After more than a year, the Zoning Committee reversed its position on a zoning change that would allow Up North Resort and Campground in Wascott to expand camping opportunities.
The committee voted 3-1 in favor of a zoning change from residential (R1) to a residential-recreational, recreational-commercial (RRC1) district on Wednesday, June 11.
A similar request last year by Up North owner Brian Tedford was denied after the Wascott Town Board rejected the zoning change. This time, the town board approved the change.
County Supervisor Charlie Glazman, who voted against the change, asked for an explanation about why the zoning change was necessary.
“You can only have a large-scale campground in RRC1,” said Zach DeVoe, land services director. “So, it’s a preexisting campground that exceeds the number of campsites that you could have in that (R1) zone district.”
With changes to the Douglas County zoning ordinance adopted in 2021, the campground became a nonconforming use for the R1 zoning district, which prohibited Tedford from expanding the number of campsites available on the 61-acre parcel on Cranberry Lake.
“I’m assuming this has been preexisting for quite a while,” said Supervisor Howard Hendrickson. He said site maps on Up North’s website date back to 2016 and show 89 campsites.
The total number of approved sites is 92, DeVoe said.
Hendrickson joined supervisors Joe Moen and Bill Fennessey to vote in favor of the zoning change. They also voted to approve a conditional-use permit that would allow Tedford to expand the number of campsites to 100 — the maximum allowed in Douglas County.
Conditions of the permit include having sanitary systems with a capacity to serve 100 campsites and making sure the new sites meet setback requirements from all property lines.
Gary Brett, a 20-year neighbor of Up North Resort, urged against the permit, citing noise concerns.
“Every single weekend until 2:30 in the morning, all you hear is boom, boom, boom, boom, loud music, dogs barking … people coming and going, ATVs,” he said. “There’s enough of them there already. They race up and down the road, on motorcycles; it’s really noisy every single weekend.”
Committee members encouraged Brett to reach out to the Wascott Town Board, which would have jurisdiction over the noise issues.
“Even if we deny this, it’s not going to change the current noise problems you have,” Hendrickson said.
Since the town has approved the zoning change, Hendrickson said the county would be required to have a strong legal argument for denying the permit, and he was concerned that noise wouldn’t meet that argument.
The conditional-use permit approval is contingent on the zoning change garnering approval of the Douglas County Board when it meets Thursday, June 19.
