Oneida County committee delays decision on shoreland and zoning ordinance amendments after public hearing

On Feb. 24, 2026, the Oneida County Planning and Development Committee held a public hearing on Ordinance Amendment #13-2022, a package of proposed changes to the Oneida County Zoning and Shoreland Protection Ordinance. After staff summarized the proposal, the committee heard public comments and received input from outside counsel and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) materials provided to the committee; members voted unanimously to postpone a decision and asked staff to return with additional information.

The amendment package, as presented by Planning and Zoning Director Karl Jennrich, would modify language across multiple parts of Chapter 9 of the county ordinance, including Article 1 (Section 9.11), Article 3 (Sections 9.32 and 9.33), Article 5 (Section 9.50), Article 9 (Sections 9.90–9.95, 9.97, 9.99) and Article 10 (Definitions). Jennrich told the committee that the full proposed language was not published in the newspaper because of publication costs but that the text is available for review in the Planning Department during normal business hours and on the county website. He also said that the DNR had been provided the proposed language and had submitted comments that were included in the committee’s file.

The record shows the Notice of Public Hearing was published in the Northwoods River News on Feb. 10 and Feb. 17, 2026, the public notice was posted on the Oneida County Courthouse bulletin board on Feb. 5, 2026, and an affidavit of mailing and a mailing list are in the file. Jennrich read into the record the public comments that had been submitted and confirmed those comments were provided to committee members prior to the vote to postpone.

During the public-comment portion of the hearing, four members of the public spoke: Fred Knoch, Jeff Verdoorn, Michele Sadauskas and Eric Rempala. The transcript indicates their remarks were entered into the record and made available to the committee; the text of those comments is not included in the meeting transcript.

Outside counsel Larry Konopacki spoke to the committee about the proposed amendment. After discussion, Committee member Dan Hess moved to postpone the matter and asked that Director Jennrich bring the item back to a future meeting with updates and answers to outstanding questions; Mitchell Ives seconded the motion. The motion carried with all members present voting aye. The committee set a future meeting date of March 4, 2026 for follow-up.

Procedural business earlier in the meeting included approval of the agenda on a unanimous voice vote (motion by Dan Hess, second by Billy Fried). The meeting convened at 1:00 p.m. and adjourned at 1:49 p.m.

The committee did not adopt any ordinance language at this session; members postponed formal action and requested additional staff follow-up. The full proposed ordinance text, DNR comments and public submissions are recorded in the Planning Department file for review and on the county website, per staff statements at the hearing.