Sawyer County zoning committee approves several rezonings and CUPs, denies contested Bass Lake rezone

The Sawyer County Zoning Committee on Jan. 7 considered a slate of rezone petitions and conditional use permits and approved most items presented while denying one controversial industrial rezone in Bass Lake.

The committee voted to recommend approval of Rezone 26-001 (Meadowbrook) — a request to rezone about 5.72 acres from Forestry 1 to Agricultural 1 for hobby-farm use — subject to the condition that the change not take effect until the Town Board acts. The applicant, Robert Thompson, represented the owners and confirmed the parcel is intended for a small hobby farm.

Two larger agricultural rezonings were also recommended: Rezone 26-004 (Meadowbrook), a 37.47-acre conversion from Forestry 1 to Agricultural 1 to return the parcel to farm use, was recommended for approval with effectiveness upon Town Board ratification.

The committee denied Rezone 26-005 (Bass Lake), a request to rezone roughly 8.32 acres from Residential Recreational 2 to Industrial 1 for a storage/distribution facility. Neighbors and the Town Board had opposed the petition; Scott Schultz of Bass Lake described the proposal as "a classic case of spot zoning" and raised property-value and local well-water concerns. Committee members adopted the town's findings of fact and the motion to deny carried on a roll-call vote.

On conditional use permits, the committee approved CUP 26-001 (Bass Lake) for an accessory structure on vacant land with staff-recommended conditions: a land-use permit for the accessory structure within one year, a principal-structure land-use permit applied for within three years, caps on size and height, prohibition on habitable living space and commercial use, and a requirement that property taxes be current. The committee also added an owner-specific condition (the CUP to run with the owner and not the land) after neighbor requests and with the applicant's assent.

CUP 26-002, an after-the-fact request for a 160-square-foot shed on vacant land, was approved with similar timing conditions and a waiver of the after-the-fact fee.

The committee also approved a certified survey map for Joseph Larson that reconfigures four parcels into two and approved findings and motions accordingly.

What happens next: Rezone approvals that were conditioned on town action will not take effect until the relevant town boards act; CUPs include explicit timelines and enforcement language in the committee's motion. The committee took no final county-board-level action in this meeting; recommended rezonings and CUP decisions will be forwarded as applicable.