of the same businesses in the area, and costs to taxpayers.
"My request is that we stop looking at these developments one person at a time and start looking at the cumulative impact of our community. We've got a lot of these things already. What else could we put there that would help our Grafton community thrive?" resident Robyn Wiegand said.
Editor's note: This story was updated to include additional details.
The Source: FOX6 News reviewed a Village of Grafton Planning Commission meeting.