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The proposed $45 million Silver Rapids Lodge redevelopment was dialed back by developers but a decision was again delayed.
And, Lake County staff revealed proposed conditions including:
• All ATVs and snowmobiles must be trailered while on the property.
• All outdoor fires must be limited to use in a designated fire ring.
• Quiet hours must be observed between the hours of 10 PM and 7 AM.
• There must be management onsite during resort operations.
• The use of RV campers and park models on site is prohibited.
• The use of jet skis shall be discouraged, including no rental or docking of jet skis.
Board chair Mike Hoops had to again ask people at the Fall Lake town hall on Aug. 8 to leave if they didn’t have a chair to comply with fire codes.
He also addressed the new wrinkle, a petition with over 300 names asking for an Environmental Assessment Worksheet that would at the least delay the project and possibly change or kill it.
“In my 10th year (on the Planning Commission) and I’ve never had a situation where we’ve had an EAW petition,” said Hoops.
However, the Lake County Environmental Services Department has determined that the Silver Rapids Resort preliminary plat and conditional use applications do not meet the mandatory thresholds for environmental review.
One of the key components of the EAW regulations is if a project calls for 50 or more units. The Silver Rapids project has 49 proposed on the 62 acre, 3,130 feet of shoreline site.
However, there were also residential units for workers which would cause the number to exceed 50.
Due to that, the developers removed the workforce housing from the proposal.
The applicants altered their proposal to admit residential units for workers, which would change With the petition for a discretionary EAW, county staff is deferring to the planning commission to make a recommendation to the county board concerning the petition.
The board decided to hold its next meeting on Aug. 19 to make the recommendation which could be acted upon by the county board on Aug. 20.
State law limits the time a local government has to make a decision on a petition. This one was submitted on July 31 so the county board must act by Sept. 5.
Hoops explained that public testimony has been closed on the project following previous written and oral testimony.
“We closed out (public input) at our last hearing. Again, clapping, cheering, sidebar conversations won’t be tolerated,” said Hoops. “Just pretend you’re in church, folks.”
Sandy Hoff, one of the developers for the project answered questions from the Planning Commission addressing issues raised in the previous meeting including:
• Number of docks. Currently there are 15 docks which would stay the same for phase one of the project. For the full project, 12 additional new docks would be added for a total of 27. Ten docks for the restaurant, two for fueling/boat launch, two for the motel and 13 for cabin owners. Previously, 36 docks were proposed.
“Every marina that I’ve been to and I own, even if you’ve got a 40-foot dock, it usually has one boat on one side and one boat on the other side.
“And so that total number, if we’re at 100%, would be, 50-some. And again, currently, we can dock in the 30-some range.
“So again, I want to dispel this notion that we have 90 new docks going, and that is not the case.
“I think it’s also important to point out that one of the reasons we have that many spaces is like a parking lot at a shopping center. They’re never 100% full, but they always want to have 25 to 30% of the dock spaces empty so that when customers come by or want to get there, there’s always a space to rotate into.”
• A change to how vehicles would launch boats with a one-way loop access drive to direct vehicles launching boats. This change allows the turning and adjustment to occur on the boat launch property and not on Kawishiwi Trail. A curbed system and creation of landing areas for pedestrian traffic allows for a safer pathway for people that want to cross Kawishiwi Trail.
• Regarding the use of snowmobile and ATV use to and from the resort, Silver Rapids Lodge will follow all State and County ordinances regarding the use on private property and will allow use on site to and from the state trail system.
“You know, our position is that our property has a DNR approved ATV and snowmobile trail that runs right through it. So access to it is going to be allowed on our site,” said Hoff. “It’s important to point out that that trail, of course, was developed to foster economic development…So do we hope, quite frankly, to capture some of those vehicles and take advantage of it? Absolutely. That’s the whole idea is to create some economic development.”
• A request for a variance for the waterfront restroom/ shade structure. The restroom will minimize pedestrian crossings of Kawishiwi Trail and will allow lake users an easy access restroom. The shade structure is an essential element of the beach area and will provide limited sales during peak times reducing the need to cross Kawishiwi Trail to go to the main lodge building.
“You know, here’s how we do this at our other resorts. We sign it and say that that facility is available to our customers. If they want to come into the resort, into the restaurant and use our facilities, certainly they would have access to that.
“If someone comes off the lake and they need to use a bathroom, we hope they use it.”
• On traffic concerns: “We believe that if we just talk about traffic flows, certainly there needs to be ongoing conversation about the speed of traffic and how we mitigate any challenges in that area and make it safer.
“You can envision that we trim back trees, take down vegetation, slow the traffic, all of those things that I think could help.
“Again, I’m going to say that as you look at Silver Rapids Resort today, we have, I believe, 100% occupancy. We have 57 units occupied there today. So at our full occupancy, when the third phase is completed, you’ll be at 61.
“After we complete the first phase and two, we’ll be less total density in occupancy than what we have on site today. So I encourage you to go over there and watch traffic,” said Hoff.
“All of us have seen lighted pedestrian crossings where you push a button, the lights flash. There’s all sorts of clever ways to deal with creating safe pedestrian access on roadways.
“And I think as an ongoing matter for this project, we would work with the Highway Department to solve that issue. I don’t think it shouldn’t be a condition for the PUD or the conditional use,” said Hoff.
• On concerns of waterfront use, Hoff said guests will likely use the swimming pool and hot tub more often.
• There was discussion on the current and future water and wastewater treatment for the resort. Hoff said the system can already handle a total of 57 units and in the end there would be 61.
• On bringing back the workforce housing, Hoff said, “If there was a path forward to bringing them back we’d love to bring them back.” Hoff said the petition “created a lot of challenges and scared me straight away and we’ve got to get this thing going and get it done so we’re open to the conversation and finding the path forward.”
The board and county staff pointed out that the need for an EAW would be based on “the potential for significant environmental effects.” If those issues can be addressed with conditions, than an EAW is not required.
