Village Zoning Board of Appeals recommends denial of rezone from multi-family to agriculture
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Village of Colfax Zoning Board of Appeals has recommended the denial of a rezone from multi-family to agriculture for a two-acre parcel on the west side of Dunn Street.
The land sale is contingent on being able to bring a horse or horses to the property, said Jeanne Anderson, the applicant for the rezone, at a public hearing held by the Zoning Board of Appeals November 2.
Several years ago, Woda Cooper Companies was proposing to build a 32-unit apartment complex on the two-acre site for mixed income residents, from low to moderate to high income, said Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer.
The Colfax Village Board approved the rezone from agriculture to Residential-5 for multi-family in November of 2020 after receiving a recommendation for the rezone from the Village of Colfax Plan Commission.
Niggemann said she had contacted representatives for Woda Cooper Companies to find out if there were plans to move forward with the apartment complex after the village included the property in Tax Increment Finance District 5, which was created because the TID-4 expenditure period was expiring.
Woda Cooper had no interest in moving forward because Wisconsin did not offer a large enough tax credit, she said.
The TID plan includes multi-family housing while the village’s comprehensive land use plan identifies the area as a single-family lot, Niggemann said.
Phase 2 of the East View residential development is right across the street to the east, she noted.
The rezone to multi-family for the two-acre lot worked for the TID plan, Niggemann said.
Anderson said her plan for the property would be to construct a berm and then to build the house in the southwest corner of the lot.
Water and sewer
There is currently no village water and sewer to the lot, Niggemann said.
The WestCAP apartments, directly to the west, have private water and sewer, she said.
Niggemann said she has been researching how to create a village water and sewer easement to the village from the WestCap property to provide sewer and water to the lot that Anderson was proposing to purchase.
The second option would be to extend water and sewer along Dunn Street from the existing location, although that would be a longer distance than from the water and sewer service for the WestCap buildings, Niggemann said.
The third option would be for Anderson to install a private well and septic on the property, she said.
Village ordinances require new construction to hook up to village water and sewer, so there would be a process to follow for a variance to allow a private well and septic, Niggemann said.
In response to a question from a Zoning Board of Appeals member, Niggemann said the agricultural zoning would allow a house to be built and would allow Anderson to have horses on the property.
Anderson asked if outbuildings would be allowed.
Outbuildings are allowed, along with one primary residence, Niggemann said.
Opposed
Colfax resident Dave Hovre, who serves on the Village of Colfax Plan Commission, said he was opposed to the rezone for several reasons.
Getting the houses started in the East View development took 15 to 20 years, and the prevailing winds are southwest to northeast, so the smell of a horse barn would migrate toward the housing development, he said.
Hovre also said he was concerned that property taxes on agricultural land would be less than property taxes on a residential lot.
Anderson would not pay hardly any property taxes, except for the house, he said.
After all of the work and the investment in the East View development, “don’t screw it up,” Hovre said.
Agricultural zoning should not be in the middle of residential development in any village or city, he said.
In addition, if the rezone to agricultural was granted for the Dunn Street property, Hovre said he would like to have his lot rezoned to agricultural as well for lower taxes on the lot.
“I like horses, but I do not want them in my backyard,” said Hovre, who does not live adjacent to the parcel for which the rezone would apply.
Property taxes
It should be noted that property taxes are calculated by the mill rate per $1,000 of property value.
The mill rate is determined by the amount of the property tax levy and the equalized value.
The improvements on a parcel, such as a house and a garage or a shed, would be assessed for property taxes in the same way on a parcel zoned for agriculture as it would be for improvements on a parcel zoned residential.
For example, the Colfax Messenger reporter lives in the Town of Otter Creek. The parcel is approximately 12 acres. The zoning district is general agricultural. But the property taxes are assessed on two acres of residential and 10 acres of agricultural land.
Properties in the Village of Colfax and properties in the rural townships will pay the same mill rate for the Colfax school district, Dunn County and Chippewa Valley Technical College. The difference will be that for the Village of Colfax, the mill rate will be $25 or $26 per $1,000 of property value, and in a rural township, the mill rate might be $2 or $3 per $1,000 of property value.
While two separate 100-acre parcels might be zoned general agriculture, one would be taxed at a lower rate because it is being used as production agriculture but the other is taxed at a higher rate as recreational land because it is used for hunting and riding all-terrain vehicles.
Cow manure
Richard Bautch, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, asked if a horse would be considered a pet.
Under the agricultural zoning, a horse would be considered a farm animal, Niggemann said.
Bautch said he lives next to the lot for which the rezone would apply and noted that five truckloads of cow manure had been spread on the agricultural land across the street to the east of where he lives.
In other words, the cow manure was spread in a field adjacent to the new houses on Dunn Street.
Gene Gibson, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, said that he owns a small property in town but that he pays high taxes on the property.
If the taxes for agricultural land are lower, it would be upsetting to the residents of the village, he said.
Then everyone would want ag zoning, Bautch commented.
When the possibility of an application for a rezone was presented to the village board several weeks ago, Anne Jenson, village trustee, said if the rezone were approved, she would like a rezone to agricultural so that she could have goats in town.
Landlocked
The two-acre lot on Dunn Street is landlocked in the middle of the village, Gibson noted.
The lot was zoned agricultural, then it was zoned multi-family, and now the request is to switch the zoning back to agricultural, he said.
What direction is the village planning to go? Gibson asked.
The intention was to build the tax base in Colfax by building houses in East View, Niggemann said.
The plan was that multi-family zoning, with an apartment complex, would add to the village’s tax base, she said.
The Colfax Community Fire Department is located to the east, across the field from East View.
What is the zoning for the fire station? Anderson asked.
The fire station is zoned as a municipal building and is not on the tax roll, Niggemann said.
No disputes
Anderson said she would not want to buy the parcel, build a house and move in with her horse and have the neighbors be upset with her.
“I don’t want to move in there and have an uproar,” she said, adding that she was okay with the Zoning Board of Appeals being opposed to the rezone.
The sale of the land is contingent on the rezone to agriculture, and if the rezone is not granted, then there will be no land purchase, she said.
The Zoning Board of Appeals makes the recommendation but the Colfax Village Board makes the decision on the rezone, Niggemann said.
The zoning should be kept as it is to generate more in property taxes, said Mark Mosey, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Having two acres zoned agriculture in the middle of town might create too much of a “circus,” Gibson said.
And changing the zoning to agriculture might result in other residents asking for agricultural zoning in the village, Bautch said.
The Colfax Village Board has expressed concern that village residents would want to rezone for agriculture to have goats or pigs in town, Niggemann said.
Niggemann also pointed out that the village’s ordinances require 35 percent of the lot to be backyard.
Gibson made a motion, seconded by Bautch, to recommend that the Colfax Village Board leave the zoning as is and deny the application for a rezone to agricultural, and the Colfax Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved the motion.
Bautch, Gibson and Mosey were the only members of the Zoning Board of Appeals at the meeting.
Mike Kiekhafer, chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and board member Jason Johnson were absent.
Anderson said she would begin to look for other property.
“I will not go without my horse … I do not want hostile neighbors,” she said.
Section 2-4-2 of the village’s ordinances pertaining to the Zoning Board of Appeals states “A quorum for any meeting or hearing shall consist of four (4) members, but a lesser number may meet and adjourn to a specified time.”
Section 2-4-2 also states that the Zoning Board of Appeals is made up of five citizen members and two alternates appointed by the village president and subject to confirmation by the village board.
The committee listing from April of 2022 does not list any alternates for the Zoning Board of Appeals.
