County board to take up campground, RV park moratorium

After a September 20 public hearing held by the county’s zoning committee, the Oneida County board of supervisors is set to take up today a proposed moratorium on conditional use permits for campgrounds and recreational vehicle parks.

If passed, the moratorium would last for 180 days.

According to the resolution, both the towns of Little Rice and Nokomis have requested that the county impose the moratorium, given a recent influx of campground and recreational vehicle park (RV) conditional use permit applications.

The purpose of the moratorium is to give the county’s zoning committee time to review the adequacy of the current ordinance governing campgrounds, as well as the zoning districts that allow campground and RV parks.

At the September 20 public hearing, Jennrich said the proposed moratorium was actually a request from attorney Greg Harrold on behalf of Little Rice and Nokomis.

“They had some conditional use permits for campgrounds within at least the town of Nokomis,” Jennrich said. “We’ve had some changeover of campgrounds in the town of Little Rice, so they wanted the county to take a look at a moratorium.”

Jennrich said the purpose of the moratorium would be twofold.

“Basically [we would] have the county take a look at what zoning districts campgrounds are allowed in, and then you can take a look at the actual ordinance to see whether or not you like it or do you want to see changes,” he said. “The last time I can recall that this has been comprehensively revised, was at the request of some campgrounds in particular, I believe Indian Shores back in the day.”

Jennrich said he didn’t think the ordinance had been looked at since probably the late 1990s. 

“But again, that would be the purpose of the ordinance, if you want to have a moratorium,” he said. 

There was no public comment for or against the moratorium.

A simmering stew statewide

While there was no public comment at the September public hearing, there had been plenty of concerns heading into and during the past summer, prompting a discussion of the issue at a June zoning committee meeting.

At that meeting, committee members focused on the real issue they saw — in this economy, with soaring interest rates and building costs, some people with large lots, some of them on lakes, have been finding it more financially prudent to develop a campground rather than a residence. Others have been buying huge swaths of acreage specifically for campground and RV park development.

As such, a campground on multiple acres of what could be prime residential real estate have generated complaints and concerns from potential neighbors, and committee members in June said they were getting calls on the issue, in particular zoning committee chairman Scott Holewinski.

“I think we need to set a moratorium on it and review the campground ordinance,” Holewinski said then. 

Essentially, he said, towns have made lot sizes bigger, so property owners are turning them into campgrounds because it’s more cost effective for campgrounds versus residential houses. 

“So when you go from a lake lot that’s 20,000 square feet to five-acre lake lots, guess what’s going to happen? Campgrounds are going to happen on those properties,” he said. “So I got the request. I put it on the agenda for discussion.”

And it’s not just Oneida County. Holewinski said he had heard that there were multiple problems with campgrounds on the west side of Wisconsin, and, indeed, there have been ongoing concerns across the state for several years. In particular concerns began to multiply as campgrounds did during the pandemic.

One hotspot has been Burnett County, where one RV park developer established 110 lots to accommodate park model RVs and boats. Campers sometimes spend a weekend or week; others stay the season.

Another place where controversy has flared has been in Washburn County, where a developer bought 500 acres on Spooner Lake and was approved for a 200-site RV campground. 

In June, Holewinski said larger lot lake sizes had in part prompted the campground development.

“The reason for it is, the towns put such big lake lot sizes on it,” he said. “It’s more profitable for the landowner to turn it into a campground versus 100-foot lots.”

Jennrich reviewed the zoning districts that allow campgrounds and pointed out that there was a 20-acre requirement, but many of the potential campgrounds occupy tracts much larger than that.

While there was no committee flak or public comment at the Sept. 20 public hearing, there have been those who have at least questioned whether there is a need to put a brake on the developments. In June, one of those was supervisor Mike Roach.

“So we’re against campgrounds now,” he said then, with Holewinski explaining that the Little Rice fire department supplied fire protection to that area. Roach still wasn’t convinced.

“I’m just saying our community up here used to have lots of campgrounds,” he said. “Now we get lots of Airbnbs. The poor blue collar man can’t even bring his kids up here to enjoy the Northwoods anymore. So I know we need campgrounds, so I’m kind of concerned that we’re talking about a moratorium.”

Roach said he simply wanted to make sure that the county wasn’t opposing campgrounds in general.

At the time, Holewinski said he was fine with not having a moratorium in place while a review was undertaken, but he also observed that there were campgrounds in the works, presumably spurring the calls for a moratorium.

Richard Moore may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.