Planning commission continues Harvard Club Phase 4 PIP after staff requests more review

The Delavan Planning Commission on July 7 continued a public hearing on the precise implementation plan (PIP) for Harvard Club at Lakeland LLC (Phase 4), giving staff time to review additional materials submitted by the applicant.

City staff opened the hearing and recommended approval with conditions, listing requirements that remain: final engineering review, confirmation of minimum building separation, a pedestrian/vehicular emergency access, and archaeological monitoring unless the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) issues a waiver. "This PIP does include that, in the form of a 10 foot ladder pedestrian path that would be drivable in case of an emergency," staff told the commission.

Developer Rick, representing the applicant, described the residential component as 37 single-family lots across 16.3 acres. He said lots were made wider to permit three-car garages and longer driveways. "We have potentially 6 parking stalls within the garage and driveway of these homes," Rick said, and asked the commission to allow a one-foot deviation changing the minimum lot width from 59 to 58 feet while still meeting the staff-required minimum 20-foot building separation.

Rick also outlined infrastructure plans: relocating an existing power line, looping a water main to improve hydraulics, installing bioswales and routing a sewer interception to reduce direct discharge to the lake, and proposed timing that would begin earthwork in September with road paving targeted for late 2026.

Dave Securis, a resort representative, presented the parallel golf-course redesign that the applicant said is integral to the residential work. The course redesign would create multiple shorter-course options (a regulation 9, a par-3 course and an 18-hole "cutting" course), reorganize cart paths and preserve an eagle nest area. The applicant proposed focused course lighting with deflectors and said it would not extend general entertainment lighting past locally allowed hours.

On archaeology, the developer said subsurface testing found only scattered, disturbed artifacts and that the applicant has requested a SHPO waiver to avoid continuous on-site archaeological monitoring. Staff repeated that monitoring will be required unless SHPO waives the condition.

Commissioners and members of the public questioned whether the proposed 10-foot emergency path could accommodate heavy equipment during winter and whether the path would remove trees in the environmental corridor. Staff said the path was designed to avoid tree removals where possible and that utilities had been sited outside the environmental corridor, but said additional overlay materials and the applicant's tree exhibit arrived after the packet deadline and need a short staff review.

Because of those outstanding technical reviews, the commission voted to continue the public hearing to Sept. 2, with an option for approval contingent on staff sign-off if the outstanding materials are cleared before that date. The continuation preserves the record while giving staff time to complete engineering, tree-overlay and lighting/noise analyses.

Next steps: the applicant may address staff comments and, if the commission wishes, seek approval before Sept. 2 contingent on staff clearance; otherwise the matter returns to the commission on Sept. 2 for formal action.