Menard's is talking to the City of Decorah first, THEN the Iowa DNR

(Jeff e-mails: "You've described the City of Decorah's reaction to Menard's application for a new store in town, but you haven't mentioned the Iowa DNR's reaction.  Why is that?"):

Mr. Answer Person says: "decorahnews.com has been contacting the Iowa DNR once every month or so since Menard's announced its plans in Decorah.  We've always gotten the same answer: 'Nothing's happening."

Earlier this week, Menard's officials gave a clue about why the DNR is giving that answer--they want to have preliminary discussions with the City of Decorah about the store site plan first before making an application to the DNR.  DNR officials tell decorahnews.com that Menard's representatives asked a few technical questions of DNR staffers at the end of last year, but that's been it so far.

Menard's officials say their plans are 'complex,' so they want to work out some of the issues with city officials first and then will tackle an Iowa DNR application to fill in the floodplain."