Property owners in the Town of Lincoln are concerned about a rezoning request that has been submitted to Vilas County and have gathered signatures on a petition to deny the change.

A public hearing is set for Wednesday, Oct. 14, at noon at the Vilas County Courthouse. Petitioners are urging all those opposed to the rezoning to attend and have their opinions heard.

According to the Zoning Committee meeting agenda, a rezone application was submitted by Realtor Jerry Burkett, agent for Moonlit Cove LLC, to rezone part of a property from Single Family Residential (R-1) to Residential Lodging (R/L). The property location is described on the agenda as, “Located in Outlot 1 of the plat of Eagle Acres, Located in Government Lot 4, Section 14, Town 40 North, Range 10 East, Town of Lincoln, Vilas County, Wisconsin known as computer parcel number 14-741-26.” 

The property is at the end of Morey Road, located on a dead-end peninsula that juts out into Otter and Eagle lakes. Across the water, it faces an area on Chain of Lakes Road that is all zoned General Business, (see image). Currently, all of Morey Road is zoned R-1.

According to the petition filed with the county, as part of the request the property owner has built in a 300-foot buffer using a second parcel he owns in an effort to protect the privacy of the neighboring property. The property in question is currently used as a weekly rental, but owner Danny Dulak would like to increase the use of the property. 

Residents who live near the property are concerned that the rezoning would affect their R-1 properties in a number of ways. The previously mentioned citizen’s petition against the rezoning states concerns that changing from R-1 to R/L could violate existing deed restrictions that disallow the premises to be used for anything besides residential purposes.

Charity Boldebuck, who lives on Morey Road, said they had collected more than four pages of signatures on the citizen’s petition from people who live nearby on Morey, Hemlock and across the channel from the property.

“Zoning wrote these people letting them know a zoning change was being requested,” Boldebuck told the News-Review. “Zoning specifically coached us to not just grab anyone’s signature but those that would be impacted.”

Letters submitted to committee

A number of residents of Morey Road have already submitted letters to the Vilas County Zoning and Planning Committee expressing their concerns, and also plan to be in attendance at the public hearing.

Tripp Anderson, who lives nearby and served on the Town of Lincoln Plan Committee for more than 25 years, wrote in his letter that the rezoning would be a safety issue for the quiet, residential area and should alone be enough to deny the request. 

Anderson wrote about the thousands of man hours and dollars spent by the Town of Lincoln on its Comprehensive Land Use plan in 2023 that blended the existing and preferred land uses for the town, all of which was part of a county-wide plan. He wrote the zoning map has that property listed as single family and the preferred land use as lakeshore residential.

“In short, lakeshore residential is described as high-quality single-family residences,” he wrote. “This home was built as a single-family home. The current owner enlarged it knowing it was zoned as single family, and it should remain that way.”

Morey Road residents Mike and Wendy Harris wrote in their letter that their property has been in the family since 1958 and was purchased, in part, on the dead-end road for the secluded location.

The Harrises state that since the property changed hands and became an exclusive rental, “the idyllic world became one of construction vehicles and lots of noise.”

They worry that changing the zoning will exacerbate the already-present rental and noise issues, writing, “Changing the zoning to short-term rental is a very significant concern for any neighborhood.”

In addition to the public hearing set for Oct. 14, the Town of Lincoln also has the topic on its agenda for Tuesday, Oct. 13. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Lincoln Town Hall, located at 1205 Sundstein Road.