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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

County OKs BayView Lodge RV park

Expansion project includes addition to existing lodge

Marcus White
Posted 12/20/18

REGIONAL — The St. Louis County Planning Commission gave its blessing to a proposed expansion to the BayView Lodge complex last Thursday, but not before hearing from several neighbors who …

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County OKs BayView Lodge RV park

Expansion project includes addition to existing lodge

Posted

REGIONAL — The St. Louis County Planning Commission gave its blessing to a proposed expansion to the BayView Lodge complex last Thursday, but not before hearing from several neighbors who opposed the plan.

The project includes proposed additions to the existing lodge site as well as the addition of a 33-unit RV park on a property located between the lodge and County Rd. 77.

A new access road, which would directly connect the RV park and lodge to County Rd. 77, is also part of the plan. The RV park is being proposed by Ryan Horan and a business partner, Dean Ribich, from the Twin Cities, who would operate the resort under a pending purchase agreement contingent on the county passing the required permits.

The plan presented by the partners suggests it could facilitate the reopening of the popular BayView Lodge bar and restaurant and possibly an ice cream parlor, although those changes or additions would be up the owners of the lodge.

The planning commission approved the RV proposal in two steps. First, commissioners agreed to expand the Lake Vermilion Commercial overlay for BayView Lodge to include the RV park property. Then, they approved a conditional use permit, which is contingent on other agency approvals.

The commission approved both measures following sometimes heated public comment and discussion.

Commercial overlay

Last year’s closure of BayView Lodge complicated the question of whether the planning commission could approve an expansion of the commercial overlay at the site. Under the Lake Vermilion Plan, existing commercial uses were protected from changes in the underlying zoning as long as a business continues to operate. The existing commercial districts are, in effect, an overlay on the zoning map. Once permanently closed, however, the classification is supposed to revert back to the underlying zoning.

Residents in opposition to the RV park plan claimed the BayView overlay expired because the business closed in 2018.

“The overlay is only in place as long as the business is operating,” said county senior planner Mark Lindhorst. “If the business ceases or the permit is revoked, then it reverts to the previous zoning.”

BayView Lodge’s owners had posted a sign along County Rd. 77 last year indicating that the facility was closed permanently, an action that opponents argued terminated the commercial overlay.

But county officials argued that while BayView ceased operating last year, its permits remained in place and could reopen at any time. Planning chair Roger Skraba said as long as the operating permits on the business were still valid, the commercial overlay continues in effect. County planner Jenny Bourbonais said the county had not received any notice that the permits for BayView should be revoked because the business ceased operations.

But opponents of the project argued as well that the parcel slated for development does not directly connect with the BayView property and can’t be included in an expanded overlay.

“The proposed property doesn’t even touch the existing property,” Greenwood resident Rick Sheehan said. “This applicant doesn’t even own the lodge, and you say ‘so what.’ The effect is spot zoning. The court will take it on. You need to go to the comprehensive plan and justify it.”

Spot zoning is illegal in Minnesota.

A county parcel map does suggest that the two properties do touch in the far northeast corner of the RV parcel.

Sheehan also argued that the residential nature of the area made the proposal incompatible with the Lake Vermilion Plan— and he noted that a previous attempt to expand the property in 2012 was shot down by Greenwood Township when it still controlled its planning and zoning. He noted that the attempt five years ago was also done by the owners of the BayView property, rather than Horan and Ribich.

Skraba disagreed with Sheehan on the legal aspects of the proposal. “The reason why we have the overlay district was to protect everybody,” Skraba said. “If you have a business, you could expand within reason. I am comfortable with being here. I don’t feel that it is an illegal act to look at the rezoning.”

Bourbonais said the county attorney’s office had reviewed the plan and had not found it to be in opposition with any ordinances.

The measure to extend the overlay passed unanimously.

Conditional

use permit

Ribich told the board he plans to operate a neighborhood-friendly RV park.

“I want this to be a nice facility, a quiet, family-friendly one,” he said. “If people want to knock a few back and get a little crazy, there are other places on the lake to do that.”

Ribich said he and Horan plan to vet renters before allowing them space. He also said they were targeting seasonal campers, rather than weekend customers, who are often younger and rowdier.

“With such a long wait list at other sites, I don’t foresee a difficulty filling these sites,” he said. “We don’t want to have in-and-out traffic all season long.”

The permit application indicates that Horan and Ribich are planning to put up to 33 RV sites on the property, which would allow for a camper and two additional vehicles.

That plan could be revised, however, depending on a review from the Department of Health, which must also permit the project following county approval.

Lindhorst said the county estimates the property could hold as many as 55 spots for campers.

Three individuals from the public spoke out on behalf of the project.

The first, a landowner who lives near the Vermilion Club said complaining residents should have known what they were signing up for when they bought property in close proximity to a resort.

He also said there wasn’t enough business on the east end of the lake, and something new was needed to alleviate constraints on other local businesses.

Paul Skubic, one of Greenwood Township’s supervisors, said he was speaking as an individual to show his support since the township has elected to stay neutral on the matter and allow the county to decide the project’s fate.

“I’ve heard nothing but good things. People want to see it,” Skubic said. “I ask this board to consider the business opportunities.”

A third landowner, who is selling a piece of property to BayView for the project said she was in support.

The opposition, however, came out in force, citing concerns about increased traffic along BayView Drive, which is privately owned. One homeowner said the residents could use their rights to the road to block it off using gates.

The resort plans to open a new entrance, but residents were not convinced it would alleviate traffic on the currentroad.

“Neighbors take care of the road, but they don’t want to maintain it for an RV park,” Beth Sheehan said.

Skraba said the lodge had been using the road for years. Horan added that the lodge had also maintained portions of the road, some of which was done by him personally.

“If you overburden an easement, it can be denied to you,” Mr. Sheehan said. “With 33 units, that’s exactly what is going to happen. You have to do something for us here.”

Mr. Sheehan said there was an official easement record on file with the county since 1989 that spelled out the requirements.

He also added that the county requires RV parks to be completely hidden from view, both from neighboring properties and adjacent roadways.

Commissioner Keith Nelson asked how the project would do that. Horan and Ribich said they wanted to leave as much of the existing foliage in place as possible.

Final Discussion

Following the closing of public comments, the board had their own contentious debate with Skraba firmly expressing his opposition to the plan if Horan and Ribich could not guarantee resort traffic would stay off of BayView Drive and have adequate screening. He wanted his requirement as an amendment to the plan.

Nelson and David Pollock, however, questioned the need for an amendment, instead allowing a friendly amendment to require that signage for the lodge be moved to the new roadway.

Nelson said because of county ordinances, adequate screening between the properties was already required and it was pointless to include it in the motion to pass the project.

The amendment to the plan failed to pass with Nelson saying fences would be ugly and the idea was to preserve the natural beauty of the area.

Skraba said he still would not favor the project without something in writing that would guarantee a protection to the neighbors surrounding the lodge property.

The vote on the permit was seven in favor, including Nelson and Pollock, with Skraba and one other commissioner opposing.

The project now goes before the full county board for approval sometime in the new year.