DC PR&D recommends rezone for United Way of Dunn County’s potential purchase
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Planning, Resources and Development Committee has recommended a rezone from General Agriculture to General Commercial for a property in the Town of Menomonie that United Way of Dunn County plans to purchase.
The PR&D committee postponed making a decision on the recommendation to rezone at the January 10 meeting because the Town of Menomonie Plan Commission and Menomonie Town Board had not yet made a recommendation on the request for a rezone.
The Town of Menomonie is now recommending the rezone, said Anne Wodarczyk, Dunn County zoning administrator, at the PR&D committee’s February 13 meeting.
United Way of Dunn County is currently leasing the property from WILARL, Inc., and has plans to purchase the four-acre property located on Midway Road west of Menomonie that was previously operated as a bar and restaurant.
To raise funds for the organization, United Way of Dunn County is planning to use the property for a meeting facility, banquet and event center, and as a tavern that will serve both food and liquor as well as for a C-3 donation center and as a business office.
The property has been operating under a commercial use for many years, and the proposed rezone is consistent with anticipated commercial development in the area, Wodarczyk said at the January 10 meeting.
A rezone goes with the land and not the landowner, and zoning staff are recommending the rezone, she said at the February 13 meeting.
The zoning designation for the property as agricultural rather than general commercial was a mistake when the new county comprehensive zoning code was adopted in 2014, said Mike Kneer, county board member from the Town of Menomonie, who has previously served on the Town of Menomonie Plan Commission, and is a member of the PR&D committee.
The Colfax Messenger/Tribune Press Reporter covered the meetings in 2013-2014 when Dunn County was revising the zoning ordinance. Generally speaking, properties were zoned according to their current use at the time, although in the years since then, it has been discovered that a few properties were missed and were not zoned according to their use at the time the revised zoning ordinance was approved by the county board.
The Town of Menomonie Plan Commission is recommending the rezone, but the town board’s meeting was scheduled for the next day after the PR&D meeting, Kneer said.
Ag zoning
Earl Wildenberg, who is associated with WILARL, Inc., noted that he served on the town board for 14 years and also served on the county board.
Wildenberg said he did not own the property in 2014 when the comprehensive rezone was adopted and that he had purchased it in 2017.
When United Way expressed interest in purchasing the property, that’s when Wildenberg said he discovered the property being used for a commercial purpose was actually zoned as general agriculture.
At the January meeting, United Way did not yet have the financing arranged for the purchase, said Diane Morehouse, county board supervisor from Menomonie and a member of the PR&D committee, who then asked if the PR&D committee had confirmation that United Way wished to move forward with the purchase.
Rich Ellefson, Ellefson Appraisal, said at the January 10 meeting he had been working with United Way for a year on the purchase of the property.
There is a tentative agreement with United Way, and a meeting was scheduled for the Friday following the PR&D committee meeting on February 13 to discuss the purchase, Ellefson said.
Kneer said he supported the rezone now that the Town of Menomonie had weighed in on the rezone but whether United Way would be able to purchase the property does not affect the zoning decision and whether someone is making or losing money should not affect the zoning decision.
A rezone should only be based on the criteria for zoning, he said.
It seems appropriate the property should be zoned commercial, said Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing and chair of the PR&D committee.
The Menomonie Town Board can overrule the rezone and veto it, he noted.
The Dunn County Planning, Resources and Development Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the Dunn County Board approve the rezone from General Agriculture to General Commercial for the WILARL, Inc. property on Midway Road west of Menomonie.
Veto power
According to section 13.6.0.05 Special Provisions of the Dunn County zoning ordinance regarding a town board’s ability to veto a rezone approved by the county board, “Any such ordinance relating to the location of boundaries of districts shall within 7 days after adoption by the county board be transmitted by the county clerk by registered mail only to the town clerk of the town in which the lands affected by such change are located and shall become effective 40 days after the adoption of the ordinance by the county board unless such town board prior to such date files a certified copy of a resolution disapproving of such ordinance with the county clerk.”
