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Plan Commission reaffirms recommendation to deny Harter’s rezoning and conditional-use permit for Fond du Lac site
Summary
After presentations and a lengthy public hearing, the Germantown Plan Commission voted to keep its prior recommendation that the Village Board deny Harter’s Lakeside Disposal’s request to rezone 12.7 acres from M1 to M2 and to issue a conditional-use permit for fleet/maintenance operations.
The Germantown Plan Commission on Jan. 13 reaffirmed its earlier recommendation that the Village Board deny Harter’s Lakeside Disposal’s application to rezone 12.7 acres at Fond du Lac Avenue and Spoton Court from M1 (limited industrial) to M2 (general industrial) and to grant a conditional-use permit for a solid-waste collection, equipment storage and fleet maintenance operation.
The vote followed an applicant presentation, an updated packet of materials and a public hearing that drew residents from nearby subdivisions. Community Development Director Jeff Retzlaff summarized the application, reviewed recent submittals including revised site plans, a sight‑line study and a sound analysis, and explained staff’s position that the parcel is better suited to less‑intensive M1 uses and that the proposed operation is comparable to the Waste Management fleet operation previously permitted on County Line Road.
Attorney Brian Randall, representing Harter’s Lakeside Disposal, described revisions the company made to the site plan. He said the plan reoriented the maintenance building, moved truck parking farther from residences, added a 6–7 foot planted berm, and preserved existing tree stands where possible. Randall said the applicant treated the central wetland as potentially artificial and had an assured delineator report on file with the Wisconsin DNR dated July. Operations described by the applicant call for phased development over three phases and daytime operations with limited nighttime activity for maintenance or emergencies.
Residents raised noise, traffic and drainage concerns during the public hearing. Several speakers said backup alarms and early‑morning truck departures would be disruptive to adjacent residential properties on Fond du Lac Avenue and nearby subdivisions. One resident called the submitted sound samples “a logic fallacy,” noting wind and ambient noise can substantially change measured levels. Others cited previous neighborhood complaints at the Waste Management site and asked that the village avoid placing another fleet operation near homes.
Staff reiterated that the M2 zoning category allows a wider range of industrial uses than the applicant proposes and that rezoning the parcel could enable future, more intensive uses. Retzlaff recommended the plan commission maintain its November finding that the proposed use was most appropriately located in an M2 district, and that the current site is “not suitable for intense M2 industrial development.”
After discussion the commission moved to maintain its earlier recommendation to deny the rezoning and CUP application and to send that recommendation to the Village Board. The motion carried without opposition.
The plan commission chair told the applicant the commission’s decision was not intended as a rebuff to doing business in Germantown and encouraged the applicant to work with staff to identify alternative, better‑suited locations within the village.
The matter will next be considered by the Village Board; the commission’s formal recommendation to deny will be included in the board packet.
