A site plan and design for a Goodwill store to be located on property at 860 Marketplace Drive in Waconia’s highway business district was approved June 17 over objections from advocates for downtown thrift shops Freshwater Furniture Depot and Trending Upward.
Goodwill Industries has plans for a 20,867 square-foot facility like other Goodwill locations that have sprung up in Chanhassen, Chaska, and other communities statewide. The new facility will be built on property next to Valvoline near Mackenthun’s Fine Foods and a growing number of restaurant/service businesses that have been developed there in recent years.
Ashley Spang, general manager of Freshwater Furniture, which recently relocated to a new larger space downtown in Waconia Square on West Main Street, expressed concerns about a Goodwill store devastating local thrift shop operations. She also emphasized their value to the community and the close relationships and referrals local thrift shops have developed within the community to identify and help families in need.
“We directly help the community so much more than Goodwill does, and money spent with us and Trending Upward stays within our community instead of going to a corporation,” Spang said. “We also directly give back to other local organizations every week.”
Another Freshwater advocate and volunteer referenced “filling one commercial property hole while potentially creating two other holes downtown” with approval of the Goodwill plan.
“It is the first time Goodwill has been the bad guy,” a Goodwill Industries architectural representative responded at last Monday’s city council meeting, noting that Goodwill and local thrift shops have similar missions and should be able to coexist.
In approving Goodwill’s plan, city leaders also expressed support and encouragement for local thrift shops, and noted that the city cannot deny an operation like Goodwill from locating in Waconia if it meets all zoning requirements and design standards.
Road and trail projects
In other business, the council approved a low bid of $454,000 from among six bidders and awarded a construction contract to Bituminous Roadways, Inc. to make road improvements scheduled this year for Waconia Parkway North.
A roundabout traffic safety improvement at the intersection of the parkway and County Highway 10 was originally slated to be part of the project, but due to delays in review and resolution of an environmental issue involving bat habitat in the affected area, that portion of the project will be pushed into 2025, according to county road engineers and the city.
The council also approved a change order in the amount of $45,000 to Valley Paving that will enable the reconstruction of an additional trail section along Burandt Boulevard between Farm Line Road and Klein Drive as part of the city’s 2024 infrastructure improvement projects. That will complete all trail construction work done in recent years along Burandt Boulevard. The change order would increase the total contract amount to Valley Paving for other infrastructure work to approximately $271,000.
In a narrow 3-2 vote, the council directed city staff to prepare a resolution to deny a request from a Beach Road property owner for an after-the-fact permit to allow private improvements on public property. In this case, it was a landscaping project that spilled over to trail right-of-way. As has been the case in other recent after-the-fact matters that have come before council, the majority of members expressed concerns about setting precedent and leading to further situations like it occurring in the city. The applicable resolution will be reviewed at the council’s July 1 meeting.
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