An Oneida County panel has denied a request by an Eagle River developer to build a 9-unit hotel near Minocqua’s downtown.
The 4-1 decision by the Oneida County planning and development committee on Wednesday largely turned on concerns about a perceived lack of adequate parking space for guests, as well as safety issues on adjoining U.S. Highway 51.
Those parking concerns saw the Minocqua town board and its plan commission in multiple meetings earlier to recommend denial of the conditional use permit (CUP) that developer Glenn Schiffmann needs to proceed with his plans.
Schiffmann and his agent, James Rein, Jr., made their case Wednesday in Minocqua, where the group toured the proposed development site before adjourning to the town boardroom for deliberations.
There, town chairman Mark Hartzheim laid out the town’s reasons for denying the CUP. Hartzheim said the developer’s hotel would be “overbuilt” on the two parcels (the former Mom’s Laundromat and Bay View Inn) under consideration.
The town would undoubtedly field future complaints about guests or single-unit owners violating parking restrictions and backing trailers onto U.S. Highway 51 in face of oncoming traffic, he said.
The proposed hotel with 23 bedrooms is a departure of what people typically view as being a hotel, he said. The expanded floor plan, including kitchenette and walk-in closets, lends itself to multiple parties staying in a single unit. Instead of one vehicle per unit, there could be multiple vehicles, he said.
“You could end up with 60 to 80 people staying there,” he said later. “You would have to stick your head in the sand not to see the (future) problems.” Nor does the site plan accommodate storage sheds, fire rings and other amenities that owners and guests of an extended stay unit would surely want, he said.
The town board had asked the developer to consider a 6-unit hotel to allow more parking spaces. But Schiffmann, president of GPS II, Inc., says a smaller project won’t work financially.
In anticipation of the future problems, the town has placed no parking signs along Lakeview Drive, which lies between the property and Lake Minocqua.
Scott Holewinski voted against denying Schiffmann’s request.
The developer responds
Reached the following day for his next step, Schiffmann told this reporter, “Nothing. There are no other plans. The town is welcomed to look at a couple holes in the ground.” His reference is to the excavated ground left when the two businesses were demolished.
Nor is he planning to pursue an appeal to the board of adjustment. “Who needs the hassle,” he said. “Why build it in a community that doesn’t want it.” He pointed to several of his other developments, saying, “Everyone of them is successful.”
He was upset that it took 11 months for a final decision, in addition to the “tens of thousands of dollars” spent in preparing the plans and for the CUP submittal process.
“We meet all the criteria for the county (zoning code) to be awarded the conditional use permit,” he said. “It’s a challenging piece (of property). We are just trying to make a development that’s going to work.” It didn’t help the front parking layout when the state Department of Transportation required a single ingress/egress, he added.
As to the concern about 23 bedrooms, he pointed out the former Bay View Inn had 11 rooms. The former Laundromat parcel would have allowed 10 more.
He has not yet talked with Tryge (Trig) Solberg, the owner of the property, as what he wants to do with the property or an appeal to the board of adjustment. They have 30 days in which to file an appeal.
