Dunn County PR&D approves offering building to Wheeler

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE  —  The Dunn County Planning, Resources and Development Committee has approved offering a building to the Village of Wheeler that is on property owned by Dunn County acquired for failure to pay property taxes.

The steel building is on “in rem” property located at the corner of state Highways 170 and 25, said Nick Lange, Dunn County corporation counsel, at the PR&D committee’s November 22 meeting.

The modular building made up of steel interlocking panels is approximately 12 feet by 20 feet and is situated on a concrete pad, he said.

The Village of Wheeler has asked to take possession of the building and move it off site, Lange explained.

The site once contained storage tanks that have been removed, but the concrete pads on the site for the tanks still remain. Dunn County is in the process of arranging for testing to see if the site is contaminated, and if it is, how deep the contamination goes, he said.

Lange noted that he has submitted an application to the state Department of Natural Resources to offset the cost of testing.

“We want to get the property back on the tax roll. The building does not add value to the site,” he said.

Lange said he anticipated adjoining landowners may be interested in the site after any contamination is cleaned up.

The building has a number of items stored inside, and Lange said he recommended offering the building to Wheeler on the condition that the village dispose of the junk inside, and once the building has been removed, to grind down the bolts in the concrete.

The building may have once served as an office for a petroleum business, Lange said.

Dunn County took possession of the building in the late 1990s as a tax foreclosure, sold the building and then gained possession of it again on another tax foreclosure, he said.

According to the DNR’s website, the Petroleum Environmental Cleanup Fund Award (PECFA) provides reimbursement on eligible expenses to investigate and clean up petroleum contamination from storage systems, such as storage systems used for gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil, diesel fuel and used motor oil.

As of July 20, 2015, no new sites were being accepted into the program, according to the DNR website.

PECFA was in response to federal regulations regarding clean up of sites contaminated with petroleum products, and reimbursement cannot be provided for costs incurred prior to August 1,1987, or for removing tanks after November 1, 1991.

The Dunn County Planning Resources and Development Committee unanimously approved offering the building to the Village of Wheeler on the condition that the village dispose of items stored in the building and take care of finishing off the bolts left on the concrete pad after the building is removed.

Microbreweries

Zoning staff in Dunn County are close to bringing for a public hearing an amendment to allow microbreweries and brewpubs in commercial districts in the county, reported Bob Colson, zoning administrator.

The amendment to the zoning ordinance is expected to define breweries, which are already allowed in industrial areas in Dunn County, as producing more than 100,000 barrels of product per year.

A microbrewery-large will be defined in the amendment as producing a minimum of 15,000 barrels up to a maximum of 100,000 barrels and will be allowed as a special exception in a commercial district.

A microbrewery will be defined in the amendment as producing up to 15,000 barrels per year.

Under the amendment, a brew pub would be a permitted use in a general commercial district. State law limits the number of barrels at a brew pub to an annual maximum of 10,000.

The impetus for amending the zoning ordinance to include microbreweries was the result of an application for a microbrewery in a commercial district in the Town of Dunn.

Tainter lot

The PR&D committee also held a public hearing at the November 22 meeting for a rezone requested by Gruetz Real Estate to Residential-2 for a lot in the Town of Tainter near Jake’s Supper Club.

The request for a rezone is to accommodate an accessory building on a lot adjacent to a lot that contains a duplex, said Dan Fedderly, representing Gruetz Real Estate.

An accessory building, such as a garage, cannot be located on a parcel that is zoned differently from the parcel that contains the dwelling, he said.

The parcel in question would become part of the lot where the duplex is located and is currently zoned Residential-1.

Because of the size and configuration of the second lot, there is not enough room to add either a duplex or a single family residence, Fedderly said.

The Tainter Plan Commission and the Tainter Town Board have not yet had an opportunity to review the proposal to change the zoning that would allow an accessory building.

The Dunn County Board would not be able to act on the rezone until the January meeting because the county board does not meet in December, noted Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing and chair of the PR&D committee.

Dunn County’s zoning ordinance requires the PR&D committee and the county board to take into consideration recommendations from town boards.

The Tainter Plan Commission meets next on December 6, and the Tainter Town Board meets next on December 8.

The Dunn County Planning, Resources and Development committee closed the public hearing on the request for a rezone.

The PR&D committee also approved postponing action on the rezone request until the December 13 meeting to give the Tainter Plan Commission and the Tainter Town Board time to review the request and to make a recommendation to Dunn County.