January 2, 2024 at 5:50 a.m.
Oneida County holds public hearing on Cassian rehab center CUP application
The Oneida County board’s planning and development committee will meet in special session Jan. 17 to decide whether to approve or deny a conditional use permit (CUP) application for a 36-bed adolescent recovery and wellness center (ARWC).
The center would be built on property the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, Inc. (GLITC) purchased on North Pine Square Road in the town of Cassian.

(Photo by Brian Jopek/Lakeland Times)
The decision to meet and vote on Jan. 17 came after the five-member committee held a nearly two and-a-half-hour public hearing Thursday evening on the permit application.
The meeting took place in the large meeting room in the Woodruff town hall rather than in Cassian.
The Cassian town board has expressed opposition to the proposed construction of the ARWC from the time it learned of the land purchase in June, going so far as to hire attorney Frank Kowalkowski with the law firm Van Briesen and Roper to provide legal representation on the matter.
Kowalkowski is also the attorney representing the town of Lac du Flambeau in its current expired road easement legal issues with the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
GLITC’s chief executive officer, Brian Bainbridge, had hoped to begin construction on the center in October but the CUP application, which Oneida County planning and zoning director Karl Jennrich has said meets zoning guidelines and regulations set forth in county zoning ordinance and state law, wasn’t submitted in time to start the project in the fall.
Several town board meetings, and meetings of the town planning commission, have taken place over the past few months with Bainbridge, pledging GLITC wants to be transparent about the project and “be a good neighbor,” appearing at a few of the meetings in Cassian to answer questions.
In September, the town board passed a resolution formally opposing the project, based primarily on concerns regarding impacts on the town’s infrastructure, tax base, property values and public safety.
In October, GLITC purchased an additional 132 acres of land.
During the first part of Thursday’s hearing, Jennrich said the purchase was “to provide additional buffers to address the concerns of adjacent neighbors and landowners about privacy for facility operations.”
“The applicant has stated nothing is proposed for these properties at this time and is aware if a project is proposed, additional zoning permits may be required,” he added.
During the course of the discussion regarding the center in recent months, no one, including those opposed to it being constructed in Cassian, has denied the need for such a facility, designed specifically to help teenagers, in northern Wisconsin.
That was the case at the public hearing as well, although there was also plenty of support expressed for the town board’s position.
‘A real need’
After Jennrich provided a review of the CUP application process to the present, Oneida County board chairman Scott Holewinski, chairman of the planning and development committee, gave Bainbridge and Kowalkowski 10 minutes to speak to the matter.
“If you’re not aware, there are very limited resources for our youth, especially up here in the Northwoods,” Bainbridge began. “It’s important to understand that and part of the reasoning why we’re proposing this project.”

(Photo by Brian Jopek/Lakeland Times)
Stressing that there wouldn’t be any type of “free for all” by those who stay at the ARWC, he also said the intent is for the facility to be secluded “but not in a way to prohibit safety measures.”
Rod Carter, an attorney representing GLITC, spoke for the last three minutes of Bainbridge’s time. He said he believes the project is “something exciting for the community.”
“It serves a real need and quite frankly, it exceeds all the county’s requirements,” he said. “I know that there’s concern on the part of the town and a lot of that concern, at least from the communications that I saw, went from ‘We’re opposed’ to ‘Put conditions on this project’ in the latest communication from the town.”
Carter said he wanted to remind the committee the topic was GLITC’s CUP application.
“The way the county regulates that is to put reasonable conditions addressing the concerns you all have on the activities but also this project, again, has an added bonus in terms of the regulation it’s going to receive and the scrutiny it’s going to receive from the state,” he said. “So, you’ve got different layers to address and to monitor this, not all that unusual in terms of a use.”
Kowalkowski, speaking on behalf of the town board, said even under Oneida County zoning ordinances, the project “is contested” and, while going over the reasons it is, brought up the need for waivers of sovereignty and federal land trust.
If this doesn’t take place and the land eventually goes into federal trust, “you have no control,” he noted.
“The state has no control,” Kowalkowski said. “There was talk it won’t be a free for all? Well, maybe not but it could be.”
After his comments, Holewinski then gave the floor to others who wished to speak. Each of them was afforded three minutes.
About 30 people spoke, starting with U.S. Congressman Tom Tiffany, who said he was speaking not as a congressman but as an Oneida County resident, although he did say he would “go to bat” for GLITC to help get the ARWC onto tribal land as opposed to Cassian.
“It looks like a fine facility,” he said of the various renderings on display. “But I disagree with it being put in the town of Cassian. I think there are better places to put this, including on tribal lands. This is something, with the priority being tribal members, that should go on tribal lands.”
Most of the speakers were in favor of the ARWC being located in Cassian. A few of those who spoke were recovering drug addicts themselves and cited the good things programs like the ARWC can offer troubled teenagers.
There were also a few who spoke in opposition, using their three minutes to cite concerns about things such as water supply and simply not wanting the facility in their town.
Last to speak was Scott Bolstad, a representative with U.S. Senator Ron Johnson’s office.
“I write to support and encourage the approval of the Adolescent Recovery and Wellness Center proposed by the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council in the Town of Cassian, Wisconsin,” Bolstad read in a letter from Johnson dated Dec. 22. “All are concerned about the effects of opioids, fentanyl, heroin and meth flowing into the United States, Wisconsin and Oneida County. Without action to stem the tide of illegal drugs flowing into our country, along with treatment for those affected, we will continue to feel the devasting consequences of this scourge on our children, families, and every fabric of our great nation.”
The planning and development committee’s Jan. 17 special meeting is set for 2 p.m. in the Oneida County board meeting room at the courthouse in Rhinelander.
Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].
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