Oneida County board of adjustment upholds zoning department permit decision

The Oneida County board of adjustment (BOA) on May 14 upheld a decision by the Oneida County planning and zoning department to issue a home occupation permit to Minocqua resident David Hermes.

He’d received the permit in February but some property owners objected and one of them, William Bennewitz, filed an appeal of the zoning department’s decision. 

BOA members on the morning of May 14 toured the Hermes property on Wildwood Road and the surrounding area in Minocqua and reconvened that afternoon at the Oneida County courthouse in Rhinelander.

Over the course of a public hearing lasting an hour and 15 minutes, both sides gave testimony, Bennewitz and his wife Wendy, while making sure to let BOA members know they have no problem with someone trying to make a living, provided a timeline and a list of equipment they said Hermes kept at his property such as boat trailers, a flatbed tandem axle trailer, a Kubota mowing tractor, Kubota backhoe tractor attachment and attachments for a John Deere compact utility tractor. 

There were also photos of the John Deere being driven to and from the Hermes property “for business” and stored, along with other equipment, “multiple neighboring properties.”

There were other photos that showed pickup trucks with enclosed trailers and one photo of a pickup truck with a John Deere compact utility tractor intended to prove the Bennewitz’s point that “traffic exceeds normal use” and was a violation of the Oneida County zoning ordinance. 

Hermes acknowledged being a contractor but also countered the Bennewitz’s by testifying the work he does is at other locations and not at his home. 

He also told the BOA if he wasn’t the one who was going up and down Wildwood Road, there would be other contractors from outside the area. 

Also at the hearing were Karl Jennrich, head of the county’s planning and zoning department and Scott Ridderbusch, a land use specialist with the department; both supported the decision to issue the permit, Jennrich telling BOA chairman Guy Hansen that essentially, it was up to the BOA to make the decision the permit was issued in error. 

Ultimately, the planning and zoning department decision to issue the permit was upheld by the BOA with a 3 to 1 vote, Hansen the dissenter.

“I will vote no,” he said. “I do think there’s more business going on than intended but we uphold the county’s decision.”

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].