January 5, 2023 at 12:09 p.m.
Ad hoc committee hears from county zoning director
Ad hoc committee hears from county zoning director
By Trevor Greene-
Much of the discussion focused on the question of how zoning might encourage denser housing developments. The same topic was also discussed during the Dec. 14 county planning and development committee meeting. At that meeting, the county committee directed Jennrich to look at the county's zoning districts, particularly its multifamily zoning districts, and look for ways to enable denser housing.
Scott Meitus, chairman of the Minocqua committee, filled Jennrich in on where the ad hoc committee's progress since its first meeting in late October.
The group, which is charged with gathering information regarding the town's lack of affordable housing and labor, has had representatives of "every sector of the economy (they) could think of" take part in meetings to first try and identify problems, he explained.
"Right now, we're just collecting information," he said. "At the back half of this we'll try to come up with solutions to some of these problems. But the problem seems to be pretty consistent throughout everybody. There is a housing shortage, there's a housing affordability issue and I know for people trying to find employees ... It's difficult for people (to hire) for a myriad of reasons."
As far as zoning statistics, Jennrich said there are 20 towns in Oneida County and three of them - Monico, Enterprise and Sugar Camp - aren't zoned, meaning a person could "do whatever (they) want wherever (they) want" unless it falls under shoreland zoning.
There are 11 zoning districts within the county and Jennrich said those districts have different types of uses. He provided committee members with a spreadsheet breaking down each zone and its requirements, noting which ones allow multifamily developments and which do not.
Jennrich also broke down the zoning districts in Minocqua.
"So, again, all my comments to you is if you are looking to allow more apartment buildings or more multi-family developments, you really have to take a look at your zoning districts and where you may want to see multifamily development and zone it appropriately," Jennrich said. "Meaning zone those areas to a use or to a district that allows multifamily type use."
Apartments, he noted, are multi-family developments and he clarified that anything above one or two family homes is considered multi-family.
Jennrich noted that Minocqua includes large areas of forestry 1A, single family residential and rural residential, all of which don't allow for multifamily use.
A development near State Highway 70 on Minocqua's west side was one reason Jennrich said the county committee talked about zoning density.
He defined density as "how much square footage for each additional unit that you want to have."
The only changes in zoning code Jennrich said he's seen lately were to allow multi-family developments in business B2 zones, which were outlined in red on the zoning map he provided.
Those districts highlight property on sewer and water and he said there are unlimited amounts of developments which can be built in business B2 zones as long as a conditional use permit is granted "and then you have to deal with your parking, your storm water, other issues that are associated with that development."
"It doesn't mean you can build 100 units on a parcel of property," Jennrich said. "It just means through the conditional use permit process. The conditional use permit process was supposed to address other issues such as, again, the parking, storm water, impervious surfaces - that type of stuff."
He said the county is open to looking at ways to encourage more off sewer developments but he indicated it's difficult.
"Once you get off sewer, again, we require or the ordinance requires just a lot of additional square footage of acreage for each additional unit (of housing)," Jennrich said. "So the committee ... is going to ask me to take a look at that to try to possibly allow more dense developments."
He said there is a need for large amounts of land for developments without town sewer and water, though, because then things like a larger septic system need to be accounted for - which Jennrich said requires lots of space.
Along the lines of denser developments, committee member Brian Fricke asked Jennrich about alternatives such as parks for mobile homes, also referred to as manufactured homes.
Such developments are another form of multi-family developments, Jennrich said.
He also noted those types of developments are only allowed in four of the county's zoning districts.
While looking over the county's zoning ordinances concerning denser multi-family housing, Jennrich said he also plans to review ordinances with regard to manufactured homes.
He said people have suggested to him in the past to have the county consider allowing campground or mobile home parks on smaller acreage because right now, at least 20 acres is required.
Jennrich also indicated the zoning code is more relaxed in Vilas County than it is in Oneida County.
Committee member Bob Jaskolski asked Jennrich a question with regard to lot size and more traditional community developments like subdivisions.
"Are there those types of areas available around here being developed?" he asked.
Jennrich said single family residential developments require a lot size of 50,000 square feet and 100 feet in width off of sewer and water. If a property is on sewer and water, then the requirement is 10,000 square feet and 100 feet in width.
He told Jaskolski single family residential developments in Oneida County are rare and he's not aware of any efforts to develop those types of properties at the moment.
"For the most part, off water lots in Oneida County are 50,000 square feet, a little over an acre," Jennrich said. "And I don't know if the (planning and development) committee wants to discuss wanting to allow smaller types of lots."
Following the meeting, Jennrich told The Lakeland Times any amendments to the county's zoning code are "a ways off."
Short-term rentals
Another topic the ad hoc committee discussed was short-term rental housing, such as Airbnbs and "vacation rental by owner" (VRBOs).
Jennrich explained that certain state laws were approved and enacted when the state legislature approved the biennial budget in 2017.
The law he was referring to gives homeowners across the state more ability to rent out their homes on a short-term basis regardless of county or town zoning codes.
Jennrich said realtors and builders lobbied for the change in the law and the basis of their argument was that it's a homeowner's right to do with their land as they please.
Since the new law was enacted, corporate interests have purchased properties strictly for rental purposes at large in the Northwoods.
Recently, Jennrich said, the county has been trying to regulate the rentals as best it can by requiring those renting out their properties to obtain proper permits and making sure they meet the right septic requirements.
He said Oneida County planning and zoning staff members believe there are between 400 to 500 rentals in the county and roughly 100 of those rentals can be found in Minocqua.
Committee members wondered how the rising number of short-term rental houses in the area have affected the affordable housing market in Minocqua, which ultimately affects the town's labor market.
Regarding the labor shortage in terms of Oneida County as a whole, Jennrich said he heard another county department director tell members of the county board that one-third of the population supports the other two-thirds.
"Our LRES (labor relations and employee services) director I think said to the board or the LRES committee ... that through the HR people at the county level at the Wisconsin Counties Association, they're saying (Oneida County) probably has about 32 to 33 percent of people within the working age between 20 and 60," he said. "The rest of them are too young or they're all retired. So basically, you have a third of the population trying to take care of two-thirds of the population. And they all say it's going to get worse."
The ad hoc committee's members are to brief the town board on their progress at the end of January, three months after the group's first meeting on Oct. 27.
Town chairman Mark Hartzheim told the Times the town board's intention was to have everything wrapped up in six months and a final report from the committee submitted. However, additional information Let's Minocqua Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Commerce executive director Krystal Westphal is gathering may mean pushing the committee's work "a little past" the six month mark, he noted.
Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].
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