Minutes of the Public Hearing of the Plan Commission Held
On Thursday, March 19, 2015 Pursuant to Notice Duly Given
Mayor Bostedt called the public hearing to order at 4:00 p.m.
Present at the public hearing were Mayor Bostedt, Jeremy Wusterbarth, Robert Le Breck, Bob Bake,
John Matravers, Kevin Hamann (County Administrative Coordinator), Jack Mlnarik, Pete O’Connor,
Al Schreiber, representatives from Potter Lawson and the Samuels Group and other interested
parties.
Hamann and representatives from the County’s consultants presented the design and layout of the
proposed law enforcement center. Le Breck questioned the amount of parking. There will be
enough spaces for now, but what will happen if a pod is added to the building? Hamann explained
that additional parking would have to be acquired at that time.
Bill Kuchta, 135 Washington Street, asked if the County will be purchasing the USDA building.
Hamann explained that it will be acquired on June 1 and will be used for parking. Ron from Potter
Lawson stated that there will be fencing around the area at that time.
John Wittkopf, 165 Mott Street, asked about the dimensions of the building and how far it will be
from the road and if there will be sidewalks. Hamann said that there will be sidewalks on three
sides of the building and Adams Street will be closed. Mlnarik stated that it meet all of the required
setbacks.
Rob Lane, 617 Main Street asked if the County is purchasing the Holy Trinity parking lot. Hamann
explained that they will actually be leasing the lot for 50 years and the cost of the lease will be the
expense of putting in a new parking lot for the church. Lane questioned what would happen if there
were to be a funeral at Holy Trinity and a lot of people needed to park there. Hamann explained
that Holy Trinity can have exclusive use of the lot for up to two days in a row with 48 hours notice.
This will really be just an overflow lot for the County and there will still be more than 100 additional
spots available for the public. Wittkopf asked if the employees will be required to park in the lots
and not on the street. Hamann said that it is up to the City to enforce the two hour parking laws,
but there will be an additional 95 stalls in the new lot for employees and the public to get the
current building.
Bake asked about pilings. The Samuels group researched this and they are heading toward ramp
aggregate piers.
Le Breck asked if there would be a second story on the building. Kevin Anderson, from Potter
Lawson, explained that the majority of the building will be one story, but there will be two stories in
the pod and a penthouse for the building equipment. There are height restrictions of 35 feet per
City ordinance.
Mayor Bostedt asked three times for additional comments. None were received. The public hearing
was closed at 4:16 p.m.
Minutes of the Meeting of the Plan Commission Held
On Thursday, March 19, 2015 Pursuant to Notice Duly Given
1. Meeting called to order by Chairperson Bostedt at 4:17 p.m.
2. Roll Call: same as above. Excused: Mike Werner and John Bostedt
3. Approval of Agenda
Moved by Bake, seconded by Matravers to approve the agenda as presented.
M/C
4. Approval of Minutes from 01/12/2015 and 01/28/2015 meetings.
Le Breck pointed out that the minutes indicate that he was excused early from the January 28
meeting, but it was actually Bake who was excused. Perrizo will make the correction.
Moved by Matravers, seconded by Le Breck to approve the minutes as corrected.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote.
5 ayes
5. Correspondence/Public Input
None.
6. Discussion/Possible Recommendation on:
a. Request from Oconto County for Conditional Use Permit to Construct a Governmental
Building (Law Enforcement Center) on Property Zoned Downtown Commercial
Perrizo explained that the decision of the Plan Commission is final unless it is appealed
to the City Council.
Moved by Wusterbarth, seconded by Le Breck to approve the request from Oconto
County for a Conditional Use Permit to construct a governmental building (Law
Enforcement Center) on property zoned downtown commercial.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote.
5 ayes
b. Certified Survey Map for Sebero Property in the Town of Oconto under Extraterritorial
Jurisdiction
Wusterbarth and Perrizo both reviewed the map and are fine with it. The owner is
combining two lots into one.
Moved by Le Breck, seconded by Wusterbarth to approve the certified survey map for
Sebero property in the Town of Oconto under extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote.
5 ayes
c. Proposed Changes to City-Wide Zoning Map
Wusterbarth explained that there are a lot of issues and questions with the zoning in the
City, so he, Mlnarik and Perrizo went through the map in detail and are recommending
changes. Wusterbarth is also working with the County to get the zoning online.
The following changes to the zoning map are recommended:
1. Pecor Street – currently, Pecor is zoned downtown commercial (CD) where
it meets Park Avenue. Those parcels should be zoned R1 (single family
residential), the property to the west of there should remain CD and the
Cain, Nelson and Hayes buildings should be IL (light industrial). After that, it
should be CD all the way to Superior Avenue. Mayor Bostedt questioned
the buildings in the IL area and stated that there isn’t much going on there
now. Should we promote that area as part of downtown? Wusterbarth
stated that the Cain property was used in an industrial capacity and that IL is
the current zoning. If someone wanted to put a commercial business in one
of these buildings, they could apply for a conditional use permit under the IL
zoning. The Commission agreed with Wusterbarth’s recommendations.
2. Mookie’s Pub and Bayshore Books should be changed to CD. Mlnarik stated
that Mookie’s has always operated under a conditional use permit, but it is
better to change the zoning. Schreiber commented that conditional use
permits are only for the current owners. He also questioned the zoning
along School Street and Michigan Ave – it is currently CD, but there are
homes there. Wusterbarth is recommending a change to R1 for those
parcels. The Commission agreed with these recommendations.
3. The property located across from the Monument Company on Chicago
Street was purchased by Brian Vanden Langenberg, who owns the
Monument Company. Within one year, he plans to move the Monument
Company to that location, so it would be wise to keep the current
Monument Company building zoned R1 and change the zoning of the
property across the street to CD. The Commission agreed.
4. The Golf Course is zoned recreational, which is fine, but the recreational
zoning goes all the way to the buildable lots off of Jackson Street. These
should be changed to R1. Also, Wusterbarth recommends cleaning up the
highway commercial (CH) zoning on Brazeau and Smith so that the lots have
the same zoning throughout instead of being split in the middle. Le Breck
stated that there are homes along Smith and Brazeau and people would
need a variance to rebuild them if they were to be destroyed. Also,
insurance may be hard to obtain because of this. Schreiber commented
that he never had a problem getting insurance on his home in a CD district.
Wusterbarth would hope that the City would grant a variance for rebuilding.
The Commission agrees with these recommendations.
5. There are homes on West Mott Street where the back half of the lots are
zoned conservancy (CI). These should all be zoned R1. Also, there is a
section there that is wooded which is zoned part CI and part rural
development (RD). This should be zoned all CI. The property next to the
wooded area has three zonings – CH, CI and RD. Schreiber suggested
cleaning this up by making it all RD. Wusterbarth agreed, stating that the
property can be RD in the back and CH in the front for the Hall Title building.
The Commission agreed with these recommendations.
6. The zoning on Mott Street from West Avenue east is currently R1 and to the
north, the zoning is general industrial (IG). Even though there is one home
still there, if someone wants to come in to use any of this property for
business, it would fall under IG. Rob Lane would like to keep his property
zoned CH. This area was supposed to be a commercial corridor for the City
and he was told that his business was grandfathered in. The City already
lost a chunk of CH and he doesn’t think it is prudent to take away more as
there is very little commercial property on that highway. Perrizo explained
that the IG zoning is broader and allows most commercial uses with a
conditional use permit. Discussion ensued regarding the zoning of these
parcels and Lane stated that he would accept the IG zoning as long as it
doesn’t harm him. The Commission agreed to zoning this area all IG.
7. The property to the south of the apartments on Van Hecke Avenue is zoned
R3 (multi-family residential), but should be CH. Also, the area south of the
bypass where there are wetlands owned by the DOT should be changed to
conservancy. The 20 acres that the City owns on Sandhill Court should be
IG. The Commission agreed with these recommendations.
8. The area by the Harbor where the docks are is zoned residential, but should
be recreational (REC). Also, the front of the lots next to the Harbor are
zoned CI and the back of those lots is zoned R1. The proposal is to change it
all to R1. Mayor Bostedt said that this is a beautiful area and questioned if
we want it to be changed. Wusterbarth explained that these are wetlands
and the DNR won’t allow construction there anyway. The Commission
agreed with the recommendation of R1 zoning.
9. The City Docks are zoned REC except for the privately owned land there
which has a home on it. This should be zoned R1. The Commission agreed.
10. Hi-Seas Marine is currently zoned REC, but should be CG. The Commission
agreed.
11. The apartments on Collins Avenue, by the bridge, are zoned R3, but so is the
rest of the property all the way to Hart. Only the apartments should be R3
and the remainder should be R1. The Commission agreed.
Moved by Bake, seconded by Matravers to approve the recommended changes as
listed above.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote.
5 ayes
d. Additions to Declarations of Protective Covenants in Highway Commercial and General
Industrial Districts and Set Deadlines to Meet Requirements
Wusterbarth reiterated that these requirements were not enforced by the previous
Building Inspector. We have to decide what to do as there are issues with gravel parking
lots, lack of fencing and junk on properties. Also, buildings are not supposed to have
steel siding and should be at least 50% brick. Any new buildings should be required to
follow these covenants.
Mayor Bostedt asked: What is the minimum we want to see? Wusterbarth suggested
starting small by sending copies of all of the covenants to the property owners. We
could give six months to make the small changes and then go from there. He asked the
Commission members to review the covenants and highlight the changes that they feel
should be done within six months.
Matravers stated that there should also be a timeframe on the major changes. He
suggested two years. Wusterbarth agreed and reiterated that he would like the
Commission to determine which changes should be done within six months and which
within two years. Le Breck said that we can start enforcing the clean up now.
Wusterbarth will follow up with the Police Department on that.
7. Adjourn
Moved by Bake, seconded by Le Breck to adjourn.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote.
Meeting adjourned at 5:56 p.m.
5 ayes
Respectfully Submitted:
Sara J. Perrizo, CPA
Administrator