SCANDINAVIA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Waupaca County residents came out in large numbers Wednesday night to fight a proposed change at the Iola Car Show property.
Although no decision was made last night, a proposed mining project is facing no shortage of resistance from members of the community.
“What happens when our kids are deformed or our water is tainted?” one resident asked.
“I just feel bad that a lot of the neighbors that are stressed over it causing a big anxiety,” another resident said.
So many area residents attended the meeting that it was moved from its original room to the connected fire garage. A lively public input session followed a presentation on the conditional use permit that the car show and construction company are seeking.
“We, as a population, if we disagree with this mine, it’s up to us,” a resident said. “If we don’t want this mine, we need to come together.”
Within the project, the car show will partner with Faulks Brothers Construction to excavate sand and gravel on over 30 total acres of land. They hope to create future parking lots. But many neighbors feel the project will be loud and create environmental issues. Greg Ambrosius is one of them.
“How does the town of Scandinavia and its taxpayers benefit from this? There’s one winner in this,” Ambrosius said. “And it’s not the township of Scandinavia or the Village of Iola or its residents.”
A wide range of issues were covered by those in attendance, including Ambrosius.
“Reduced property values, that’s a given,” he said. “Reduced property taxes. Traffic, noise, dust from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., five plus days a week, up to 52 weeks a year from 10-15 years. Groundwater concerns for area homeowners, potential blasting and crushing of rocks, loss of wildlife from the area.”
Ambrosius started a petition to stop the project from happening. He also gave a presentation on his thoughts but made sure to remind the car show that he isn’t against them.
The Scandinavia town board will continue reviewing public input at future meetings.
