Town grants land division, rezone request

By MITCH MAERSCH

Ozaukee Press staff

A land division and rezoning request for what had become an embattled property in the Town of Belgium has been resolved.

The issue of a fine for having several illegal mobile homes parked on the property is ongoing.

The Town Board on Monday approved allowing Dennis Dahm to separate 10 acres from his 40.65-acre parcel at 2046 Jay Rd. and rezone the 10 acres from A-1 to A-2, per a recommendation by the Plan Commission.

A public hearing drew a few questions about the details of the transaction, namely about plans to sell the remaining 30-acre parcel.

Zoning Administrator Charlie Parks explained why the deal is allowed.

According to town ordinance, Dahm could not sell his 30-acre parcel to anyone but an adjoining land owner, because that would create a substandard agricultural piece of land that is landlocked. But the property owner directly to the west is buying the land and combining it with his property.

“It will be put under one tax ID,” Town Chairman Tom Winker said, noting the requirement of the Plan Commission.

“In the end, it satisfies what the town always looks for, greater consolidation (of nonconforming lots)” he said.

“Everything is conforming,” Parks said. “We’ve allowed this before. For a second of time it’s substandard, but it gets joined to the property next door all in one fell swoop so nothing is left nonconforming. The precedent has been set.”

The fine is another issue. Dahm was fined $100 a day from late September into December for having mobile homes on his property.

The trailers were burned and removed, but a fine of around $9,000 remains.

At the Plan Commission meeting last month, Dahm’s attorney Ed Ritger said he never saw the letter the town sent to Dahm about the fine, and Dahm can’t find it.

Dahm claims someone else placed the trailers on his property, and he sued the person in Sheboygan County Court.

Ritger said Dahm received a $15,000 judgment and the man got an eviction notice, but Ritger isn’t sure how to collect the fine. The man doesn’t have an employer, so wages can’t be garnished, he said.

Town officials said multiple times they wanted to delay Dahm’s land division and rezoning request until the fine was paid.

Ritger said the maps were prepared in August, and he has been in communication with Parks about concerns over the mobile homes.

“We held off submitting this as a goodwill gesture until three of them (mobile homes) were at least destroyed,” he said.

The fine has not been resolved, but it didn’t affect the land division and rezoning request.

“By statute, we can’t hold up that land division because of the fine,” Winker said.

Having Dahm pay the fine is an ongoing issue.

“We’re still in litigation. We’re not sure where it’s going to go,” Winker said.