Oneida County L&WC committee questions state bid to add second dwellings

Oneida County conservationist Michele Sadauskas addressed the land and water conservation committee about a resolution being prepared in Vilas County regarding Assembly bill 449. She said Vilas County conservationist Al Wirt had put out an email regarding this bill, which brought it to her attention first. She said she felt Vilas County’s concerns would closely mirror Oneida County’s concerns in regard to this bill.

The bill essentially allows for a second dwelling, not to be larger than the existing single-family dwelling, to be placed on each parcel that is zoned for residential or mixed use, with some other stipulations. 

This dwelling would provide a separate living space and have an entrance that was separate from the entrance of the existing single-family dwelling. 

This, Sadauskas said, could potentially double the density of dwellings on every lake in Vilas County as well as those in Oneida County. Septic system discharges would also increase. The bill would also not allow local municipalities to prohibit those additional dwellings to be used as tourist rooming houses.

Oneida County zoning administrator Karl Jennrich said this was part of an initiative to increase affordable housing, according to the Wisconsin county code of administrators, who were aware of the bill. 

“I believe what they’re trying to do is increase density of development, again, having more dwelling units in smaller spaces,” Jennrich said. 

One of the concerns, he said, was to have that extra dwelling used as a tourist rooming house. He said Mark Hartzheim of the town of Minocqua had told him the issue was that tourist rooming houses were doing away with affordable housing in Oneida County. However, Jennrich said, affordable housing was not seen in waterfront property, regardless. Tourist rooming houses were not affordable housing, he said. He said there were other zoning districts that would allow that type of use, and he felt it should be left up to local control regarding what they wanted to do rather than to have something like this mandated through the state.

“From what I understand, the bills may be quiet for now, but I don’t know how much longer they will be quiet,” Jennrich said. 

Wirt said, at the last joint meeting in Vilas County between the land and water conservation committee and the zoning committee, he was set on the task of sending a letter to legislators Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) and Rob Swearingen (R-Rhinelander) to determine what their stance was on the bill. 

The bill, Wirt said, was being pushed through with a group of other bills, but then was left as a stand alone bill as the others continued to be pushed through. He said it was floundering a bit, but the primary opposition in a resolution he was drafting was the lack of local control coupled with the doubling-up of densities of dwellings on riparian properties. In the southern part of the state, Wirt said, the bill was getting pushback from farmers, losing acreage and control as well. 

“From a land and water perspective, you’re going to allow to build another dwelling which is going to double up the septic system, double up the impervious systems, essentially delete everything land and water departments have tried to alleviate, you’re going to allow it to double up, and it’s all going to run into the water,” Wirt said. 

He said the reason people come to Vilas County are the “Three Ls,” lakes, loons and lightning bugs. 

Sadauskas said she would like to follow what is happening with the Vilas County resolution and hearing what Wirt and Vilas County would hear from legislators and would keep the committee informed.

“I understand the need for housing,” committee chair Collette Sorgel said. “But like Karl said, if this is going to be right on water, you’ll get a lot more rent for that.”

“Maybe I’m being overactive or pessimistic,” Jennrich said. “But we do not see people building a second home for affordable housing.”

“Isn’t there already an ordinance in Rhinelander that would prevent that?” committee member Linnaea Newman asked.

“I believe it would override that,” Wirt said. 

“Oh my,” Newman responded. “I’m in shock. I’m just totally shocked.”

PFAS testing

Sorgel asked Eric Rempala of Oneida County Clean Water Action to give a PFAS update and the testing being done now.

“They’re spreading out from Stella,” said Rempala. “They’re trying to figure out if there’s another Stella in Oneida County, and so far, so good.” 

He said the expanded testing area covers Sugar Camp, Pelican, Crescent, Newbold and Pine Lake. Just over 100 people had taken advantage of the free testing by the time of the meeting, he said. But the testing is by invitation only, with the concentration being agricultural areas.

He said municipalities such as Rhinelander should be having money coming to them this year, but there was no money in the budget for private individuals who were not on municipal water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), he said, was providing the money for the sampling for 400 private wells. The tests run somewhere from $300 to $500 each. 

While the Department of Natural Resources sent a large number of invitations to private well owners to have their wells tested, Rempala said, only 100 had come forward to have tests done. Should the EPA money go away at some point, he said, that would negate the ability of those wells to be tested. 

Rempala told the committee he hoped the DNR would be putting together a map of that expanded testing area, much like the map of Stella. He said people need to know those levels in order to make their own decisions about testing.

Aquatic Invasive Species

Aquatic Invasive Species coordinator Stephanie Boismenue spoke to the committee about a project going on at the Lake Tomahawk boat landing. The project, looking to decide what kind of decontamination unit would be best for the boat landing on the lake, was initiated by lake association member Jim Kavameier. 

Boismenue said Kavameier had worked closely with her and the Town of Lake Tomahawk on this project, which she said was his “brain child.” A great deal of time was spent studying boat traffic at the landing, boat prep areas and what might work best at that particular landing.

“With that, we determined that the best thing for that long, narrow boat landing, at least for now, would be to have these boat and trailer cleaning stations that would be located at each of the three boat pull off areas,” she said. 

Each station, she said, would include educational signage as well as a weed-grabber tool and a boat brush. Next to each sign will be a plant disposal area. With the amount of vegetation that washes up into the landing in Lake Tomahawk, this added feature was seen as an important feature.  

The plant disposal bins will be installed in the spring, Boismenue told the committee, and signage had already been installed. There will also be a “Clean in, Clean out” pavement stencil completed next year and will be in five different locations at the landing.

Little Rice town road resolution

Also in front of the committee was a resolution by the town of Little Rice to discontinue a portion of Gobbler Lake Road as well as a portion of Kelly Fire Lane, both of which are located on county forest property. Sadauskas called this an “FYI” item, unless the committee wanted to send a letter of concern to the town over the matter. 

The expense of keeping up the road, with little tax base, had become an issue, and had asked the forestry department to supply the gravel for upkeep of the road, according to supervisor Chris Schultz, who sits on both committees, but the forestry department was unable to do so, as their budget is limited as well, he said. 

The committee did not have any specific concerns with the discontinuation and no action was taken. 

Lake classification update

JoAnn Lund from the land and water conservation department updated the committee on the Lake Classification System, which the department completed at the end of 2025. All of the named lakes in the county were grouped into categories based on several factors including size, depth and other characteristics such as land use, public access, current aquatic invasive species in the lake and placement in the watershed. 

Lund said there were two main documents on the department website (oclw.org) available for anyone who was interested. One of those was the method for classifying lakes. The other was a protection activity guide. This guide can be used by lake organizations and other stakeholders to determine the best practices to protect the health of individual lakes, based on their classification and each risk factor.

“We have a big thank you for you,” said Newman. “This was a grueling project and I highly respect your dedication to completing it, because it was not always easy.” 

Newman said it was important to celebrate the wins, and said Lund had taken the enhanced wake recommendation from the committee and worked it in as part of the lake classification plan and presented Lund with a token of their appreciation in the form of a live plant arrangement including an orchid.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].