A contentious request to rezone a peninsula property at the end of Morey Road in the town of Lincoln was unanimously turned down last week by the Vilas County Zoning and Planning Committee following a public hearing.

The decision came less than 24 hours after the Lincoln Town Board also voted unanimously against the rezoning request during its meeting the previous night.

Realtor Jerry Burkett submitted the petition on behalf of property owner Danny Dulak, who operates the parcel under Moonlit Cove LLC. The petition asked the county to rezone the single-family residential (R-1) property to Residential/Lodging (R/L) so it could be rented for short-term stays more frequently than current rules allow.

Zoning Administrator Dave Sadenwasser explained the change from R-1 to R/L would keep most rules the same, but add more uses such as tourist rooming houses — which would allow it to be rented out for as long or short of time as the owner prefers — or to be used as a bed and breakfast or resort.

He also shared some of the background on what changed regarding rental rules after Wisconsin installed its Right to Rent laws in 2017.

“Prior to Right to Rent laws, we didn’t allow rentals at all in single-family residential homes,” Sadenwasser said. “When Right to Rent went through, we put that at a seven-day minimum because the state forced us to.”

He noted the county’s ordinance was put in place in 2021 that did not allow rentals for shorter than seven days. “In 2022, when he (Dulak) bought it, it was expressed in the ordinance that he could only rent it for seven days,” he said.

This introduction preempted a larger warning from Sadenwasser of a problem his department has been encountering more in recent months — something he calls “spot zoning” requests.

“When we look at zoning, we consider what it does for the county, for our future land use,” he explained. “Spot zoning is the rezoning of a property solely for the benefit of its owner… It’s generally not something we want to do.”

He has seen a big increase over the last year of the number of people looking to change the zoning of their property because it doesn’t align with what they’d like to do. This is frustrating for zoning officials, because it undermines zoning designations that have been put in place for a reason.

To drive his point home, Sadenwasser pulled single pages out of the county’s zoning code book and tossed them into a nearby trash can as he spoke.

“At some point, our ordinance has to have some value,” Sadenwasser said. “Property owners have to take some responsibility to pick the right property for what they want to do, as opposed to buying the property and then asking to change the laws of the county and the long-term vision.”

He then picked up the entire code book and threw it in the trash. “If we keep just bending our will to every single property owner who doesn’t like what they can do, there’s no reason to do this page by page.”

Public hearing arguments

During the hour-long public hearing, Burkett argued that Dulak was attempting to be a reasonable neighbor by offering a 300-foot R-1 buffer zone between the rental house and neighboring properties. He noted that under existing R-1 rules, Dulak could legally subdivide the 7-acre, 1,500-foot waterfront parcel into four separate lots and build four rental homes.

“He does not want to build four more houses — he wants to rent one structure more often,” Burkett told the committee, adding that Dulak’s title policy showed no deed restrictions prohibiting lodging use.

However, neighborhood residents pushed back. Nine local property owners spoke against the request, and a petition signed by 97 residents opposing the change was submitted to the committee.

Neighbors voiced fears that short-term commercial event rentals would flood their narrow, windy and quiet peninsula road with speeding delivery trucks and party traffic, creating safety hazards for the pedestrians and cyclists who use the road often. They also alleged there have already been a couple weddings held at the location, which goes against the usage of the property.

Some of the most damaging testimony to the rezone request came from Northwoods Title Closing Agent Terri Placek. Placek confirmed to the committee that restrictive covenants deeded to the Morey Road platted properties prohibit commercial use.

This was brought up in the citizen’s petition, which states: “No business of any kind or description shall be maintained or conducted upon the property... and said premises shall be used for residential purposes only.”

Michael Rayala said the only benefit he saw in changing the zoning was that Dulak would be able to rent it more. “I don’t personally see any benefit for the community,” he said. “We don’t have any choice but to deny this.”

Committee Chair Richard Logan opposed it, agreeing it was spot zoning, and the change wouldn’t be consistent with the land use plan.

A motion to deny was made by Marvin Anderson and seconded by Weber. The committee voted unanimously to deny the rezoning request. The recommendation for denial will move to the full Vilas County Board of Supervisors for a final vote during its Nov. 10 meeting.