Sister Bay Village Hall Discussion Aug. 30

Sister Bay’s Village Hall, built in 1941, hosts about seven events each year, including the first two editions of Northern Door Pride. The village’s plan commission said the building’s time as a useful structure on valuable village land is over. Photo by Myles Dannhausen Jr.

Discussion about the future of the Sister Bay Village Hall will move to the Parks, Properties and Streets Committee meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 30. 

In July, the plan commission reached consensus that it did not want to spend money to modernize and renovate the building located in the center of Waterfront Park. For nearly 20 years, the village has used the fire station on Mill Road as its primary meeting space, and the hall, built in 1941, hosts fewer than 10 events each year. 

But many residents would like to see the hall retained or renovated.

Plan commission chair and village trustee Denise Bhirdo encouraged residents to provide input at the parks meeting and said the village will also schedule an evening session of the parks committee to collect more feedback. To join the conversation Tuesday, join the meeting at 8 am here>>

Food Truck Hearing

The commission did not make a decision regarding a proposed food truck ordinance, instead tabling the item to gather more feedback and suggestions from food truck operators who said the ordinance was too restrictive. 

The ordinance would allow “mobile food-vendor courts” in the B-1 district as a conditional use. 

Matthew and Marianne Peterson, and Chris and Melanie Church, owners of Great Lakes BBQ Company, wrote in a letter to the village that the proposed rules would be nearly impossible to adhere to. 

“It is obvious that the intention from the plan commission is to make sure the process is so difficult that no food truck would want to pursue conducting business within the village limits,” they wrote. 

Prior to the meeting, Bhirdo received correspondence from the Churches and Petersons with suggestions for changes to the ordinance, but the rest of the commission had yet to see it. Bhirdo recommended the commission table the ordinance until its September meeting to give the commission time to review those suggestions and make changes if appropriate. 

The plan commission is expected to take up the issue again during its Sept. 27 meeting. 

Luna View Condo Plan Approved

Al Gokey received approval for a 15-unit hotel/condominium project proposed for the corner of Mill Road and Maple Drive, behind the Sister Bay Yacht Club.

Gokey made several changes to the plan after the commission denied approval of a conditional-use permit for the proposal during its July meeting. Those changes included several details to bring the project in alignment with the village’s architectural guidelines, including adding grills to windows, contrasting trim and cedar porches.

The commission had previously asked to reduce the height of the building. Gokey revised it to eliminate a floor, bringing the height down to 45 feet.

Chad Billings of Sister Bluff Estates, which is located on the bluff directly above the site, expressed concerns about digging or blasting into the escarpment. 

“That whole first floor will now be excavated, so there’s more material being removed from the bluff,” Billings said. 

Billings questioned what that would mean for the stability of the property above the bluff. Village president and plan commissioner Rob Zoschke said he witnessed the erosion of the rocky bluff first-hand as a manager at the adjacent Sister Bay Yacht Club, where pieces near a portion of the bluff that were disrupted during construction have fallen. 

“Anyone from Sister Bluff Estates who has looked down from their place will be able to confirm the annual crumbling away of the bedrock wall behind that building,” Zoschke said. “Any kind of digging into that bluff is going to cause the same type of a condition.”

Gokey’s plan calls for a retaining wall to secure falling rocks, but Zoschke said that will protect the condo, not the land above.

The commission approved Gokey’s plan with three primary conditions: that blasting not be used in excavation, that a geotechnic study be conducted to confirm the stability of the bluff, and that one nonconforming bedroom in the plan be converted into an office.

Commissioners Zoschke and Bhirdo voted no. Both cited architectural control, and Zoschke added that he didn’t believe it was safe to dig into the bluff. 

Noise Ordinance Moves to Public Hearing

The commission had a lengthy discussion about updates to village noise ordinances that regulate the volume and times of activities that take place later in the evening in the village. 

When village administrator Julie Schmelzer began her job in June, she said she quickly realized there were many inconsistencies in the village’s approach to noise regulations. 

“If you signed a liquor-license agreement, you have different rules than someone who signed a development agreement, or who didn’t need a development agreement,” Schmelzer said. “The staff encourages consistency.”

In 2015, then–village president Dave Lienau reached an agreement with downtown liquor-license holders that allowed them to host outdoor entertainment until 11 pm with no decibel restriction, but other businesses were limited to entertainment up to 85 decibels and only until 10 pm. Beyond that, some properties entered into development agreements with the village that had other noise rules. 

The commission instructed the staff to schedule a public hearing on the ordinance and to send a letter to affected business owners outlining what the changes would mean to business operations in advance of the hearing. 

“I don’t want to have people coming in and saying they had no idea this was happening,” Bhirdo said. 

Shadow, Boathouse Status Clarified

Russ Forkert and Mike Kahr appeared before the commission seeking clarity on the village’s intentions regarding the former Al Johnson’s Boathouse on the waterfront. Kahr and Forkert have been working on plans for improvements to the boathouse so it can be used as the home of the Shadow – the 26-foot Chris Craft boat once owned by the late Jack Bunda and now owned by the Sister Bay Historical Society.

Kahr said a grant has been secured to fix the dock in front of the boathouse, but that grant will expire soon if the village doesn’t give them the go-ahead to repair the dock. 

“Ultimately what we have to do is more fundraising,” Kahr said. “We have a grant. The dock is falling apart.”

Kahr said that grant isn’t enough to cover the full cost of the repairs needed on the dock, however, and the marina committee does not have the funds to complete it. He said he has a meeting scheduled with the Department of Natural Resources to determine what it can do with the dock.

The commission discussed whether the boathouse should be turned into a small maritime museum or continue to be used as a rental. The apartment upstairs is currently rented to Tim Halbrook on a three-year lease. 

The commission recommended to the village board that the village stop renting the second-story apartment and move forward with renovations to the lower portion and relocating the Shadow.