Greg Ambrosius and Laura Scott then addressed the board on behalf of the opposition group. Ambrosius immediately concentrated on the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, stating that Faulks Bros. and the Iola Car Show “certainly don’t care about the Scandinavia 2030 Comprehensive Plan. They have just bulldozed through the Comprehensive Plan once again. As we stated at the last meeting, the Comprehensive Plan took 4 years to write, involving several town meetings and input from its citizens, and it’s a guideline for land use permits through the year 2030. It was signed by Planning Commissioner Gary Marx, who is now the Town Chairman, and this permit blows right through those guidelines.”

He listed the ways they are not in compliance with the Comprehensive Plan:

1. This is PVRF land, which stands for Private Recreation and Forestry land. As defined in the Comprehensive Plan, the purpose of PVRF land is to preserve forest and woodland and allow for recreational opportunities.

2. They again ask in this permit to mine 23.7 acres when the Comprehensive Plan clearly states “the open area of a permitted extraction operation shall not exceed 10 acres.” Shall means MUST and yet they continue to ask for a permit that mines 23.7 acres in one swoop. That is not what the plan calls for and there is no wording in the Comprehensive Plan for the Town Board to legally give an exception, which is what Faulks Bros. has asked for.

3. Four neighboring wells still haven’t been identified on this permit. They include the homes of Greg Ambrosius, Ken Mentzel, Laura Scott and Linda Driver, all homeowners within 500 feet of the sand mine. More importantly, the depths of those wells haven’t been identified. The Ambrosius well is only 33 feet deep and the permit says they will be excavating gravel 40 feet deep. Scott said that these wells must be identified and depth determined before the permit can be considered.

4. The new permit again puts a timeline of 10-15 years, depending on market conditions for gravel, even though the Comprehensive Plan clearly states that an end date must be given. Interestingly, even though the Village of Iola sand mine and that 7.5 acres was eliminated from the plan, Faulks Bros. still asked for the same 10 to 15-year time period, which wasn’t within the Comprehensive Plan guidelines the first time and certainly isn’t again.

Ambrosius asked the Town Board for three demands before any vote could be taken. They were:

1. Have Waupaca County hire an independent property assessor to determine how much property values within a mile of the sand mine will fall in value. This was requested by Packwaukee in 2022 in their fight against a sand mine, Marquette County did hire an independent assessor and he wrote a 63-page report on his findings. He found that homes that abutted the sand mine would fall 25 percent in value and up to 35%, while property values would fall 23 percent within a quarter-mile of the sand mine, 15 percent within a half mile and 7 percent within a mile.

2. Wetlands must be resolved by the DNR. Scott showed an aerial slide of the two ponds in the wetlands and what the new mining map would look like with those 50-75 foot offsets.

3. All wells must be identified and depth determined. Scott again stressed that the four homeowners who aren’t listed on this permit need to have those wells identified and depth of their wells determined before any decision on the permit could be made.

Ambrosius reiterated that there are seven homes within 500 feet of the sand mine and all seven homes are so close that the 500-foot offsets for each home have curtailed the amount of land that Faulks Bros. could mine. The 14 homes that are within a quarter-mile of the sand mine have 2022 Assessed Market Values of almost $2.3 million, and using the Marquette County survey, those 14 homes will lose over $500,000 in market value.

The loss of property value with the sand mine not only is a concern for the homeowners, but it’s also part of a Waupaca County ordinance when it comes to considering a land use permit. Scott noted that County Ordinances 34.14.5 (b) 1 and 3 and 38.27.1.6 reads: “Permits will be granted only if the conditional use will be consistent with the town comprehensive plan” and TP LU12 cannot “diminish property values in the surrounding neighborhood.”

Neither is true with this permit application.

The Iola Car Show chose not to speak at this Informational Meeting. Executive Director Joe Opperman and four of the nine Car Show Board members (same number as the first meeting) were at the meeting, but no one spoke. Opperman did answer three questions from the crowd and said they are looking at other revenue streams for the Iola Car Show, but they would not replace the plans for the sand mine. 

Marx then read 10 letters, including one from Helene Pohl, who was in attendance. Pohl helped to write the 1978 Comprehensive Plan and worked with Scandinavia on the 2007 Comprehensive Plan as a member of the St. Lawrence town board. She pointed out how much work and citizen feedback went into writing the 239-page Scandinavia Comprehensive Plan and then had Marx read a big part of the Appendix from that plan, which stated Scandinavia’s Goals and Objectives for the future. It’s obvious that she wanted all of that data in the public record before a vote would be taken.

Marx then read the 31 conditional uses that the residents have put together and those will be forwarded with the town’s decision on the permit to the Waupaca County Zoning Committee. They make the final decision on the permit after recommendations from the Town of Scandinavia Plan Committee and the Town of Scandinavia Board.

Marx then read the 31 conditional uses that the residents have put together and those will be forwarded with the town’s decision on the permit to the Waupaca County Zoning Committee. They make the final decision on the permit after recommendations from the Town of Scandinavia Plan Committee and the Town of Scandinavia Board.

Marx set the timeline and said all of these will be public meetings:

Wednesday, May 3, 6 pm at the Town of Scandinavia Municipal Building – The Town Planning Committee will hear final arguments from both sides and the public before announcing their vote. There are three members making this decision: Gary Marx, Mervin “Bud” Peterson and Eric S. They will announce their decision live to the public.

Wednesday, May 10, 6 pm at the Town of Scandinavia Municipal Building – The Town Board will publicly announce their decision on the permit. They include Town Chairman Gary Marx, Bryan Fuhs and Frank Bauer. 

Both decisions then go to the Waupaca County Zoning Committee, where five members will approve or deny the Town’s recommendations. It is very rare for the County to go against a local municipality’s wishes, but it still needs to be voted on as the final decision.

The permit comes down to three questions each member must answer. Here's the items they are using to vote on this permit application:

1. What are the existing use(s) of adjacent lands to this parcel and are they compatible?

2. Is the proposal consistent with the Town Comprehensive Plan? yes or no

3. Is the proposal consistent with the Town Goals, Objectives, & Development Strategies as found in the Town of Scandinavia Comprehensive Plan? yes or no. (Please give detailed information including page numbers from the comprehensive plan supporting the evidence).

Six months of debate and 11 hours of Informational Meetings comes down to those three points with three people from each board answering them. Nothing else. The answer comes on Wednesday, May 3rd at 6 pm. You will definitely want to be there to learn the answer because it WILL affect our community going forward.