Council Rezones Two Lots In Prep For Two New Developments

The Sturgeon Bay Common Council gave final approval March 19, to a couple of rezonings, one where boat-house motor condos will be built, the other where a drive-thru coffee shop is proposed.

The first rezoning – where the construction of 15 part residential/part storage condominiums has been proposed – is a vacant, triangular-shaped parcel at the southeast corner of Utah Street and 18th Avenue that the council agreed to change from single-family residential (R-1) to two-family residential (R-3), 

Ryan Polzin of Peshtigo, has an option to purchase the 2.78-acre site. City planner/zoning administrator Stephanie Servia said the site would also require a conditional use permit to allow for multi-family use.

The second rezoning happened for a parking lot along Alabama Street across from the Nightingale Supper Club in Sturgeon Bay, where a drive-thru coffee and breakfast shop is planned. The council changed that zoning from agricultural (A) to general commercial (C-1).

Nightingale owners John and Farrah Heikkila requested the rezoning for the .81-acre lot, which is now used for the supper club’s overflow parking and as a bus pickup and dropoff for the Sevastopol School District. They said the lot would still be available for those purposes upon the Morning Dove coffee shop being built there.

City planner/zoning administrator Stephanie Servia said the project would also need approval of the city’s Aesthetic Design and Site Plan Review Board.

Rezoning For Strip Mall, Drive-Thrus On Way To Council

Sturgeon Bay’s Plan Commission recommended March 20 that property at the corner of South Columbia Avenue and Green Bay Road, where two new drive-thru restaurants and an eight-tenant strip mall with drive-thru access have been proposed, be rezoned from Light Industrial (I-1) to General Commercial (C-1).

The site that Neil Borkan of the Albor Restaurant Group in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, is looking to purchase includes a 3.69-acre vacant parcel, which would be developed for the three buildings, and another .93-acre parcel with a pond that would be used for stormwater retention as well as a buffer between the roadway and the development.

Mario Valentini of MRV Architects, who appeared remotely representing Borkan, said in addition to one of the restaurants being a Taco Bell, which would be moving from its current west-side location on the other side of state Highway 42/57, another party has expressed an interest in either occupying the other restaurant or a portion of the strip mall.

“There’s a lot of interest in the property as we continue moving forward with our client,” he said.

The commission’s recommendation is being forwarded to the Common Council for consideration April 2 when the first of two readings of an ordinance to rezone the property is planned.