Whiting asks for more safety measures at planned Kwik Trip

STEVENS POINT — The Stevens Point Plan Commission has approved three conditional use permits to Kwik Trip which would allow them to operate a gas station, a car wash with hours limited to 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., two off property signs, and two roads to enter the property located at 3383 Hoover Road. The votes of approval came on the heels of hours of public feedback from residents who voiced concerns over the gas stations’ close proximity to the wellhead—which provides drinking water to Plover and Whiting residents—becoming contaminated with gas, exposure to benzene and its’ cancer risks, noise and light pollution, increased traffic, the loss of a vegetative buffer that once separated the neighborhood from the property, and concern over the chemicals used in the car wash.
Ultimately, the Plan Commission approved the gas station in a 4-3 vote, with the other conditional use permits seeing more of a majority vote, though never unanimous.
In addition to the safety precautions Kwik Trip said they will put in place such as double walled tanks, groundwater monitoring wells, and leak detection sensors, the Village of Whiting is requesting that Stevens Point add more safety measures to the potential gas station.
In a letter sent to the Stevens Point Common Council, the Village of Whiting is requesting that two monitoring wells are installed, at the owners’ expense, in the Whiting well field and tested quarterly, access agreements be made by the owner on seven nearby parcels to allow for monitoring and remediation “in case of a spill, release, leak, or discharge”, and repayment to the village from the owner for any lost revenue for water utility or purchasing water. Neighbors in the area are also requesting a 40-foot-wide vegetative buffer to aid in filtering airborne benzene.
In Aug. 2025 the property, which was originally mostly wooded, was approved to be rezoned to commercial use in a 6-5 vote from the Common Council. By late fall of 2025, all of the trees on the property had been cut down.