By Tracy Ouellette and Bridget Bartal
SLN staff
The Town of East Troy Board denied a local developer’s conditional use permit to build 27 senior living apartments on Lake Beulah the Aug. 20 meeting.
The Leeshore Senior Apartment Homes project on the Lindey’s site has been tossed between the Plan Commission and Town Board a couple of times since May.
The next morning, Town Board Chairman Joe Klarkowski said the board’s vote is an advisory vote to Walworth County, which would make the final decision on the project.
“While our recommendation is to deny the conditional use, the county could approve it or approve it at a smaller version or outright deny it. They’ll review it and I’m sure they’ll have questions. The project did not comply with the town’s Smart Growth Plan, which has that area as commercial.”
Klarkowski said the developer, John Theisen, has brought this project, or similar projects to the Town Board “many, many times” in the last several years, but one of the main concerns the township has is the density of the living units in an area that doesn’t have sewers.
“It’s like nine times the density of what would normally be allowed on three acres,” Klarkowski said.
He said that while the property in question is zoned B-3, which allows as conditional use retirement or nursing homes, apartments are not allowed.
“I’m sure there will be some discussion at the county level as to the definition of ‘retirement homes,’” Klarkowski said.
He added that the board had other concerns about the project, such as congestion and traffic concerns and additional lake users, the main issue for the board was the number of units proposed for the site.
At the Plan Commission
The Town of East Troy Plan Commission tied on a recommendation about the Leeshore apartments at the Aug. 15 meeting.
Commissioners Barbara Church, Geri Gordon and Rich Denhart were opposed to the project. Church had an issue with how the project came to the commission, saying proper procedure wasn’t followed.
“This project went back door to the community to pressure the county into agreeing to it. The project would also require a change in the Smart Growth plan,” Church said.
In rebuttal, architect Warren Hansen compared the Leeshore project to Dockside, a project, which passed in favor through the committee under similar conditions but was never built.
“We feel this is good use for the site. It’s not like there isn’t a pre-existing building on it. It’s not a pristine hillside we’re tearing up,” Hansen said.
Commissioner Geri Gordon discussed her concerns about the frequency of emptying the sewage, especially because the property is so close to Lake Beulah.
“Anything we do out there is reviewed and approved by the state,” Hansen said.
Only six of the seven commissioners were present at the meeting, with the absence of Plan Commission Chairman Joel Cook.
When it came time to vote on the Leeshore Senior Apartment Homes, three commissioners voted in favor of the proposal and three commissioners voted against it.
The 3-to-3 tie sent the decision to the Town Board.
