PROGRESS of APEXX's new world headquarters building in Lake Delton WI
Keeping everyone informed and involved.
In an effort to keep track of all the occurrences and events that take place, I've started this sub-page for the APEXX Building. I've unfortunately learned why I've been told comments on how business gets, or doesn't get done. I don't understand the process and the motives behind various actions. I can't figure out why many occurances take place and I need to be brought up to speed, but everyone keeps an armslength away when I search for answers. Am I stuck? Compared to other Dells area businesses, I'm a small fish in the pond. But we all need to be treated equally and fairly by those who are supposed to represent us all.
March 10, 2010 - the beginning of the blog... starts at the bottom of this page.
The story continues and this Blog picks it up at the point of applying for all the permits necessary to use 20 West Munroe as a temporary space until 1) a new temporary office is placed at 11 W Munroe, or 2) a new structure is erected where the old buildings once stood at 3, 11, & 19 West Munroe Ave, Lake Delton WI. Feedback is much appreciated.
Contact information for this project is Michael Wentland at (608) 254-6600 or
Michael@Wentland.us
July 15 (Thurs)
APEXX's 5 Year Anniversary Picnic
and the village finds a way to attempt to dampen our spirits by forcing us to take down our information banners at the new office directing clients to the Ralph Hines Memorial Park for today's picnic. They wouldn't even allow us to have them up for 3 HOURS for our event in progress. They even threatened citation if I didn't comply immediately. Nobody could believe what was being requested, neither could I. Very sad, but not surprising. Why? That didn't stop us from having another GREAT event! 11th year in a row we've missed the rain!
June 21 (Mon)
Digging Begins
They are digging for the permanent foundation for the new temporary office today.
June 17 (Thurs)
Final CUP from Village received...
I now have the CUP. At an additional cost of about $600 payable to the Village of Lake Delton, I also have the building permit for the new temporary office that is scheduled to be set in place on June 28th. Currently I'm not allowed to build a permanent building on my own property just yet, but I was able to get the Village of Lake Delton to allow me to put a temporary office structure on my own property. I also have about another $8k attorney bill thanks to the village. It's sad what it takes to get business done to clean up property. No wonder old hazardous buildings continue to stand indefinitely. I don't wish this process on my worst enemy. It's too bad the village has forced me to take a 180 on my views towards helping the village of LD again when this is the thanks the Village gives.
June 2 (Wed)
STILL Awaiting Final CUP from Village, and...
Here is a picture of how the site looks after demolition is complete. Sad (but not surprising) to say there is no advancement from the village - again.
May 26 (Wed)
STILL Awaiting Final CUP from Village, and...
Some people have told me the old buildings at 3 & 11 West Munroe have been around since before the great depression. If you have old pictures of these buildings please share them with me so I may add them to this collection showing before, and after. The buildings came down yesterday, and today they are finishing up the cleanup process.
For many more pictures and videos of the entire day's activities, stop in our office (temporarily located across the street from here in the little white house next to Denny's Diner - 20 W Munroe).
May 24 5:00pm (Mon)
STILL Awaiting Final CUP from Village
No wonder few businesses move forward with bettering the community - because the village won't let them. I just found out today that the village said it is very unlikely they'd allow a rebuild at a neighboring property for plans another business person in town has. If a local business person's plans aren't the exact same as the village's plans, the village won't let it happen. The fact that it isn't the village's property makes no difference. As far as anything with progress goes - Mark Zobel is scheduled to move in equipment tomorrow to begin demo. The village successfully turned the week I was supposed to move into my new office into the week when demo just begins - two and a half months behind schedule. I could have stayed in my old office (with air conditioning) for another two and a half months.
May 19 4:45pm (Wed)
Still Awaiting Final CUP from Village
The village still can't produce a signed final CUP so I can move forward. Other person's timelines don't matter to the village, even though those other persons go out of their way to cooperate with the village. How does this treatment get that person to want to cooperate again? Knowing I'd be treated like this I would have never let the village take any property of mine. My donation means nothing. It's never enough. And here I sit, dealing with delay after delay. As one might tell, I'm getting quite tired of this unfair treatment. There is no good reason for any of this. Remember the quote "don't burn your bridges?" I hope the village didn't just burn theirs.
May 13 (Thurs)
Still Awaiting Final CUP from Village
To keep this project moving I paid for all asbestos related issues at 3WM, which was completed yesterday and still no final CUP from the village. The village is conveniently delaying the project. Makes no sense. Why? What's their hidden agenda? Being treated this way is what eventually hardens nice guys. It's too bad politics work this way.
On a brighter note - that hasn't stopped me from pushing forward with my permanent building site plans. Revised site plan below - this one assumes the alley is vacated and the DOT uses the Liquor Store's driveway as a shared driveway between the Liquor Store, Bank, and APEXX:
May 7
Awaiting Demolition of 3 & 11 W Munroe Buildings
Final asbestos inspection results to come back Monday. If any last items are found, they are to be removed, then demolition can occur. It's hard seeing this process get drawn out moving so slow.
April 26
Lake Delton Approved
Planning Commission approved the use of a temporary office structure until the permanent APEXX office building goes up.
April 23
1) Site Plan with Parking Stalls
As requested for Monday's 1pm meeting, here is the revised site plan with parking stalls noted. Up to 17 spaces available to choose from. All we need is 6. My preference would be to have grass on the east side of the building since none of those stalls would be needed.
2) Asbestos concern resolved
At my expense, I'm paying to have the asbestos concern resolved in the demolition efforts so we can move forward with the project. That taught me an expensive lesson on trying to be nice and do a good deed. I've never heard this quote before, but a couple people have told it to me now - "No good deed ever goes unpunished." All I can do is shake my head.
So - here's the new timeline... Hammers start swinging April 26th (office unit is being custom built, but we don't dare begin until we get the village's blessing in writing). Asbestos removed by May 3rd. Demo completed by May 7th. New temporary office unit up by Memorial Weekend? Now even I would be amazed if we could pull this off anymore!
April 21
Permanent APEXX Building Site Plan Initial Concept
Horizon is sharing thoughts on a potential site plan for covered parking. We still need to work in more parking stalls. We'll need 34 for the 10,000 SqFt building. This site plan assumes the Munroe Ave access point is shared - which if it isn't, then we just eliminate that access to the covered parking.
April 19
Meeting Set With Village of LD
The information I've been sharing with everyone now has to be pointed out with the help of my attorney at our meeting tomorrow at the LD Village Hall. I never did need a conditional use permit for my temporary office unit. I offered that information many times for free, but I guess they wanted to hear it from my attorney instead.
I also met with Cellox in Reedsburg over the noon hour today regarding the energy efficient LEED program for the new permanent APEXX office building to follow the temporary unit.
This evening I was finally able to put up my signage at 20WM so clients can easily see where I'm temporarily located across the street.
April 12
Tabled
Monday's meeting at 1pm was to discuss my 11 & 19 W Munroe property for my temporary office unit. My attorney and John Navis were present to discuss our site plans. Due to asbestos issues with 3WM they tabled my agenda item and nothing was accomplished today. I've been told various times that all items need to be removed from 3WM well in advance of demolition. Demolition could take place anytime after 3/15/10. I was last told to prepare for demolition the first full week of April. Just as I have done when demolishing the 19WM building I allowed Hank from Lyndon Station to remove any materials he could salvage to save on waste tonnage. Because Hank got there before the asbestos removers did, the asbestos areas were affected. Nobody marked the areas/items for asbestos.
I find it interesting that nobody from the village could notify any of us that the village was planning on tabeling our agenda item today, and we were just in contact with Dick Cross. I'm in Montana right now and I almost paid to change my flight to come back early so I could be there in person. My attorney drove up from Madison especially for this. John Navis made a special trip from Mauston for this.
I'm also not sure how 3WM has anything to do with our 11&19WM project? How does 3WM cause a delay for the other story?
April 8
Two Temporary Office Unit Site Plan Options
Monday's meeting at 1pm will be to decide which option is allowed. The smartest layout would be Option 1 utilizing the space of both 11 & 19 West Munroe Ave, but if there are complications with that, we'll do Option 2 utilizing the space of just 19 West Munroe Ave. Which do you prefer?
April 7Showed Frank Kaminski Temporary Office Unit info
Frank stopped over and I gave him copies of the most recent site plan, future easement to property options, as well as a picture of the temporary office unit that will stand until the village allows me to build my permanent building. Confirmed that yes, the garage siding will match the office unit's siding. Frank said it all looked good. Here's some info I gave to Frank:
April 5Alliant Energy
I called it in to have the power turned off to the old buildings today. Alliant said all will be off by Tuesday. Notified Jess Eastman this, as well as inquired for the exact date of demo.
March 30Updated Kay M. on actual map for CU Permit
I stopped in over the noon hour today to explain the actual map of consolidation versus what was posted in the paper. Kay mentioned my map wasn't how she understood it. I'd be very interested to know who other then the property owner is creating the story for anyone to understand? Yellow area is the correct area. Orange dashed line is what was put in the paper unknown to me.
March 23Changing the Reasons for the Demo Claim
Got this email from Jess Eastman:
The last hurdle was the village claiming our agreement of the land sale to the village included demo of all structures on all my land. I had to prove that wrong, so now they’ve changed their story yet again claiming yet a new reason – this time (per the email above) item 1 causes item 2 which allows for item 3. Not really. If item 2 were true, then that would lead to item 1, which could then force item 3. Problem is, item 2 isn’t true – I don’t have to combine, so the rest isn’t true. I'd like to know what it is the village truly wants? I’ve always tried to combine what the village wants with what I want, but the village’s wants are an ever changing list. How can a person play by the rules when the rules constantly change? I always thought the municipality should be working with businesses to spur growth and redevelopment, not repeatedly working against us. I feel confident that we can combine and satisfy the wishes of the village, with the desires of my new office building. What will it take? And a thought – what’s so wrong with the sign? Why is that being attacked now too? I've already mentioned many times that it will come down when I rebuild.
So here's the CSM below of what I have to work with for 2 of the 3 properties I own (this shows the old buildings). My temporary office will fit in just fine - including all setbacks. If someone out there wants the billboard and garage down also, then lets go back to day one and allow me to rebuild my permanent office with the village and community's desires in mind. Done. Doing so would put another needed project on many businesses work list. Is a vacant idle lot really the best thing for the community? If so, help me tell that to the many businesses asking to participate in APEXX's rebuild. How long do we keep them waiting too?
March 22
Conditional Use Permit Discussed
Today I expressed to Tom Diehl & Jess Eastman the details of the agreement the village and I made when I had to give up a part of my land to the village. I needed to reiterate that only the buildings on 3 & 11 W Munroe Ave are to come down at this time. Only upon the rebuild date of my new APEXX multilevel office would I be removing the other structures that include the garage and last billboard. Exhibit A specifically shows the boundaries of the land the village got (the orange and pink areas in the 3rd image below for today), which does not include my last billboard and garage.
March 19
Conditional Use Permit Notice of Public Hearing
March 18Conditional Use Permit Delivered To Kay Mackesey at the LD village hall at noon today for the use of my temporary office unit. Now I will be on the April 12th village meeting after the application goes in the paper for 2 weeks and an additional 7 day waiting period.
March 17
Now I Need a Conditional Use Permit
A little history:
After John Navis & I visited in person with Jess Eastman on Feb 26th, and talking to Dick Cross (village attorney), we were instructed to be on the agenda for the village board meeting on March 8th. In order to do so, we needed to provide Jess with a site plan (picture B below) for the unit to replace the old buildings that will be demolished at the end of March 2010. Due to missing that March 8th meeting agenda’s deadline by half a day, we were instructed to get that info to Jess by March 17th to get it on the agenda for the meeting on the 22nd instead, which we did. Yesterday afternoon (the day before the deadline to get on the agenda for the meeting on the 22nd) Jess informs me that after talking to Dick Cross I'll need to apply for a conditional use permit thinking it will be a mixed use. I've experienced last minute changes in the game plan before (allowing me to rebuild my office, roofing and siding my garage... and so on). If it is indeed true that I have to apply for a conditional use permit, wouldn't this have been known and discussed, at least brought up back on our Feb 26th meeting? APEXX’s story has always stayed the same - I need an office on my property. The village wants the buildings down, I do too, and we are doing that. The village wants me to use a temporary structure in case they find a developer for the entire block, which I'm providing with this unit I'll be using from John Navis for the time being until the village lets me rebuild (I can bring you up to speed on this too if you like). John Navis, or his staff are not using the building - therefore it is not a mixed use, which I need to relay to Dick Cross again. The reason why this concerns me is a conditional use permit takes an extra 3-4 weeks to get through the process of approval, as well as a $350 non-refundable application fee. If I were able to continue with my current game plan I’d be able to be on Monday’s village meeting agenda(Instead of April 12ths) and not have an additional $350 fee. I already donated to the village well over $100,000 in hard and soft costs with the property sale to the village – which I just confirmed in getting my taxes prepared for 2009. I can handle sitting in 20 W Munroe Ave (across the street) for a couple weeks, but is it fair to make me sit at 20WM for a couple months while all these delays are sorted out?
Which brings us to today:
10am I called and talked to Dick Cross. I explained to him that APEXX will be the only business using the new unit at 11WM. Dick now agrees that it is not a mixed use. But now Dick says I need a conditional use permit since I have a substandard sized lot. Per the highlighted image copy from the villages municipal code (picture C below), I don’t fall into the 1 acre requirement. Dick then said I need to have a minimum of 6,000 square feet to do anything with any lot of mine (which I have four there) based on the old minimum lot size rules. Per that same image (picture C below) it states “there is no minimum lot area requirement for lots created prior to the effective date of this ordinance.” From what I can tell, neither of those statements were true. Then Dick said I will need a new parcel number and that the county will do that. Throughout all the discussions and agreements my attorney Buck Sweeney and I have had with the village, there has never been any mentioning of, or agreement that a new parcel number will be created, which none has been. The village just took a part of my existing parcels, they didn’t create me a new parcel number. I don’t have a new parcel number, nor would I want one, and I did express that to Dick again. Dick also then said I can't use the garage without a primary building on the same lot – the buildings have to be on the same parcel. I don’t believe that is true either, but I'm unable to confirm that now as I have to get back to work. I can’t charge anyone an hourly rate for working on thisJ Dick did say I’ll have time to publish my conditional use permit in the paper next Wed the 7th and the following week in plenty of time for the next village meeting on April 12th. Problem with April 12th is that I'll be in MT that day, so I immediately emailed Dick if there were any other meetings available for me to handle this - if it is confirmed I have to apply for a conditional use permit after all. If anyone out there knows more information than I do about all this – I’m happy to listen and learn.
Side note - Dick then added in our conversation this morning that they visited with the DOT this past Monday and said the DOT does not want to improve the existing alley to gain access from Birney St to my land when the DOT road rebuild project happens in 2013. That the DOT would prefer to facilitate a common drive between the Baraboo National Bank, Frank & Jimmy's property (in yellow on map A below), and my property. The state would pay for the paving of it. That the village is taking care of this project as well, like they took care of dealing with my land. I have not had time to confirm this information with the DOT project manager Jim Buschkopf yet. Both the alley and shared access drive are good options, so I feel confident this will go smooth.
March 15
We're in our Temporary Office now
Per the village of Lake Delton's request, this past weekend we moved to our new temporary loctation across the road at 20 West Munroe, Lake Delton - the little white house next to Denny's Diner. The goal is for the model home/office to be up by Memorial Weekend located where the old buildings stand now at 11 West Munroe.
March 10
Site plan and elevations
This Friday John Navis & I will be going over measurements for the site plan to be put onto the agenda of the Village of Lake Delton's 3/22/10 meeting at 1pm at the Village Hall for our building permit. I strongly encourage everyone interested in this project to attend.