April 10, 2023 at 12:04 p.m.
Oneida County zoning approves Minocqua Yacht Club CUP
Plans call for outdoor rooftop seating; parking requirements waived
The zoning department issued the permit last Thursday after the committee approved it on Wednesday. The plan had already passed the Minocqua Plan Commission as well as the town board on March 7.
As The Times's Brian Jopek has previously reported, the estimated cost of the project is $2.25 million. The renovation will include the addition of 742 square feet of covered seating area and 1,232 square feet of uncovered seating on the roof of the main building with the boathouse's roof providing another 730 square feet of seating.
In addition to that construction, Jopek reported, the project will address handicapped accessibility for the main building entrance, first floor restrooms, new lake level restroom and pier design.
At the plan commission meeting - as has been the case in other meetings - parking was the central concern.
The county ordinance would require 47 onsite parking spaces based on 126 customers and 13 staff members working a peak shift, the zoning department told the commission, while the proposed plan had only 17 parking spaces. What's more, the county contended, none of the spaces complied with the "county ordinance standard" of 220 square feet.
At the plan commission meeting, Oneida County zoning director Karl Jennrich said the parking was deficient so the town would have to waive parking requirements for the project to move forward.
BOA variance
Jennrich laid out multiple concerns. First he pointed to public comments made at a June 2022 Board of Adjustment public hearing, at which several members of the community raised parking concerns.
That hearing was necessary because an original permit for the project had been denied, based on noncompliance with the county's shoreland protection ordinance. The company needed a variance from the Board of Adjustment to move forward.
To attain a variance, an applicant must meet all of three criteria - unnecessary hardship, a unique property condition, and no harm to the public interest. The company's attorney, Tim Melms, argued at the board of adjustment hearing that all three criteria were met not only because of the unique physical limitations of the property but also because the project would serve the public interest.
In terms of the unnecessary hardship, Melms said, strict compliance with the ordinance would unreasonably prevent the owner from using the property for a permitted purpose or would render conformity to such restrictions that it would be unnecessarily burdensome.
In other words, Melms argued, with the ordinance as it was written, the property owner basically could not do anything.
On a unanimous vote at the June hearing, the board of adjustment granted the variance, saying the project met all the criteria.
While that vote allowed the project to move forward, it did not address parking concerns. However, Minocqua Hospitality Holdings still had to secure a conditional use permit, which was the application before the plan commission and where non-compliant parking surfaced again.
In addition to public concerns expressed at the variance hearing, Jennrich told the plan commission there were a couple of additional parking spots in the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) right-of-way that the owners didn't have a formal lease with the DOT to use, The Times reported, and Jennrich further said he had been made aware of an idea to use Country Club Road for parking.
Waiving the parking requirements would be the town's prerogative, Jennrich told the plan commission.
The plan commission approved the CUP application, including waiving parking space size requirements, with no change in the existing number of spaces and square footage in the parking lot. But the plan commission did not designate any off-site parking for the business, including any use of Country Club Road.
In addition, the plan commission added a condition that a pedestrian access point from the sidewalk along U.S. Highway 51 to the property be created.
That moved the application to the town board on March 7, where applicant Brad Allen reviewed the project's details with the board. According to the minutes of that meeting, Allen told town board members that they were working with the state DOT on a plan for pedestrians to access the property from the highway.
Allen also told the board that the building project would not extend into current parking and the county would require dumpster screening. In addition, he relayed the plan commission's recommendation for a continuing parking waiver given the legal pre-existing status of the business parking and given that there were no plans to further reduce parking or expand the footprint of the building.
Allen also asked the board, pursuant to the plan commission's recommendations, to waive parking stall density and size requirements and to retain the same number of spaces and square footage of the existing parking.
Allen acknowledged the plan commission's recommendation that there be no designated off-site parking areas as a part of the CUP application, and that the company would apply for a pedestrian accommodation from the DOT for an access point from the sidewalk to the property.
The town board approved the CUP with those conditions and sent it on to the zoning committee.
In the permit letter sent to Minocqua Hospitality Holdings this past week, following the zoning committee's approval, the county reiterated that the property owners are to apply for a lease agreement with the state DOT for the parking spaces located in the highway right-of-way.
The property owner is also required to obtain written permission from Minocqua Lake Condominiums for use of three parking spaces shown in the condominium property.
The rest of the conditions were standard, including a requirement for a county shoreland alteration permit to be obtained prior to the beginning of construction, as well as downcast and shielded exterior light, an approved stormwater management/erosion control plan as required by the state Department of Natural Resources, and parking to comply with the county's off street parking and loading space ordinance provisions.
The project must also comply with the county's sign regulations.
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