Timeline of Baileys Harbor Core Expansion Discussion

Aug. 15, 2005

Baileys Harbor adopts its Comprehensive Plan, also referred to as its Smart Growth Plan, which calls for commercial development to “remain within existing commercial areas or contiguous to existing commercial development,” and for the approaches to the downtown core area to remain primarily low- to medium-density single-family residential development with natural roadside vegetation preserved.

Oct. 2005

Mariah Goode, then acting as a consultant to the Town of Baileys Harbor on their Comprehensive Plan, instructs the town that it still needs to set the boundaries of the core area.

Nov. 7 2005

The plan commission discusses extending the core south to County E and north to Sunset Plaza Road.

Dec. 2005

A joint town board and plan commission meeting includes discussion of expanding the core area from County E to County Q, including two 40-acre parcels owned by the McArdle Trust between County E and Summit Road. Discussion suggests a larger setback at the entrances to town. No official action is taken to adopt the boundaries of the core.

June 2007

Joe Parent purchases the two 40-acre McArdle Trust parcels between County E and Summit Road.

Nov. 2007

The town board is reminded that it never officially adopted the boundaries discussed in December of 2005. An official motion is made to extend the boundaries of the core area from County E to County Q, as per discussion of December 2005. Town Chairman James Parent abstains from the vote because his father’s recently purchased property is included in the extension. Motion passes, but the town never records the change with the Door County Planning Department for inclusion in its official zoning maps.

March 9, 2009

After the county Planning Department requests clarification of Baileys Harbor’s town core boundaries, James Parent presides over a joint meeting of the town board and plan commission in which the town votes to recommend to the Door County Planning Department that the town’s core commercial district be extended, re-iterating its November 2007 motion.

August 2009

Citizens raise questions about the expansion of the core district in advance of open house sessions for the Door County Planning Department to gather public input on its 2030 County Comprehensive Plan in August and September.

Sept. 23, 2009

At a meeting of the Door County Board of Supervisors’ Resource Planning Committee (RPC), the RPC denies the town’s request to expand the town core, telling the town that it should have gone through the statutory procedures for amending the town’s comprehensive plan before voting on the extension in March.

May 6, 2010

Town begins updating its 2005 Comprehensive Plan.

Oct. 13, 2010

Comprehensive Plan begins review of town core extension. Town instructs consultant Jeffrey Sanders to return Oct. 26 with a map showing the town core extended to the south to County E.

Oct. 26, 2010

Baileys Harbor reviews the core extension again. James Parent recuses himself from the board during discussion.

Nov. 9, 2010

James Parent recuses himself from a joint meeting of the town board and plan commission during which Joe Parent presents an initial plan for an assisted living center on the property he owns between County E and Summit Road. Meeting ends with decision to bring consultant Jeffrey Sanders back to the town to discuss the parameters for an image corridor that would buffer the view along an expanded town core. Town Clerk Doug Smith says that meeting will take place after Thanksgiving.

The Baileys Harbor Town Core as it is drawn today.

Nov. 18, 2010

Town posts a notice for a November 23 joint meeting of the town board and plan commission to “End testimony and make final decisions on Town Core extension and Future Land Use Map.” Meeting is canceled the next day after it’s confirmed that citizens were told no meeting would take place until after Thanksgiving.

Nov. 29, 2010

Signs are placed by unidentified persons on properties throughout Baileys Harbor labeling the boundaries of the town core and labeling certain businesses as “new growth.” A sign on the property owned by Joseph Parent Enterprises asks “What is smart growth?”

Nov. 30, 2010

A meeting scheduled to end testimony and make a final decision on the town core, as well as outline details of an image corridor, takes a different turn. James Parent recommends the issue be taken to an advisory referendum in April. No discussion on the topic occurs.

Dec. 6, 2010

This map from consultant Jeffrey Sanders presented Nov. 9 proposes that the core be extended south along Hwy 57 out of Baileys Harbor to Cty E.

Plan commission votes to recommend to the town board that it place a referendum question about the core extension on the April 5 ballot.