Plan commission recommends rezoning of former St. Mary’s Hospital site

More than a dozen years after the old St. Mary’s Hospital on Kabel Avenue was torn down the new owner of the property is planning to redevelop the site as part of an effort to provide affordable housing for Rhinelander’s “working class.”

To accomplish this goal, several parcels, located within Kabel Ave., E. Ocala St. and Dorr Ave., must be rezoned from R-2 (single-and two-family dwelling) to R-3 (mixed residential).

In addition, 16 parcels are to be combined into one parcel with four lots.

On Tuesday evening, the city plan commission held a public hearing on the rezoning requests as well as a request for a conditional use permit (CUP) submitted by the developers to re-establish a childcare center in the neighborhood.

The developers were listed on the agenda as Rhinelander Investments LLC & 1044 Kabel Avenue LLC.

Bob Ohde, developer of the Settlers Village complex on Timber Drive, was present on behalf of the development group.

When the public hearing began, a person who said they own land on Ocala Street requested more information on the project.

“I’m kind of at a loss here,” she said. “I only found about this meeting a few hours ago. I never received anything in the mail. Coming in here, there were no papers presented to me, so I don’t know what to think. I would like to know what’s going on, what are you proposing?”

Ohde responded by explaining that the intent is to convert the remaining former hospital facility into an apartment building for those age 55 and older as well as build additional units to provide affordable housing for the local workforce.

“Some of the lots along the river might be a little higher end” but the main focus is to provide housing for working people, he said.

“We’re not here to create a bad neighborhood by any means,” he added.

The next speaker was Abbey Dall Lukowski, the director of the Frederick Place homeless shelter in Rhinelander. She told the commission the majority of those who are currently staying at Frederick Place aren’t there due to substance abuse/addition-related issues but because they could no longer afford to pay rent. 

Just last month, Frederick Place welcomed a number of individuals employed in the local service industry who had no place to live because their rent increased from approximately $800 a month to $1,500, she reported.

“We need affordable housing available to us,” she said. 

Lukowski also addressed the developers’ application for a CUP to re-establish a childcare center at 1052 Dorr Avenue to be called AE Academy.

The new center would be housed in the former location of the Children’s Learning Center (CLC) which operated from the early 1990s to May 2020.

Lukowski stressed that there is a direct connection between a healthy workforce and the availability of affordable childcare. She noted that the community has struggled for some time to provide sufficient affordable childcare to local families and many parents have had to leave the workforce as a result.

When the public hearings closed and the discussion shifted to zoning staff, zoning director Veronica Tonnancour recommended approval.

“I think it would be beneficial for our city to move forward with approving this rezone request to allow for the community’s needs of housing and daycare options and I believe it would be an appropriate use within this area,” she said.

With minimal discussion, the commission unanimously approved the rezoning requests related to the housing project as well as the CUP application for the child care center.

It should be noted that the commission consisted of only four individuals on Tuesday. Commissioners Leann Felten, Bob Lueder, Laurie Lenten and Kris Hanus were present (though Hanus appeared via video) while Terry Williams, Andrea Boos and Jenny Bonardelli were absent. 

According to the city website, Bonardelli and Boos’ terms on the commission elapsed as of the end of April. 

According to city administrator Patrick Reagan both Bonardelli and Boos are expected to be reappointed to the panel.

In addition, city attorney Steve Sorenson stressed that only the full city council can rezone property, thus the commission’s votes were to recommend the council rezone the parcels in question.

The public is strongly urged to read the information included in the commission “packet” related to the housing and childcare project. 

It can be located on the plan commission page of the city’s website at https://www.rhinelanderwi.us/government/committees___commissions/plan_commission.php. under the heading 5-6 packet. 

In other business, the commission also briefly took up the issue of whether the city should allow tourist houses in the R1 zoning district. 

A recent decision by the plan commission to grant a CUP for a tourist house on Woodland Drive set off a larger debate on where tourist houses should be located and how long guests should be allowed to stay.

This topic is expected to be discussed by the full council when its meets Monday evening, May 13. 

More information on the plan commission’s discussion of the tourist house topic will be included in a future edition of the River News.

Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].