Revised February 1st, 2024
Putting the Council and Land Use Zoning to the Test
At its 10.23.23 regular meeting (watch here) the City Council came up against an extreme development challenge proposed for the property at 24650 Smithtown Road.
The project has been described as a paddle ball club, lifestyle condos, and/or vehicle storage on a 103’ x 411’ lot. A high percentage of building space is devoted to vehicle accommodations. Described as an “amenity for all of Shorewood,” the gated facility was private/owner use only. Read the full description here (starting at Page 122).
Images above are as submitted to the Planning Commission. Descriptions vary.
Two buildings were proposed on the site. One with seven garage spaces with 14’ garage doors, and the other with four spaces. The second building included an upper level paddle ball court and lounge designated a “club house.”
- Variances were needed for setbacks, height, hardcover, parking, hours of operation, landscaping and screening. “Those most concerning are height of buildings and retaining walls, screening to the west and lack of parking on the site.” – Planning Director Darling
- As an alternative to variances, a PUD (planned unit development) was requested. City Planner Darling pointed out that in return for the PUD, few concessions had been put forward by the builder.
- An amendment to the Comp Plan was requested to change the zoning from residential to commercial. The amendment requires a ⅘ vote of Council. “This is the plan we have in front of us…they are asking for too much…” – CM Callies
There was vigorous debate between CM Zerby, who supported the project, and CM Callies and Mayor Labadie, who did not. Collectively, all council members, except Zerby, voiced numerous challenges to the appropriateness of the concept for the parcel because of the concessions required to bring it into compliance with City code.
- CM Zerby argued that the Planning Commission had voted 4-1 to approve the project and the Council should follow their recommendation. “…The approval was tepid from the Planning Commission and a strong ‘no’ from city staff. Those are two data points we cannot ignore.” – CM Sanschagrin (see Planning Commission minutes starting at page 81)
- CM Zerby pointed out that the land use zoning map was not updated ten years ago to reflect the Council vote to change from commercial to low to medium density residential. The Acting* City Attorney firmly stated the Comp Plan takes precedence over the update of the zoning map. “Every single applicant has a duty to look at both documents [comp plan and zoning map] when making an application.” – Acting City Attorney Korine Land
- “Ultimately, it’s the Council’s decision whether to follow the lawyer’s [advice] or not.” – CM Zerby
- “We will follow the City Attorney’s guidance.” – Mayor Labadie
Per the Attorney’s recommendation, the Council voted 4-1 to deny the application. Zerby was the dissenting vote.
*Acting City Attorney Korine Land was present due to conflicts of interest for the regular City Attorney.
What was the “conflict of interest for attorney and engineer/firm? This would have been the second time (in the past few months) the counsel is being asked to change zoning to support a PUD. I’m glad they didn’t cave in. How are these projects getting past the planning process and city administrator? There needs to be more coordination and communication between the counsel and city staff so inappropriate projects don’t waiste the time in these meetings.
Nancy Westman: The City’s contract law firm, Campbell Knutson and the engineering firm, Bolton & Menk, had apparently done business with the developer prior to instance. It may have been through Mark Kaltsas, who has been acting city manager for Watertown, Victoria and at least one other. He is currently the City Planner for Maple Plain. Both of the aforementioned firms may have contracts with any of these municipalities, which is where the conflicts would lie. –SCA Editors
CM Zerby vigorously raised the issue of the zoning map, which had not been updated to sync with the Comp Plan. It should be noted, that during the time period in which the map should have been updated, Zerby was the Mayor. In that capacity, he and the current mayor, as part of the council, would have had oversight over city staff.