By Kat Halfman
Staff Intern
HOBART – The Village Board held a handful of public hearings dealing with zoning at its June 21 meeting.
The first dealt with a rezoning request from Lars and Nicole Batze for the property located at 1244 S. Pine Tree Rd., changing it from A-1 Agricultural District to R-1 Residential District and R-2-R Residential District in order to build six single-family lots.
Lots three through seven will have municipal water and sewer extended to them and will be a minimum of 12,000 square feet in area.
But lots one and two will not be able to be serviced by the municipality and would therefore need to be larger in size, at least one acre per lot, in order to support personal utilities.
Trustee Tammy Zittlow expressed concern that the two lots would have drainage issues because the ground is too shallow, with other board members echoing her concern, in turn making sure a survey of the area would be conducted.
The request was approved unanimously.
The board also approved a rezoning request from Rivers of Life Ministries, Inc. for its property at 522 Orlando Dr., to create three new residential lots, while maintaining a separate lot for the existing church.
Due to the creation of two lots that will be less than 2.5 acres, the request included rezoning two of the proposed lots to ER Estate Residential and two lots to R-2-R Residential District from the current zoning of R-2: Residential District.
The motion was passed unanimously, under the condition that Rivers of Life Ministries maintains proper stormwater management.
The Board also took action on proposed modifications/amendments to the village’s zoning ordinance (in regards to the conditional uses pertaining to religious institutions), per staff request, to allow convents, seminaries, monasteries, churches, chapels, temples, synagogues, rectories, parsonages and parish homes in R-2-R zoning districts.
Liquor, beer and cigarette licenses
The board approved seven applications for liquor, beer and cigarette licenses lasting from July 1 through June 30, 2023.
After the list of applicants was presented to the board at its May 17 meeting, the Hobart/Lawrence Police Department conducted background checks on D2 in Hobart, Fleet & Alice’s Gas Light Inn, Thornberry Creek in Oneida, Long Drive Inn, White Eagle Bar and Grill LLC, Scott’s Subs in Hobart and Jimmy O’s Golf Shop, and found no disqualifying results.
The board approved licenses for all seven businesses, which were all renewals besides Scott’s Subs, the village’s newest restaurant.
Upcoming agenda item
During the discussion regarding future agenda items, the board discussed a resident with multiple exotic animals who plans to attend a future meeting to express their concerns over Hobart’s current exotic animal ordinance.
The village’s current ordinance states “no person shall keep, maintain or have in such person’s possession or under such person’s control any poisonous reptile, dangerous or wild animal or insect, including, but not limited to, poisonous insects and arachnids, all poisonous snakes, constrictor snakes, nonhuman primates, bears, crocodiles, alligators, coyotes, elephants, gamecocks and other fighting birds, hippopotami, hyenas, jaguars, leopards, lions, lynx, pumas, cougars, mountain lions, panthers, ocelots, tigers or other wild feline species, wolves or hybrid wolf/dogs.”
The ordinance lists exceptions as “captive-bred species of caged birds, rodents, turtles, fish and nonpoisonous, non-constricting snakes.
Partisan primary election information
The village has begun absentee ballots for the August partisan primary.
Residents who would like to receive absentee ballots should complete an application at myvote.wi.gov.
New Hobart voters can also register here.
Early voting for the August primary will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday-Thursday from July 26 through August at the Village Office, located at 2990 S. Pine Tree Rd.
Questions can be directed to Village Clerk Erica Berger at [email protected].