By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer 

HOBART – A planned development district (PDD) to construct up to 32 residential live/work/garage units on 12.34 acres between West Mason Street and Haven Place received final approval Oct. 5 by the Village Board.

The board also approved rezoning the site from I-1 Limited Industrial to R-3 Residential.

The same property was looked at by the board in 2019, when plans called for constructing individual contractor condominium storage units, which were approved but never developed.

Director of Planning and Code Compliance Todd Gerbers said about half of the property is in a wetland, with the other half being developed with a private roadway from north to south between West Mason Street to Haven Place and a cul-de-sac to the east.

Gerbers said the 32 single-family residential structures require a PDD because the garages will be larger than the living spaces.

“The property owner, Chad Roffers, is proposing to maintain it and own it as a developer,” he said. “He would basically rent them out. He’s not looking at selling them, so he’ll have control over it.”

Gerbers said the development will have its own well and septic system with no municipal services available to the site.

Steve Bieda of Mau & Associates, who represented Roffers, said the project will have a joint septic system managed the same as any rural residential property.

“It’s no different than any single-family residential home would be done, other than we do one system, so we get kind of the (economies of) scale,” he said. “(These are) smaller units, so we can do one system that would be smaller in aggregate than 32 systems. We can do a joint system, send stuff down to the joint system, and it will treat it just like any rural residential (septic system).” 

Gerbers said private onsite septic systems are approved by Brown County.

“The village has no control over that – the same as any residential structure,” he said. “It has to be submitted (to) and approved by Brown County.”

Bieda said the project will have six to seven wells with one well able to service four to five homes.

He said most of the driveways in front of each unit are large enough to park four cars, plus the garage space.

Mau & Associates previously informed the board the project is based on the idea of having garage units with a residential component. 

The project could appeal to people who travel south for the winter and have a recreational vehicle they want to store, and people who a large garage, but don’t want a large living space.

Gerbers said the private roadway is only 22 feet wide, so no parking will be allowed along the roadway. 

He said other conditions of approval include: no exterior storage; no business not in compliance with the village’s home occupation codes is allowed to operate from any unit; waste and recycling materials and containers must be stored inside buildings, unless a common collection area is constructed to comply with village ordinances; a maximum of 32 units; and no unit may exceed 20 feet in height. 

In addition, to block the view of the buildings from neighboring property, Gerbers said 60 arbor vitae trees must be planted equally spaced along the east property line, with another 10 trees along the north property line.