City Considering Residential Zoning Revisions

The Sturgeon Bay Plan Commission will review revisions to the city’s residential zoning districts at its next meeting, Dec. 21.

The changes under consideration would reduce minimum lot widths and minimum lot size requirements for single-family dwellings in R-2 and R-3 districts, and reduce the minimum square footage in the R-1 district to allow for smaller homes.

The possible revisions arose from the commission’s Nov. 30 discussion when Community Development Director Marty Olejniczak presented the commission with revisions to the zoning code as requested by the commission at a previous meeting. 

“I don’t think these standards are all that radical,” Olejniczak said. “I think they might move the needle a little bit, and they probably will make a few existing non-conforming properties conforming.”

Olejniczak said many of the city’s R-2 and R-3 residential zoning districts were developed before the city’s zoning code took effect and included lots 50 feet wide, not the 70-foot minimum width currently required.

“Many of these neighborhoods [with 50-foot wide lots] are perfectly fine, with nice homes, bigger homes even,” he said.

Olejniczak said the proposed revisions would reduce the minimum lot width from 70 to 50 feet for single-family dwellings in R-2 and R-3 districts, though a minimum of 7,500 square feet for a lot would still be required.

Commission member Jeff Norland suggested reducing the minimum lot square footage, not just the lot width.

“I think [a narrower minimum lot width] makes sense, but I don’t think affordability-wise it’s going to change anything,” he said.

Commission member Debbie Kiedrowski suggested reducing the minimum required square footage for a house in an R-1 district.

“In the R-1 [district, a minimum of] 1,400 square feet, that’s a fairly sizable house,” she said. “I wonder if we would want to think about – and again it’s affordability – maybe [reducing the minimum to] 1,200 square feet.”

Mayor David Ward said the commission should consider an option for reducing the minimum floor area to 1,200 square feet for a single-family home in an R-1 district.

“I tend to agree with Deb, but I grew up in an era where 1,200 [square feet] was a pretty big house, actually,” he said. “Everything that I see says to me that we have gotten to the McMansion stage, and we seem to be turning around and heading back.”

The commission is expected to review the revisions for a vote Dec. 21.