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Hearing Set to Consider Rezoning Behind Starbucks

A public hearing has been set for Dec. 21 before Sturgeon Bay’s Plan Commission to consider rezoning the area where a house is located behind a three-unit commercial building being constructed at the southwest corner of Highway 42/57 and Duluth Avenue (County S).

Community Development Director Marty Olejniczak informed the commission at its Nov. 30 meeting that the 15,857-square-foot lot with an existing house was created in a certified survey map that split the former Woldt’s Corner parcel, also creating a 47,781-square-foot lot to the north where the new commercial building will house a Starbucks, a Door County Medical Center clinic and an AT&T retail store.

The south part of the property had cottages that were removed when the new development started. The home that remains qualifies as a single-family dwelling under the city code and Richard Robinson, agent for 911 Green Bay Road Partners and developer of the commercial building, wants to sell the house. But Olejniczak said it’s not allowed in a district zoned General Commercial (C-1).

“As a stand-alone building, it suddenly would become non-conforming,” Olejniczak said. “That’s not the best thing in the world, so they’re hoping to get it rezoned to make that a conforming use.”

Olejniczak said Mixed Commercial-Residential (C-5) zoning would allow the house to be used as a single-family residence.

“In terms of the surrounding area, it is commercially zoned in this area, but there is an existing C-5 Mixed Commercial-Residential [area] right across the street,” he said. “There’s another single-family home in that area, and there’s another segment of C-5 just to the south on Duluth Avenue as well.”

Though the former Woldt’s Corner property was designated in the city’s comprehensive plan as part of the Regional Commercial corridor, with property to the south designated as Neighborhood Mixed Use, Olejniczak said it is his opinion the rezoning would not conflict with the city’s comprehensive plan.

“If you guys [on the Plan Commission] have some uneasiness about that, you certainly could initiate a comprehensive amendment at the same time as the rezoning,” he said.

State law requires the city’s zoning decisions to be consistent with the comprehensive plan.

The development plans for the three-unit commercial building on the lot adjacent to the house call for the Starbucks to occupy 2,460 square feet of building space, along with a drive-through window and an outdoor patio; Door County Medical Center to have a 1,700-square-foot clinic; and AT&T to have a 1,400-square-foot retail store.

The commercial building is scheduled to be completed next spring.

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