One-time event ordinance still in draft mode

By Jennifer Eisenbart

      The Walworth County ordinance for one-time events is still in flux, as a proposed amendment did not get full feedback from area municipalities.

      The item was on the agenda again for the Aug. 18 meeting of the County Zoning Authority, with some questions still in the air.

      The ordinance change, discussed last in May, would allow for permits to be issued by the local township.

      At the May meeting, Matt Weidensee, the senior planner for land use and management in the county, requested to move forward only with events on public property.

      He also added that the ordinance would be tailored to only allow the events in townships that wanted the events, since some townships have indicated they have no interest in allowing events.

      Since then, the county has reached out to towns for feedback one final time.

      “Give us their feedback again, so they had another chance to kick it around,” said Nick Sigmund, the county’s senior zoning officer.

      He said the county heard back from three towns. East Troy, in general, approved of the changes, while Lafayette was neutral. The Town of Richmond asked a handful of questions and got answered, Sigmund said, but hadn’t responded by the meeting.

       “That’s the only feedback we got,” Sigmund said.

      Since the county did not receive all of the feedback in time to get the ordinance change on the August agenda, Sigmund said it would be placed on the September agenda for the CZA.

      In other business:

      • A rezone for The Village Supper Club was approved for a rezone from R-2A single family residential to B-3 waterfront business district.

      The rezone drew only one positive comment and no negative comments at the CZA hearing, following the Town of Delavan’s rezone of the property.

      Rezone requests from the Shodeen Family Property Co. for new boundaries for high water on Lake Petite, and for Glen and Miiri Kotche to rezone about a half acre of property R-1 single family residential were both approved.

      • The CZA was set for a one-year review about the Zenda Tap’s plan for outdoor events; however, since the Town of Linn gave a number of different conditions for the business to continue its special events – among them a revised parking plan – that had not been acted on, there was no action on the review.

      • The CZA gave a unanimous approval to North by Northwest Storage for a condominium storage preliminary plat for 34 units in the Town of Delavan.

      Like housing condominiums, the storage units are purchasable versus rentable.

      Sigmund said a number of questions still need to be resolved, including the placement of offices for the condos and an entrance off Highway 50 that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has approved.

      Warren Hansen of Farris Hansen and Associates in Elkhorn said that the draft is currently being finalized and expected all questions to be addressed by the first week of September.

He asked the CZA to approve the preliminary plat to avoid another delay, which the CZA did, following staff recommendations.

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