Common council advances Kwik Trip

STEVENS POINT — The Stevens Point Common Council approved conditional use permits to Kwik Trip which will allow them to operate a gas station, a car wash, an off-property sign and the building of two roads which will allow access to the gas station.
In Aug. 2025, the common council approved the rezoning of the property to commercial in a 6-5 vote. That same month the Plan Commission voted to deny the rezoning request.
The gas station will be built just over 1,700 feet away from Whiting’s well field, which provides drinking water to residents.
The permits’ approvals come after several meetings with pushback from residents. Over the course of several meetings and hours of public discussion, residents voiced concerns ranging from drinking water becoming contaminated, airborne exposure to the carcinogen benzene, noise and light pollution, chemical runoff from the car wash, and an increase in traffic.
Representatives for the Village of Whiting spoke at the Feb. 16 common council meeting with a list of additional safety measures they asked Stevens Point to consider before approving the conditional use permits. They also stated that the Village of Whiting’s wellhead protection ordinance would have prohibited a gas station from ever being built at this specific Hoover Road property.

Also present during the public comment portion of the meeting was Representative Vincent Miresse, who urged the common council to vote no to approving the conditional use permits.
The common council entered a closed session with the city’s attorney before approving all of the conditional use permits.
Once in open session, alders expressed discomfort at approving the vote, but felt they had no other option legally but to approve the conditional use permits.
Alders acknowledged the risk of building next to the wellhead, but stated the only way to prohibit this from happening in the future would be to change the rules and regulations.
The gas station passed in an 8-2 vote, with alders Kneebone and Lang voting no.
In addition to the gas station permit, alders approved the permits for a car wash, an off property sign, and two roads to be built allowing access to the Kwik Trip.
Alderperson Kneebone expressed that the city should not be responsible for the two additional roads, stating that the taxpayer should not be paying for the maintenance of roads that only service a private business. The two roads would be considered city streets, meaning the city is responsible for plowing, re-striping, filling potholes, and all other maintenance.
Ultimately, all of Kwik Trip’s conditional use permits were passed by the common council.