November 21, 2017 at 4:20 p.m.
Oneida zoning panel warns condo association to follow CUP
Association still faces fines of more than $3,500
Oneida zoning panel warns condo association to follow CUP
In addition, the condominium association still faces fines of slightly more than $3,500 from this past year's alleged violations.
The condominium has marina status, and, after complaints that its pier did not meet its approved CUP configuration, that there were too many berthing spaces, and that the pier encroached beyond the posted property line, sometimes impeding the neighbor's access to his boathouse, the committee convened a public hearing last week to consider amending, suspending, or revoking the permit.
They did none of the above but issued a stern warning to the association that a tougher line would be taken if new complaints arose, after the association agreed to follow the CUP's conditions.
The county's zoning department has also issued citations totaling $3,520.10, but they had just been served at the time of the hearing, had not been processed, and the committee did not address their potential disposition at the hearing.
The original configuration, approved in 2002, was for two piers extending two-boats deep into the lake with eight berths. That was twice the number that would have been allowed without marina status.
However, a single and more horizontal pier had been most recently constructed. Though it was only one-boat deep, that pier had 17 berthing spaces, as counted by the zoning department, and was wider than the 20-feet originally approved. Its relocation had also moved it too close to the neighboring property line, so close that the property owner had trouble using his boathouse.
In addition, four of the eight approved spaces were designated for public use, but complaints arose that signs denoting public access had been removed and rubber inflatables placed in the berths to discourage and inhibit public use.
The zoning department sent a certified letter June 28 asking the association to remove the pier, assistant zoning director Pete Wegner told the committee last week.
Communications "dragged on, dragged on, dragged on," Wegner said, and the committee finally directed zoning staff to issue citations.
"And that wasn't easy either, because the agent that is listed is not really the agent that was taking care of the condominium, so I actually had to resend them recently to the new agent," he said.
Coming and going
According to the attorney for the condo association, John Hogan, there was no intention on the part of the association to violate the code or to drag things out.
"I got involved specifically on July 11 when my clients came to my office and said, 'We don't know what's going on. We don't know what the problem is. We don't understand marina status. What's going on?'"
Hogan said he called Wegner that day and left him a message and wrote him a letter the next day. Hogan also said he followed with additional calls, though he said he did not blame Wegner because it was, after all, summer and the busy season in zoning.
"He's understaffed, overworked, and not his problem, but I was trying to reach out and communicate," Hogan said.
Finally, in mid-August, a meeting did take place between zoning staff, the county corporation counsel, Hogan, and his clients, and Hogan said he would explain to the zoning committee what he told everybody then.
"As you know, when you have these condominiums, people come and people go," he said. "It's not the same people there in 2002 that are there in 2017."
Over a period of time, Hogan said, they rearranged the dock spaces, and Hogan said the current condo owners had no clue that there was a specific plan in place in 2016 and 2017 when they put the docks together.
Hogan said the same physical structure that existed previously exists, it was just reconfigured.
"They reconfigured it for a couple of reasons," he said. "One is, they tried to maximize the dock space, obviously. Also, they had a new person who was in a wheelchair, so they tried to accommodate that person so it was easier to get on and off the dock space."
Hogan contested the idea that there were five spaces on the shore side of the current pier, as Wegner counted among his 17 spaces.
"There aren't," he said. "You can put in a jet ski there - and I understand that counts as a space - but it's too shallow there for anything else, two inches of water."
The real problem, Hogan said, was with the person who installed the dock in 2017.
"When they placed the dock, they didn't pay attention to the lot line post that was there, and they placed it across the lot line, thereby pinching the next door neighbor's ability to get their boat in and out of the property," he said.
As soon as he heard about that, Hogan said he called the property owner to assure him they would try to get the dock reconfigured quickly, and they put "no dock" signs on that side so no one would park there.
Hogan said he told the property owner to call him if there was a continued problem, and, because he has not been called, Hogan said he doesn't believe there has been a problem with anybody parking on the east side of the dock system since July 12.
Hogan said he had to find out exactly what marina status meant, and then he had to educate the condo owners. It meant this: They could have four spaces, the public could have four spaces, and there shouldn't be any overnight parking in the four public spaces.
"That came as somewhat of a shock to them," he said. "Over time, when people had bought their condos, it had been represented to them that they had docking spaces there that they would own. I don't know how 21 people could even own eight spaces, but that they would have those spaces available to them."
Hogan said the public would sometimes park their boats at the piers at night to visit nearby establishments and sometimes leave them overnight, and the association would have no way of knowing who the owners were.
"We tried since July when I got involved to regulate it the best we could do," he said.
Hogan said they also attempted to get the pier moved over to resolve that problem, but pier installers were not helpful, telling them they could do it no earlier than September.
"What does this mean for the future?" he asked. "Depending on what you do today, we are going to follow the plan we have. The plan is supposed to be followed. But I want to assure you that, from the moment I got on, we didn't ignore this."
Reconfiguring the reconfiguration
As the committee discussed the pier configuration, Tom Handrick, who filed the original complaint, told the committee the configuration approved in the 2002 CUP worked just fine.
"It was over to the west more, away from the property lines," Handrick said. "They had signs on the ends of the public portion of the pier, which was on the west side, which said 'public piers.' What they did this year was reconfigure it, they took the public pier signs off of it. And what the people in the condos would do is, they would take a rubber inflatable and blow it up and tie it up and tie up these berthing spots so the public couldn't park in there. They are playing games, and they had all summer to do this."
Handrick said the association had stretched things out needlessly, and he said he had offered to remove the piers for no charge - Handrick owns a landscaping company - "but obviously that wasn't good enough."
Still, Handrick said, if it goes back to the original structure, that should be OK, though he said the public portion should have an accessible entrance to the shoreline.
"I also think they should pay a fine for all that they put everybody through here," he said.
The citations that were issued, and served to the association on the day of the hearing last week, are going forward, zoning director Karl Jennrich said Friday.
"That was separate from the amend, suspend, or revoke action," Jennrich said. "The agent received them and I hope they pay. If they plead not guilty, I would have to talk to the committee on how they want to proceed."
Richard Moore is the author of The New Bossism of the American Left and can be reached at www.rmmoore1.com.
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