Douglas County rejects campground expansion
Jan. 12—DOUGLAS COUNTY — Brian Tedford wanted the Douglas County zoning committee to amend his conditional-use permit to expand Up North Campground to 200 sites on Cranberry Lake in the Minong Flowage.
Residents and the Wascott Town Board were against it.
And the planning and zoning committee rejected the proposed change Wednesday, Jan. 10, on the advice of zoning department staff.
Robin Schaffer, Douglas County zoning coordinator, said the county adopted its zoning code to protect the natural resources. Under current zoning, small-scale campgrounds — with fewer than 25 sites — are allowed with a conditional-use permit. Campgrounds, like Tedford's, that exceed 24 sites are considered existing, nonconforming sites under the ordinance adopted in 2022, and are allowed to remain, she said.
However, Schaffer said the zoning department recommended denial because a change in the number of sites would be considered a large-scale campground and would have to comply with the current zone district.
The property is currently zoned residential-recreational (RR1); the zoning would have to be rezoned residential-recreational/recreational-commercial (RRC1) to accommodate a large-scale campground, said Zach DeVoe, land services director for Douglas County.
Even then, campgrounds are limited to 100 campsites with a conditional-use permit, according to the ordinance.
Tedford said when he purchased the 61-acre property less than three years ago with his retirement savings, those regulations didn't exist.
"I can't kick the field goal," Tedford said. "The goalpost keeps moving."
Mary Lou Bergman, chairperson of the zoning committee, said she attended a Wascott Town Board meeting Jan. 5, where more than 100 people were in attendance to oppose the proposed expansion.
"Some of the residents' concerns that they highlighted were the increased boat traffic, the invasive species, safety, shoreline and lake bottom erosion, the density — and by density I refer to the fact that this is an approximately 170-acre lake — there's already 54 parcels ... that have homes or cabins on them," Bergman said, noting that's in addition to existing campsites.
She said people who spoke during the Wascott meeting backed up their statements with facts and figures, and the town board denied the application Jan. 5 for the change to the conditional-use permit.
Dave Olson, who owns a cabin on Cranberry Lake, said they've already seen tremendous changes in the lake in the 15 years since he bought his cabin.
"We just want to see it protected ... not just for today, but for the future," Olson said.
Karen Hilding, vice president of the Whitefish Lake Conservation Organization, said the capacity to absorb the additional activity on Cranberry Lake should be considered.
"We're not anti-campground by any means," Hilding said. "The ma-and-pa campgrounds really add to the moniker of Wascott about the way of life."
Bergman said no one at the Wascott meeting spoke out against campgrounds; they addressed only the specific expansion proposed.
Steve Schieffer owns a small cabin on Cranberry Lake and is a lake scientist that has worked to eradicate milfoil on the lake since 2010, in addition to other lakes.
He said any kind of development, whether homes or campgrounds, on a lake is going to have a detrimental effect on the lake. He said the proposed expansion would increase the density on the lake, which is on the brink of having excessive nutrients.
After listening to comments from the public and reading letters sent to the zoning committee, supervisor Scott Luostari made the motion to deny the change to the conditional-use permit that would allow expansion based on the recommendations of the Zoning Department and Wascott town officials.
The committee unanimously supported the motion.
