This Week in Door County

The Town of Egg Harbor rejected Dollar General’s proposal to build a location at the corner of Highway 42 and Hillside Road. Photo by Myles Dannhausen Jr.

There’s a lot on tap for Door County this week, and it starts tonight with a live update on the local vaccine distribution status from Door County Medical Center. Dr. Jim Heise and CEO Brian Stephens will take questions about vaccinations in a Facebook Live session tonight at 6 pm. 

On Tuesday Gibraltar’s Plan Commission will take up the short-term rental ordinance discussion that has become an increasingly hot topic in communities throughout the peninsula as boards try to wrap their arms around the impact of vacation rental sites like AirBNB and VRBO. The Town of Liberty Grove Plan Commission will take up the topic Wednesday at its meeting, which starts at 7 pm. 

Sister Bay’s Plan Commission also meets Tuesday, beginning at 5:30 pm, to discuss a host of Conditional Use Permit applications. Most controversial among them is the application by Lance and Bridget Crane to construct a condominium development on the former Little Sister Resort and Fred and Fuzzy’s restaurant property. The village placed a moratorium on new CUP applications last week so the commission could revisit its zoning code to deal with them.

The Town of Gibraltar’s board may get an earful Wednesday during a special meeting where it will discuss  the special assessments the town plans on using to pay for the sidewalks and street lights that were completed last year as part of the Highway 42 reconstruction. 

Finally, on Thursday the Town of Egg Harbor hosts a public hearing about a proposed Dollar General store. That store would be built on the corner of Highway 42 and Hillside Road, next door to the Egg Harbor Fun Park. It is the second attempt by Dollar General to enter the northern Door County market. The retailer, which as come under scrutiny nationwide for its business practices, was rebuffed by the Village of Sister Bay in 2019, when developers tried to use some shaky math to avoid meeting the village’s green space requirements. Interested citizens may attend and comment at the hearing by zoom or phone only.

DOOR LENS