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Cadott Village Board; Public voices concerns over East MD zoning change

Cadott Village Board; Public voices concerns over East MD zoning change Cadott Village Board; Public voices concerns over East MD zoning change
By Julia Wolf

The Cadott Village Board discussed a zone change request, and gave community members a chance to do the same, during a regular meeting Jan. 4.

Tom Kucera requested the zone change from residential single-family R-1 to Multi-Family R-4, for his property on East MD Street.

A number of community members who live around the property in question attended a public hearing during the meeting, to voice their concerns with the requested change.

Jean Rygiel, community member, lives directly across from the property and said she is concerned with street congestion, as East MD Street already sees extra traffic around (Country and Rock) fest times, and people going around the four-way stop at the intersection of State Hwy. 27 and County Hwy. X.

Rygiel also expressed concerns over parking.

“Where will the extra cars park?” asked Rygiel.

She says parking on the greenspace will compromise the beauty of the village.

Rygiel also expressed concerns that extra traffic and street parking, may endanger ATV and UTV riders on the road.

Furthermore, Rygiel cited statistics that multi-family housing could reduce the value of existing homes in the area.

“My neighboring landowners and I feel this zoning amendment request is not at all compatible with the existing uses of East MD Street,” said Rygiel.

Rygiel also read a letter written by Sharon Dressler, another neighbor of the property. Dressler also shared concerns about an increase in street parking and the possibility that parked cars are hit on the higher-traffic road.

“Will there be adequate off-street parking for vehicles, since each unit has only a one-car garage?” asked Dressler in the letter.

Dressler also wondered about the impact the multi-family homes would have on the value of surrounding homes.

Others who live along the street expressed similar concerns.

Kucera said there are a number of businesses within a quarter of a mile of the property, so a multi-family home

(To the left) Jean Rygiel, community member, attended a regular Cadott Village Board meeting Jan 4, to express concerns around a requested zoning change. Tom Kucera requested the zoning for his East MD Street property, be changed from R-1 single-family residential to multi-family R-4. The zoning change was sent back to committee, so community concerns could be addressed.

shouldn’t impact traffic much and they shouldn’t have to park on the street. He also noted he would like to rent to the older population.

Following the public hearing, Anson Albarado, board president, suggested the zone change be sent to the Planning and Development Committee, to address the concerns voiced in the public hearing.

Les Liptak, board member, said he would like to see information on the necessity of the building and information on the community need for that, as well as a map with zoning breakouts within the village.

The committee meeting was set for Jan. 6, and they will bring their recommendation to the next regular board meeting.

Randy Kuehni, board member, also reported that the Parks Committee does not recommend allowing the Chippewa River Rendezvous to use the mud bog area for their historical education event this summer. Members acted on the committee recommendation and denied the request for use.

Members also approved doing a simplified rate case for the water utility.

Sandy Buetow, village clerk, said, after a talk with the auditors, they could do the simplified rate case right away and look at the figures again at the end of this year. She says the three percent increase might justify the numbers for a while.

Board members also discussed substation repair costs. Rolly Tichy, public works, said two spare regulators are in need of a check-up, after a cable broke on a regulator that was in use. Tichy says the testing would allow the regulators to be put into service, if need be, until parts to repair the regulator are available.

Tichy says he also began looking at what is available for regulators.

“There’s three regulators, three phases,” said Russ Falkenberg, board member.

Falkenberg says it takes about the same amount of time to swap out all three regulators at once, as one of them, so there would be labor savings if the village were to get another spare.

“We need to be prepared,” said Falkenberg. “If we’ve got spares, they might as well be reliable.”

Falkenberg also thanked Tichy for being proactive in dealing with the situation.

When it comes to the village nuisance ordinance, Cadott Police Chief Louis Eslinger reported he and the department are trying to work with residents to meet the ordinances, as 2020 was a rough year for many. He says most people reacted to a courtesy letter and got the issues taken care of, with a warning letter for those still not in compliance.

Eslinger also reported he has met with Falkenberg to discuss the possibility of additional security cameras for the area around the village hall.

Falkenberg says they have some systems in mind that can grow, has higher resolution to allow zooming in and contains video exporting features.

“My fear is, something bad is going to happen and then we’re going to say ‘why didn’t we do this?’” said Falkenberg.

Falkenberg also noted the system would not be to keep an eye on employees, but for their safety.

Falkenberg says the hardware for the system will cost around $11,400, with the whole project an estimated $18,000. He said the system would be a mid-grade commercial solution.

“It’s going to be for the safety of everybody and that’s the reason I’m supporting it,” said Falkenberg.

The board will continue to talk about additional security cameras at the next meeting.

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