Minocqua town board gives Bangstad more time to meet permit conditions

On a 3-1 vote Tuesday, the Minocqua town board — with John Thompson recusing himself and Minocqua town chairman Mark Hartzheim voting no — agreed to give the Minocqua Brewing Company (MBC) and owner Kirk Bangstad more time to meet parking requirements at his Front Street retail location, meaning he can open provided he meets other permit conditions.

It is a recommendation only; the county enforces the permit.

If the county agrees, Bangstad has until October 31 to blacktop his required parking lot and install necessary curb cuts. An escrow account will be negotiated between the parties to ensure that Bangstad meets his obligations.

In a related development this week, Oneida County moved to shut down Bangstad’s separate, temporary retail operation for operating without a permit. He would need to obtain an after-the-fact permit to continue business, but that might be moot after Tuesday’s town board meeting.

In a long session that went round and round repetitively, Bangstad and Minocqua town chairman Mark Hartzheim battled it out on center stage, with Bangstad accusing Hartzheim of being the ringleader of an old boys network who didn’t like him politically and Hartzheim countering that he was simply trying to enforce the rules everybody else has to live by, including two new businesses near Bangstad’s location.

Bangstad said the parking lot his permit required him to construct didn’t make sense.

“The town said I needed to construct a parking lot,” Bangstad said. “There’s three reasons why a parking lot doesn’t make much sense. One is beauty. In the entire country there is a move away from required parking spaces, especially in an island town that people come to to see lakes and streams, to go hiking. … I care about beauty more than anything, and I want to make this town more beautiful.”

Second, Bangstad said, it was not good for traffic flow to have people on Hwy. 51 trying to come into a tiny parking lot. And third, he said, why should he have to put a petroleum-based impermeable surface on an island surrounded by a lake, when instead there could be grass. 

“The process used was one based more on personal animus and vendetta than actually what is best for the town of Minocqua, and I am appalled that that is what has been the process I’ve had to go through,” he said.

Hartzheim said that was a completely false accusation.

“You can think what you want just because things aren’t done your way or people don’t acquiesce to your way of thinking — your Kirkcentric way of thinking,” Hartzheim said. “We have created this exactly like anybody else that would come in here. We didn’t arbitrarily propose parking. This is a county zoning requirement. There’s a business across the street from you … they could have said they want a big tent outside, outdoor service, they could say they want a grass playground, but the county requires them to have 17 parking spaces and we’re requiring them to construct that.”

Hartzheim also pointed to Nicolet Bank being constructed across the street, also meeting parking requirements, and he said Bangstad was spreading false information that the town doesn’t require people to have parking lots.

At one point in the meeting, Bangstad argued that the county code allows for exceptions to the parking requirement, but Hartzheim countered that that exception is for those businesses on the island that simply lack the physical space to have a parking lot.

How it unfolded

The issue was a requirement of Bangstad’s administrative review permit (ARP) issued by Oneida County March 8 but recommended by the town back in December. That permit included meeting 13 explicit conditions, including a storm water management plan that required the blacktopping of the parking lot.

Bangstad agreed to all the conditions.

But, as Hartzheim pointed out, the conditions had not been met. In one sense, the town could not prevent Bangstad from opening anyway because the ARP is a county permit and the town can only make recommendations. Still, Bangstad maintained that county zoning listens to the town of Minocqua, particularly to Hartzheim — a claim Hartzheim denied.

In any event, if he opened, the town could file a complaint with the county and the county could take appropriate action.

In this case, as town attorney Greg Harrold pointed out, the town did have actual leverage because Bangstad also needed a Revocable Occupancy Permit with the town detailing the terms for use of the right-of way parcel for access to his business.

“He’s asking for a special permit from the town,” Harrold said. “And one of the provisions that is in there is that he will comply with the express conditions of the administrative review permit. The express terms include blacktopping. That’s something that was adjunct to just the permitting process itself.”

The occupancy permit is for Bangstad to cross a 20-foot segment for access. That need for the permit allowed Harrold to fire off a May 25 letter to Bangstad telling him he could not open until the conditions were met.

In that email, which Harrold said was a response to a May 6 letter to Harrold and Oneida County zoning director Karl Jennrich requesting being able to open prior to meeting all the conditions of the permit, Harrold pointed out all that Bangstad had not done.

“Among the conditions that have not been met are that the lot has not been blacktopped, the access entry curb cut to be made out of concrete has not been completed and has to be relocated prior to occupancy; the curb around the parking lot is not completed and signage showing directional full traffic has not been submitted to the town for approval nor constructed,” Harrold wrote.

Those were some of the conditions that had not been met and had to be met prior to opening, Harrold continued.

Bangstad says the mention of blacktopping in that letter stoked him, prompting a social media response that blamed Hartzheim most of all.

“In keeping with the upside-down world of Wisconsin politics — where anything sensible, right, just, or even fun is shot down by close-minded, mean-spirited, power-hungry, and purposefully under-informed right-wing conspiracy theorists — our Town Board Chairman Mark Hartzheim just put up ANOTHER OBSTACLE to keep us from opening our new building,” Bangstad posted on the MBC Facebook page on June 1.

While the building was just about done on the inside, Bangstad wrote, it had been tough building the parking lot that he said the town forced him to create.

“So now, even though our building is practically ready to open, and we’ll get sign off from the building inspector that the place is safe to do business, the town is DEMANDING that every bit of that parking lot is finished before we can do business,” the post continued.

And that wasn’t all, he wrote.

“Yes, as an example of the absurdity, the Town’s attorney (obviously at the behest of King Mark) wrote a letter to us saying the parking lot must have black top instead of gravel, even when our friends at the local fish-wrapper otherwise known as the Lakeland Times across the street have a gravel parking lot,” the post stated.

In fact, The Lakeland Times does not have a gravel parking lot. In addition, the blacktopping requirement was not a new demand — it was part of the site plan that was one of the conditions of the ARP.

Indeed, at Tuesday’s meeting, Hartzheim said the blacktopping issue was a red herring.

“It isn’t just blacktop,” he said. “The blacktop is part of the approved site plan. There’s no stormwater management plan that’s been built at all so far and that’s going to take a lot of time to do. If you came to us with a completed stormwater graded plan with the piping and compacted gravel, I think the town might say, you can open up and the blacktop can wait until the contractor is available.”

But that wasn’t all, Hartzheim said.

“I don’t believe that you have gone through the necessary work to get DOT approval — conceptually we know because we went to them to make sure they would approve it — but it’s still a process to apply for it and get that access approved.”

Bangstad said he had a plan.

“Here’s a stormwater plan: grass,” he said. “The grass is a wonderful stormwater plan. You don’t need engineers to come up with what God gave us, and that’s grass. Water permeates through grass.”

What he wanted

What was on the agenda, besides the revocable occupancy permit, was a request by Bangstad to revisit the parking lot and waive the requirements altogether.

No town supervisor was willing to do so. Supervisor Brian Fricke framed it as a trust issue, and observed that everybody had settled on the parking and the permit conditions back in December.

“I worked with you [Bangstad] back then and I worked hard to get you the six spots and at the time you were like, ‘well thank you for doing that,’ and now you’re coming back and doing this,” Fricke said. “I’m not in favor of taking that parking lot out of there.”

Fricke said that everyone agreed back in December what would happen and, six months later, Bangstad wanted something else.

“If I make a motion on this that says, well, ‘OK, feel free to open as long as the 13 conditions are met on this, minus the blacktop,’ what’s to say that three months from now you aren’t going to come back with something different,” he said.

Money in escrow, Bangstad replied.

“You can take it from me and we can sign an agreement with the town that says if I don’t do what I’m supposed to do then you can take that money,” he said. “That’s how transactions are done when there are trust issues.”

That led to the escrow motion. With everyone in agreement that the parking requirements would not be waived, Bangstad’s second request was considered.

“I am agreeing with the town that I will not want to open until the stormwater management is in and the gravel is compressed over the top of it,” he said. “I want the town to allow me to put the blacktop and the curb cuts in at a later time.”

The town voted to allow Bangstad to open and to have time to complete the blacktopping and curb cuts by October 31, with the escrow to be negotiated.

Shutting down

Amid the controversy and with the town telling Bangstad he couldn’t open, Bangstad had rented a temporary space in a former insurance office several doors down from the main location. He apparently did so without attaining the needed permits from the county.

That prompted a letter this week from county zoning director Karl Jennrich, sent to the property owners, Victor Ouimette and Joan Mueller-Ouimette.

“The department received inquiries regarding the establishment of a new retail business for the Minocqua Brewing Company at the above describe property,” Jennrich wrote. “On June 3, 2022 staff conducted an on-site inspection and observed that there is a new retail business selling canned beer and clothing for the Minocqua Brewing Company.”

Jennrich also wrote that the company was aware it needed a permit to operate.

”It is my understanding that representatives for Minocqua Brewing Company contacted the department approximately two weeks ago and were informed that they would need an administrative review permit for the location of a new retail business at the above described property,” he wrote. “If your tenant would like to continue retail sales at the above described location, please be advised that an after-the-fact administrative review permit would be required; the cost would be $750.”

Jennrich then directed that, in the meantime, the business be closed.

“You are hereby required to contact this department within 10 days of receiving this letter to discuss the situation,” he wrote. ”Furthermore, the department is requesting that the operation be ceased until proper permits are obtained.”

Failure to comply could result in forfeitures of up to $250 a day, plus costs, Jennrich warned. 

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and can be reached at richardd3d.substack.com