REGIONAL— The St. Louis County Board of Adjustment gave half a slice to a Burntside Lake island-owner who wanted to build a cabin on a site far too small to meet the county’s zoning ordinance for lakeshore.
The board of adjustment denied a request by Bruce Chernak, of Ely, for a variance to allow the construction of a 14’x14’ cabin on a 0.36-acre, 154-foot-long bedrock island on the lake’s southwest end.
Chernak was seeking an exception to two parts of the county’s zoning ordinance, including the county’s minimum size requirement of 0.5 acres for a buildable lot of record. In addition, the RES-5 zoning in effect for that portion of Burntside, requires a minimum lot size of 2.5 acres and a minimum lot width of 200 feet. The county ordinance also requires a minimum setback of 100 feet on a recreational development lake like Burntside. The island’s size meant the maximum possible setback would have been 45 feet.
County planning staff had recommended denial of the variance request given that Chernak already had the right to camp on the island without a variance.
Chernak’s proposal had met with considerable opposition, as the county received 19 letters in opposition to the request. The Morse Town Board submitted a resolution in opposition to the request, while Eric Webster, president of the Burntside Lake Association weighed in as well, opposed to the variance. Many of the letters of opposition expressed concern about setting a precedent that could lead to future development on many of the other small islands on Burntside.
Despite the opposition to Chernak’s proposal, and its rather dramatic conflict with the county ordinance, board members weren’t unanimous in opposing the variance. Two board members, Tom Coombe and Diana Werschay, voted against the motion to deny.
While Chernak’s request to build a cabin was denied, his request to build a vault privy on the island was approved on a 6-1 vote. That vote came despite universal opposition from area neighbors, including the Morse Town Board, which stated that islands of that size do not have characteristics “required for proper development.”
Under the variance approval, the privy structure will be limited to 25 square feet and will need to be inspected prior to use. It will need to be set back no less than 35 feet from the water and screened to the maximum amount possible.
Lake Vermilion
variance approved
The board of adjustment also gave its blessing to a variance request from Brent and Judy Bullis to exceed the current building height restriction of 35 feet to allow for a height of 39 feet on the new 4,624 sq. foot home they are building on Raps Road on Vermilion’s west end.
The board voted 5-1 to approve the variance.