The Daily Reporter articles from February 2008

The Daily Reporter archives from February 2008

Weather-resistant duplex hailed as Wisconsin first.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The Dane County Habitat for Humanity is building a first for Wisconsin... and a second. Volunteers are constructing the state's first duplex built to the Fortify program's standards. The building in Madison's Twin...

Competition revives convention center dream for Fox Cities.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Wanting a Fox Cities convention center is nothing new. The idea has been kicked around for more than 20 years. But actually building one presents a novel concept to the region. The Fox Cities Chamber of...

Franks wins water tower tiff in Waukesha.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Waukesha resident Jeff Franks fought City Hall and won, twice. He said it wasn't even that hard. First, he convinced city leaders to move a planned water tower (PDF) back 150 feet so it wouldn't be right on his...

EPA eyes wetlands on I-94 job in Wisconsin.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The Wisconsin Department of Transportation spent years combing the land around Interstate 94 in search of wetlands. WisDOT needed to find those wetlands because the agency knew it would need them to replace the...

Milwaukee pushes for I-94 link to rail.
February 1, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The city of Milwaukee last week sent the Wisconsin Department of Transportation a second letter asking it to consider including mass transit in its reconstruction of Interstate 94. Roberto Gutierrez, WisDOT...

Wisconsin takes baby steps toward BIM.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Designers have no choice but to accept that building-information modeling software will soon become the primary medium for the industry, said Melissa Destree. But that acceptance won't come without a price. "We...

Wisconsin road builders travel with hot-mix plants.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan B.R. Amon & Sons Inc. promised to turn Ruby Fandrey's 40-acre farm in Birnamwood back into a field after using it as a gravel quarry for a year or two, she said. The land is sandy and rocky, and it has too many hills...

Wisconsin village of Wrightstown wakes up to development options.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The village of Wrightstown is the model of a small-town bedroom community, and that's part of its problem. It's perfectly situated between Appleton and Green Bay, and many of its residents work in higher-wage or...

North Dakota immune to home mortgage meltdown.
February 5, 2008... Byline: Dave Kolpack Homeowners in California or Florida may be hurting, but in North Dakota, you can still sell a house for more than you bought it and get a favorable loan, too. While home sales are slumping nationwide, North...

Dane County considers regional transit referendum.
February 5, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder It'll be premature and disingenuous if the Dane County Board of Supervisors takes a regional transit authority proposal to county voters, said Steve Hiniker. "And I'd say that premature would be an understatement,"...

Inside Jobtrac.
February 5, 2008... Eau Claire/Ice Center Renovations Project: Hobbs Ice Center Renovations, Eau Claire Overall Cost Estimate: $6.2 million Phase: Professional services for remodeling of the ice center. Project includes remodeling the entry/lobby...

City of Milwaukee nears settlement in condo conflict.
February 5, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The city of Milwaukee would give up on $300,000 in interest from the developers of Kilbourn Tower if the Common Council agrees to a settlement this month. The interest would be from the $950,000 that Fiduciary Real...

Bad soil erodes fire station budget in Grand Chute.
February 5, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Grand Chute won't have much margin for error when it receives bids on Feb. 14 for a new fire station. Contractors discovered that the soil on the site of the $4.5 million project isn't solid enough to support a...

Verona takes development outside the box.
February 5, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Big-box development isn't bad for Verona as long as it happens on the city's terms, said Bruce Sylvester, director of the city's Department of Planning and Development. He said the Verona Plan Commission is...

Calhoun Road in Brookfield expansion budget balloons.
February 6, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Brookfield Alderman Jerry Mellone targeted Tuesday night to unveil his latest strategy to kill the Calhoun Road expansion by railing against a $1.8 million increase in the project budget. The extra cost accumulated...

High bid eclipses observatory restoration in Madison.
February 6, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The bids are in, but renovations to the Washburn Observatory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are still hard to spot on the horizon. Elkhorn-based Magill Construction Co. Inc. entered the low bid last week at...

High bid eclipses observatory restoration.
February 6, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The bids are in, but renovations to the Washburn Observatory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are still hard to spot on the horizon. Elkhorn-based Magill Construction Co. Inc. entered the low bid last week at...

Competition crowds senior-care construction in Wisconsin.
February 6, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan SunStarr Real Estate Group started building affordable apartments with medical services for seniors because the company saw an untapped market. The market isn't yet tapped out, but there are more developers at the...

Kohler Co. drives for golf course interchange in the town of Mosel.
February 6, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The Kohler Co. wants an Interstate 43 interchange in the town of Mosel, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation could be on board with the plan. But it's an interchange that could deter large-scale...

La Crosse finds misery in Bliss Road repair.
February 7, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The city of La Crosse wants someone to chip in to cover the cost of repairing one of its roads. But surrounding towns aren't jumping at the chance to help out. La Crosse last summer closed Bliss Road, a small...

Company goes AWOL after PLA push in Douglas County.
February 7, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Jay Koning, co-owner of the nonunion Gartner Refrigeration Co., said he has great relationships with union contractors. But after hearing that Douglas County passed an ordinance encouraging project-labor agreements on...

Sawyer County cranberry marsh gives way to new homes.
February 7, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The Grindstone Lake Association can accept a new housing development, seeing it as a step up from the old Skille Cranberry operation. Developer Steve Sletner bought the Sawyer County property in 2002 and plans to...

Condo foreclosure freezes co-op project in Madison.
February 7, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Construction of a second Willy Street Co-op in Madison is at a standstill. Co-op manager Anya Firszt said she doesn't know if it will ever start up again, but the co-op will keep pursuing another option if it...

Green Bay Goodwill brews up coffeehouse partnership.
February 8, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Shoppers entering a new Green Bay Goodwill store next winter with $3 and chill will face a decision: warm up with a $2 cup of hot chocolate or a $2.99 sweater. "Our goal," said Rich Redman, director of marketing for...

Swallows and spawning to slow bridge project in Appleton.
February 8, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Bird-watching might not be in the bid specs for Appleton's College Avenue Bridge expansion from two to four lanes, but it's part of the job nonetheless. And while contractors generally don't worry about giving fish...

Milwaukee County courthouse asbestos fines blamed on Marquette's tight timing.
February 8, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Tight project timing contributed to the asbestos violations found during the Milwaukee County courthouse annex demolition project, according to state and county officials and an attorney for Balestrieri Environmental &...

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wants more control over lake water flow.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Plans to extend water service to undeveloped areas would require regional approval if the state Department of Natural Resources gets its way. The DNR supports the idea in conversations with state legislators (PDF)...

Madison's DMV must move somewhere, but no one knows where.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Madison's Department of Motor Vehicles Service Center must move somewhere, but no one knows where. The west-side center, which has operated out of the Hill Farms State Office Building since the early 1960s, is...

American Transmission Co. proposes power play for Tomah.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The future of the seven-mile stretch from Tomah to Warrens figures heavily into how the American Transmission Co. builds a transmission line for the region. "More development," said Deanna Zabel, communications...

Dane County stays in idle for RTA vote.
February 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A Dane County regional transit authority will go to referendum. But it won't be on the April 1 ballot. The Dane County Board of Supervisors Thursday approved with a 26-7 vote a resolution to hold an advisory...

Pabst tank buildings in Milwaukee likely to tumble.
February 12, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Milwaukee will just have to trust Brewery Project LLC when it says six tank buildings at the Pabst Brewery are unsalvageable, said Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman. The developers last year considered a plan to save...

DMV might take a Gander proposal in Madison.
February 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Waiting in line for the Department of Motor Vehicles wasn't such a bad experience for Gander Properties. A week ago, Middleton-based Liversey Co. withdrew its request that Madison rezone the developer's land at...

Madison's Meriter Hospital offers long-term care for construction.
February 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Continuous care is probably the best way to describe the construction approach at Madison's Meriter Hospital. "We've got both a 10-year and a 30-year future needs study going on right now," said Mae Knowles,...

Urban infill incites developer opposition in Madison.
February 13, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Urban infill is a nice, but useless, idea, said Madison developer Terrence Wall. And as an objective of the Capitol Area Regional Planning Commission, the concept won't do anyone much good. "It's lipstick on a...

Wisconsin's port projects paddle up financial stream.
February 13, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The state's Harbor Assistance Grant money runs dry before it's restocked every time. The last biennial budget sent $13.7 million to the program, and the committee overseeing the grants already recommended awarding...

La Crosse readies another referendum run.
February 13, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder La Crosse residents will decide April 1 if the city's School District deserves $35 million from them. The La Crosse School Board Monday finalized a $35 million building referendum along with a $4.17 million,...

Wisconsin lawmaker pushes penalties for illegal hiring.
February 14, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder If the federal government was doing its job, state Rep. Frank Lasee wouldn't have to draft illegal-immigrant legislation, he said. For that matter, according to the Republican from Green Bay, other states around the...

Wisconsin adds conditions to water compact.
February 14, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Some things aren't open for negotiation in the 130-page draft legislation (PDF) that would ratify the Great Lakes Water Compact. The first 40-pages are pretty much the exact text of the compact, and no one can alter...

Sewer mandate forces Milwaukee metro cities to clear pipes.
February 14, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Brookfield is already knee-deep in regular pipe inspections and repairs to fix leaks that were blamed for sewer overflows in the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. Sewer backups in 1997 and 1998 led to a public...

Bike project in Fitchburg bridges city's summer season.
February 15, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Construction of a bike trail bridge in Fitchburg will start when most people pull their bikes from storage and reach completion when those same bikes get put away for the winter. The Fitchburg City Council recently...

Milwaukee focus of affordable-housing frenzy.
February 15, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan John Errigo is staying out of Milwaukee. The vice president of MetroPlains LLC, St. Paul, Minn., sees all of the companies trying to develop affordable housing in Milwaukee, and he doesn't want to join the fray....

Onalaska spurns developer's money request.
February 15, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder VEH Properties found out the hard way that Onalaska's Common Council won't easily loosen its grip on its money. The Onalaska-based developer is trying to build a $35 million mixed-use development on Theater Road in...

Guesswork guides Wisconsin military project estimates.
February 15, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Bid estimates on military jobs never gave Fred Paine, vice president of Alliance Steel Construction Inc., anything but second thoughts. Alliance, Superior, submitted the low bid for the four-year project to renovate...

Great Lakes water compact could be dead in the water.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The response of some top Republican legislators to Mark Miller's Great Lakes Water Compact bill could create the perfect setup for a stalemate, said the Democratic state senator from Monona. Three Republicans in the...

City of Oconomowoc tapped out paying for Pabst.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan At least for now, Pabst Farms is too expensive for Oconomowoc. City services can't keep pace with the speed with which the development is sprouting retail projects, and the city's property taxes can't generate the...

Monona Terrace's struggles prompt hotel talks in Madison.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A large new hotel might be headed into the heart of downtown Madison. Exactly how necessary it is remains open to debate. The city is discussing with Milwaukee-based Marcus Corp. a plan to build a hotel near...

Cops put full-court press on Grand Chute.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder There are two suitors courting the Grand Chute Police Department for a merger, but it's entirely possible the sought-after station will stay single. "It's going to be the Town Board's call," said Scott Callaway, a...

Digital shortcomings doom plan room for West Allis Contractors Exchange in Milwaukee.
February 19, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The West Allis Contractors Exchange offered paper plans in a world that's going digital, which is part of the reason it closed its doors Friday. The Master Builders Association, which bought the exchange about three...

Snow piles in Wisconsin prompt call for more dam money.
February 19, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder It might take a burst dam to drive home how necessary it is to generate more money to repair the structures in Wisconsin. "I hate to say it," said Bill Sturtevant, dam safety engineer for the Wisconsin Department of...

Pig farm project in Wauzeka mired in manure.
February 19, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Howard AV Roth expects the state will like how he handles his pigs' manure. He's got two studies to back up that claim. But the Midwest Environmental Advocates, which filed an environmental challenge to Roth's...

University of Wisconsin -La Crosse crosses fingers for low bid.
February 20, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A few high bids (or, perhaps, low estimates) on University of Wisconsin System projects aren't going to faze Mike Desmond. "We're hoping the bids come in low," said Desmond, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse...

Neighbor nervous as Garver Feed Mill money multiplies in Madison.
February 20, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Roberta Sladky lost a lot of enthusiasm about her neighbor in the last year. The director of Madison's Olbrich Botanical Gardens said she was excited by the city's drive to redevelop the historic Garver Feed Mill...

Eau Claire suffers from arrested development.
February 20, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Eau Claire County can't afford to keep sending its prisoners elsewhere. But that doesn't mean it's willing to pay for a bigger jail either. There's a $59.1 million project in the works to build a new jail and...

St. Raphael's remnants still resting in pieces in Madison.
February 21, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder If the 2005 fire that destroyed St. Raphael's Cathedral in downtown Madison did more damage, Mike Verveer said, people might be more prone to complain about the church's state of disrepair. But the Madison alderman,...

Sheboygan sees shops slipping away.
February 21, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder As Wal-Mart goes, so goes Sheboygan businesses. The city is trying to stop that trend. When Wal-Mart left its Taylor Heights spot in Sheboygan in 2006 to move to a bigger store to the south in the city, the...

Milwaukee pothole patrol takes the bounce out of 'bombers'.
February 22, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan It drives Raul Ramos crazy when drivers dodge potholes after he's packed them full of hot mix. When the holes are just holes, people drive right over them. But once there's about 3 inches of asphalt rising from the...

Wisconsin's landscaper certification loses traction.
February 22, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Landscape architecture work on state projects might soon be limited to only certified professionals if a bill passing through the Legislature gets any traction. But critics are committed to keeping it from getting a...

Freedom officials face frugal voters.
February 22, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Freedom Police Chief Jim Molloy could use a little elbowroom. So could the department's two other officers. "We call it the closet," he said. "It's a little bigger than a closet, but not much." That closet...

Irgens Development water-main claim headed for rejection.
February 22, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Even though Irgens Development Partners LLC can afford to lose $12,233.13, it spent the last two and half years trying to get that money from the city of Milwaukee. It's a matter of principle and responsibility, said...

Fire station merger between Wisconsin town and village finds shaky support.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder After more than two years of talks that Peter Menne compared to "birthing triplets," the village of Elkhart Lake and the town of Rhine finally agreed to jointly build a new fire station. But that doesn't mean voters...

Complaint casts critical eye on Madison cathedral.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The Diocese of Madison has until March 14 to at least start talking about tearing down the remains of St. Raphael's Cathedral. The first complaint about the fire-damaged structure came through Madison's "report a...

Team charged with renovating Washburn Observatory in Madison looks for lucky star.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Whittling $1 million from a project budget isn't easy, but the team charged with renovating the Washburn Observatory in Madison isn't giving up. Elkhorn-based Magill Construction Co. Inc. entered a low bid of about...

Observatory team looks for lucky star.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Whittling $1 million from a project budget isn't easy, but the team charged with renovating the Washburn Observatory in Madison isn't giving up. Elkhorn-based Magill Construction Co. Inc. entered a low bid of about...

Old-school masons mortar-fied by new styles in Milwaukee.
February 26, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Mario Machnicki moves his hand over the craggy face of a brick wall on a house he restored in Chicago. He notes the brick's jagged texture and runs a fingertip through the mortar joint. Turning to the inside edge of a...

Wisconsin construction unions see threat from prison workers.
February 26, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Even though prison inmates can learn the trades by working on state building projects, Wisconsin construction unions don't like that the lower wages can undercut union labor. The wage rates inmates receive are below...

Brown County searches for health center neighbors.
February 26, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A new mental health center isn't the typical type of development to spur residential growth, but Chuck Lamine said he doesn't think it will discourage it either. Brown County's planning director said the county will...

Ashwaubenon considers retirees in center expansion.
February 26, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Ashwaubenon leaders are not sure if they're prepared for the retirement of the baby boomer generation. That is the heart of the discussion whether to approve an expansion of the 1960s community center in Klipstine...

High speed rail proposed for SoCal to Vegas route.
February 26, 2008... Byline: Erica Werner Las Vegas -- It's been hailed as the future of mass transit and ridiculed as a big gamble on little more than an amusement park ride. The project in question is a magnetically levitating train that would speed...

Inspection appeals in Milwaukee plummet thanks to minor fee.
February 27, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan A glut of frivolous appeals of Milwaukee fees clogged up the city's system so much that landlords were able to delay home-repair work required by city building codes. But a September 2004 decision to charge $25 to...

Light shines on congregation in Madison through bursting beams.
February 27, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder Pastor Brent Campbell isn't too worried that Washington-based Weyerhaeuser Co. almost 30 years ago recalled support beams similar to those in his church. "I know there was one in the late 1970s or early 1980s for...

Oconto Falls takes second strike for field upgrades.
February 27, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder The phrase "home field advantage" might be lost on some Oconto Falls High School athletes. "I think some of them do look forward to the road games," said Lou Hobyan, the high school's athletic director. "It's nice...

Paperwork pulls money from housing grants in Wisconcin.
February 27, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Wisconsin's share of federal housing-grant money is dwindling, yet the state still spends millions of that money on government paperwork. Local governments and private recipients must follow oversight and reporting...

We Energies draws curtain on carbon scrubber.
February 28, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan If proposed state rules requiring lower carbon dioxide emissions take effect in 2011, power companies will need to spend a lot of money on technology to help them comply. But state Rep. Spencer Black, the Madison...

Milwaukee Industrial claims city blocked businesses.
February 28, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The owners of the Tower Automotive site this month sued the city of Milwaukee, claiming it essentially blocked companies from moving onto the site, according to court documents. The lawsuit contends that Milwaukee...

Developer scoffs at condo competition in Milwaukee.
February 28, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan Boris Gokhman wants to build a large residential project two blocks south of Kilbourn Tower and University Club Tower in Milwaukee, and he said he's not worried about demand in the downtown market. Without naming...

Milwaukee City Hall's fate built on brick debate.
February 29, 2008... Byline: Sean Ryan The experts disagreed when Milwaukee hired them to study the bricks and mortar used on its City Hall restoration project. Only time will tell who was right. In one corner, U.S. Heritage Group and Marion Inc., both...

Bill by Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan beefs up immigrant controls.
February 29, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder There might be a Washington, D.C., answer to a Wisconsin legislator's call for tighter oversight of illegal immigrant workers. Congressman Paul Ryan, R-WI, announced Thursday that he will introduce federal...

Blackhawk answers calls for emergency vehicle training in Rock County.
February 29, 2008... Byline: Paul Snyder A 30,000-pound ambulance traveling at 30 mph can do a lot of damage if it broad-sides a car. "So think about what it could do at 50 or 60 mph," said Beloit Fire Chief Bradley Liggett. "One of the highest risks we...