Town allows wedding barn to continue operating

Following a public hearing, the Town of Saukville Plan Commission last week voted to extend the conditional-use permit for the Abloom Family Resort for one year despite continuing concerns from some neighbors about noise emanating from wedding parties held there.

That means resort owner Dale Stenbroten may have to return in a year for another review.

The review and public hearing were scheduled because of recurring complaints about noise from the Abloom Family Resort wedding barn and to give neighbors a chance to discuss those issues, town officials said.

At last week’s meeting, one of the resort’s loudest critics didn’t show up and another neighbor said he could hear the noise but only on occasion.

Another neighbor wrote to the commission saying the noise was a “substantial” concern.

Another neighbor, who said he lives half a mile from the resort at the corner of Highway 33 and Birchwood Road, said he has had no problems with wedding barn noise.

Stenbroten told commission members that he tested for noise in the area and said cars passing on Highway 33 register 65 decibels, semi-trucks 80 to 90 decibels and music from his wedding barn only 30 decibels.

His barn, he said, is 400 feet from Highway 33 and buffered by 200 feet of trees.

One of the neighbors who has complained lives just 90 feet from Highway 33, he said.

The complaints “sound like a bit of a reach,” Stenbroten said.

“It sounds like a bias. They have no evidence. They have traffic going by every day, and we’re talking about three hours on a Saturday night.”

Stenbroten said he also took measures to reduce sound from the barn by closing windows and adding insulation.

Commission members agreed and voted unanimously to extend the permit for one year. They could have pulled Stenbroten’s permit, which allows the wedding barn to operate.

The town approved Stenbroten’s wedding barn and bed-and-breakfast inn through a lengthy process that took more than a year and required writing new ordinances.

In December, Stenbroten proposed adding three cottages to his wedding barn and inn business, saying the cottages would lessen his reliance on the wedding barn and would reduce noise.

But commission members voted against the proposal, saying they weren’t interested in writing new ordinances or seeing further development on the property at the corner of Highway 33 and Birch Road.