Board of Adjustment approves campground for Knappa Valley Venue
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — Following a public hearing, the Dunn County Zoning Board of Adjustment has approved a conditional use permit for a campground at the Knappa Valley Venue in the Town of Stanton.
The Board of Adjustment held a public hearing on the application for a campground, as well as an application to increase the maximum number of people allowed at the venue from 300 to 500, at a public hearing held June 19.
The videotape of the meeting was uploaded to Dunn County’s YouTube channel July 5. The Colfax Messenger and the Tribune Press Reporter were unable to cover the meeting in person because of other meetings on the schedule.
Tim Stauffer, owner and operator of the Knappa Valley Venue, located on 751st Avenue in the Town of Stanton, received a special exception to operate a wedding venue in 2021.
Stauffer said he and his wife had been going to “wedding fairs” and people typically ask about restroom facilities and camping facilities.
One of the conditions from the 2021 special exception permit was that no overnight camping would be allowed.
Being able to allow camping onsite would improve the business and would add a safety component because then people could stay on site following a wedding and would not be drinking and driving, Stauffer said,
The Dunn County Health Department is ready to approve a permit for a campground, but Stauffer said he is required to have the conditional use permit from the BOA first.
Stauffer said he has no interest in operating a full-time campground and that camping would be temporary and would only be available for weddings.
Conditions
Dunn County Zoning Administrator Anne Wodarczyk said zoning staff were recommending approval of the campground with a number of conditions.
Zoning staff also recommended removing Condition No. 3 from the original special exception, which does not allow camping, she said.
One condition is that the campground would have a maximum capacity of 25 with five of the units allowed being recreational vehicles.
David Bartlett, a member of the BOA, asked if the recreational vehicles referred to motorhomes or if it included pull-behind campers.
Chapter ACTP-79 regulates campgrounds and refers to recreational vehicles but is not specific about pull-behind campers, Wodarczyk said.
Another condition is that the campground have quiet hours from midnight to 7 p.m.
The wedding venue is required to end music at 11 p.m.
Fire safety is also part of the conditions in that no smoking and no open flames or campfires should be allowed within 50-feet of agricultural structures.
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The venue must also maintain a traffic management plan.
There was concern about the one-lane road under the railroad bridge at 751st Avenue coming off U.S. Highway 12, but when there are wedding guests, the majority of the traffic flows in one direction going in and one direction going out, Wodarczyk said.
Another condition pertains to emergency operations and requires the owner to monitor the weather and notify all campers if there will be adverse weather conditions.
The campground must still also adhere to a 65 decibel limit at the parcel boundary, and the campground also must comply with all local, state and federal regulations.
300 to 500
Stauffer also submitted an application to increase the maximum number of allowable people at the venue from 300 to 500.
Several weddings have gone up to the 300 number, and several weddings had to be turned away because they anticipated more than 300 people, he said.
The larger capacity would allow more guests to be accommodated, Stauffer said.
Wodarczyk said she believes the limit of 300 had come from a regulation that exempts the wedding venue from having automatic sprinklers if it was operated no more than 180 days in a year, was no more than 12,000 square feet and if there was an existing discharge exit at grade.
Tim Fasbender, fire inspector with the Boyceville Community Fire Department, has determined that no fire suppression system is needed and that the maximum capacity is 528 for the lower level and 504 for the upper level, Wodarczyk said.
Parking
Mark Dietsche, chair of the BOA, asked if more parking would be needed to accommodate 500 people.
The original parking plan was based on 1.4 people per vehicle, Stauffer said.
As it turns out, when people are going to weddings, they have many more people in the car than if they are going shopping or going to some other kind of activity, he said.
When Glenwood City High School has held the prom at the venue, buses were used to transport students to the prom, Stauffer said.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has said there are no concerns with traffic turning off Highway 12, he said.
With a limit of 300, the parking area has never been filled to capacity, and the parking has never gone being Parking Area A, Stauffer said.
The venue also has overflow parking available at Parking Area B, where there is room for another 220 vehicles, he said, noting that he has additional acreage that also could be used for parking.
In addition, many people coming from farther away for a wedding want to rent hotel rooms. Knappa Valley is 15 minutes from Menomonie and 15 minutes from Baldwin, and many of those who have hotel rooms rent shuttles coming from the hotels to take them to the wedding venue, Stauffer said.
Restroom
Tim Lienau, BOA member, asked about restroom facilities for an increased number of people.
The special exception requires a restroom or a Porta Potty for each 75 people.
It turns out that people going to weddings want more than a Porta Potty, Stauffer said.
To accommodate people’s desire for a restroom, Stauffer said he has committed to purchasing the Presidential Suite Mobile Restroom trailer.
The Presidential Suite has four stalls for women and four stalls for men. In addition, the Knappa Valley Venue will continue to rent a Porta Potty for each event that can accommodate a wheelchair, he said.
All together, there will be a bathroom capacity for 675 people, and one of the area septic services will pump out the Presidential Suite after each event, Stauffer said.
Town of Stanton
The Stanton Town Board was meeting the night of the Board of Adjustment meeting June 19, and while the town board had recommended approval of the campground, the town board had not yet had an opportunity to make a recommendation on the increased capacity, Wodarczyk said.
Bartlett noted that the BOA had not heard anything from local residents about the proposal for a campground or an increased number of people, but Dietsche pointed out that adjoining landowners would have all received notification of the two public hearings.
The Dunn County Board of Adjustment approved the campground, with all of the conditions suggested by Dunn County Zoning, and with the clarification that the 25 campsites would allow five motorhomes and the remainder of the campsites could be occupied by pull-behind campers or tents.
The Board of Adjustment also approved rescinding Condition No. 3 from the original special exception permit for the Knappa Valley Venue that did not allow camping.
In addition, the Board of Adjustment approved leaving the public hearing open until the July 17 meeting on increasing the allowed number of guests to 500 in order to receive a recommendation from the Stanton Town Board.
