By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Efforts to bring a full-service grocer back into the city of Whitewater continue, and a cross-section of residents and grassroots groups are working to ensure no stone remains unturned.
Council member Stephanie Goettl is among the city organizers taking steps toward looking into different possibilities. The efforts come three months after local businessman Terry Daniels closed his Sentry store in Whitewater.
While the Sentry store was the only full-service entity within Whitewater, competition from a neighboring mega-retailer that sells groceries — Walmart — has been cited with putting a dent in Sentry’s bottom line in recent years. The scenario prompted the closure late in 2015.
Goettl discussed the ongoing search for a new grocer at a Community Development Authority meeting Feb. 24. She and a group of other organizers attended a conference last week and plan to share more details on their findings when the CDA holds its next meeting March 24.
In February, Goettl said a task force comprised of disparate persons and groups interested in the issue had their first meeting. Representation from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is part of the process, as evidenced by participation by a student government member.
“It’s a pretty well rounded group of people,” Goettl said of the task force. “I think, moving forward, it will be a pretty solid group.”
One issue city officials are currently digging into is a possible market study that is aimed at looking into what grocer is on residents’ wish lists. One possibility calls for hiring an outside firm with expertise in the area and then working with UW-Whitewater experts to apply findings from the research.
While much of the recent discussion has focused on what residents would like, Goettl, during the recent CDA discussion pointed out there is another end to the spectrum.
“It’s not just about what customers want,” she said. “It’s also about what grocers want.”
CDA Chair Jeff Knight said the loss of a grocery store remains a talking point throughout the community. But he continued to emphasize any new development would need to come to fruition through a number of economic factors in the private sector.
Daniels continues to run grocery stores under the Sentry nameplate in Janesville and Walworth.
Other CDA business
In other recent business, the CDA:
- Voted to enlist the services of an independent third-party company to appraise city-owned property along Bluff and Elkhorn roads, including the much-scrutinized roundabout area.
As part of the CDA’s vote, the monetary threshold for a sought-after company’s services has been capped at $2,000. If necessary, Common Council requirement will be needed if the threshold exceeds that amount.
- Discussed revising a CDA policy pertaining to revolving loans for businesses benefiting from Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) dollars for facility upgrades and operational growth strategies.
The planned amendments include a provision to offer more than one CDBG to an applicant business in specific instances.
- Awarded a $75,000 capital catalyst royalty investment loan to a local software development company that is already in business.
The City of Whitewater should not have let Walmart build a store next to Daniels Sentry when it did many years ago. The store always got a lot of business from the university.
If the city was going let Walmart build here it should have made it build on the southeast side of the city, thereby protecting the existing Daniels Sentry store who was here before Walmart.
Now they want to spend a lot of money doing lame studies on where to locate another grocery store. Make Walmart move to a new location in the suggested areas, then put another grocery store back in the Sentry location.
When it comes to city government, elected politicians and planners, no one can fix stupid and that’s what all of them are, just plain stupid with no foresight of the consequences of their actions.
Get your head out of the sand look at the consequences of your action now and in the near and far futures.