MINOCQUA – After amending the site plan, Kirk Bangstad now has the Minocqua town board’s recommendation for the county to issue an administrative review permit that he needs to open a craft brewery retail outlet in downtown Minocqua.
Bangstad wants to remodel the former Z-Best Bike Shop at the corner of Chippewa and Front streets so he can sell his Minocqua Brewing Company craft beer and merchandise at that store front.
But he had run up against the county zoning code that says he needed seven on-premise parking stalls for staff and customers. Earlier site plans showed only four parking stalls. He wanted the town to waive the full seven, but the board was reluctant to do so.
Tuesday, Bangstad’s architect, Christopher Naumann, brought a revised plan that showed six on-site parking spaces. County zoning director Karl Jennrich indicated the county code does allow “some wiggle room” on parking requirements in heavily-developed downtowns such as the Island of Minocqua and Three Lakes.
That satisfied a majority of the town board, which attached several requests for the county to consider before issuing the permit.
Among them is one that requires the six parking spaces to be at least nine feet wide and 20 feet in depth. The owner also has to submit a storm water abatement plan, sign a revocable access permit to cross the town’s right-of-way, and to stipulate to one-way traffic through the parking lot.
In addition, he will not be allowed to have outside sales or tables for customers. The town’s attorney was directed to have a title company determine the actual ownership of a small, “porkchop” shaped piece of property between the business and Chippewa Street.
Naumann indicated the requirements would not pose an issue for the owner. Afterwards, he affirmed that early plans to have a beer garden sometime in the future are no longer being pursued. As town chairman Mark Hartzheim noted, all the available outside space on that site has been consumed by the parking requirements.
In the only other notable action that night, the board took up a suggestion to enact an ordinance that would impose a fee for commercial enterprises engaged in putting in and taking out boats and related lifts and docks using town-owned boat launches. The permit would not pertain to those launches owned by the state Department of Natural Resources and the Wisconsin Valley Improvement Corporation that are on the Minocqua Chain of Lakes.
The matter will return to the town board in January. Although a $200 annual fee was brought up, it’s not certain that will be the amount if the board decides to enact such an ordinance.
