By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
The Village of East Troy Plan Commission is recommending the Village Board approve plans to construct a pavilion at Playmore Park after Monday night’s meeting.
Public Works Director Jason Equitz presented the plans for the pavilion on behalf of the Parks and Recreation Department. The proposed 24-by36-foot structure will have a concrete floor and be able to fit several picnic tables under its roof. It will not have electricity or lighting, as the park is a “dawn to dusk” park, Equitz said.
He said the pavilion was expected to cost about $50,000.
The commissioners discussed some of the options Equitz presented them on a roof type and construction material before approving the recommendation to the Village Board for the pavilion with a hip roof made of steel.
When asked why the Park and Rec Department wanted a pavilion at the park, Equitz said it was “mainly for shade.”
“Why not just have trees if it’s just for shade?” Commissioner Erin Seaverson asked.
“Mainly because you can’t put a picnic table under a tree,” Equitz said.
Commission and Village Board member Forty Renucci also pointed out the pavilion would also provide rain coverage.
Renucci also asked Equitz about the splash pad the village has been considering for Playmore Park, saying he was concerned the pavilion would interfere with that should the village move forward with the idea.
Equitz said the proposed location of the pavilion was partly determined by where a splash pad would go so the pavilion wouldn’t be a problem.
“We left a large area for the splash pad,” he told the commissioners.
Short-term rentals
The commissioners discussed limiting the number of times village homeowners could rent out their home as a short-term rental at Monday night’s meeting.
A short-term rental is a rental contract where value (money or barter) in created to rent a property for less than 27 days. This issue has come to the table because of Airbnb and people are taking advantage of the ability to rent their homes to vacationers, Village Administrator Eileen Suhm.
Village Board President Scott Seager said he didn’t want to eliminate someone’s ability to rent out their property, but out of respect to the local hotel, he wanted to limit how many times a homeowner could do this every year to about “three or four.”
Commissioner Roger Hayes said he didn’t like putting limits on how people used their homes, but understood the issue. He said he would like to see the number of times people could do this at six times a year, but admitted he was probably the “minority” on that.
Seager said he felt six was too many because then the property was bordering on being a “rental property.”
The commissioners agree to limit the number of times a homeowner could rent out his property on a short-term rental to four times a year and instructed village staff to draw up an ordinance to reflect that, have it looked at by the village attorney and brought back to the next meeting for their approval before they send it on to the Village Board.
