Sawyer County board approves apartments-in-commercial amendment, delays data-center language and adopts solar ordinance

The Sawyer County Board of Supervisors on a recent vote amended the county zoning code to allow apartment units in Commercial One districts under conditional use permitting, delayed action on a draft data‑center ordinance for further drafting, and adopted a new solar energy systems ordinance while extending the existing solar moratorium for six months.

Zoning administrator Jay introduced the apartments amendment as part of a broader strategy to remove barriers to affordable housing, saying the change would permit residential structures in Commercial One districts only by conditional use permit and would require a minimum 10,000 square feet of land area per dwelling unit and town-level approval. After brief discussion about park model units and existing dimensional rules, the board approved the amendment (motion and voice vote recorded as carried). "Right now they'd be for apartments," the zoning administrator said, noting the conditional-use and site-size safeguards.

Multiple public commenters had urged caution before adopting new zoning language. Linda Zulmer, a fourth‑generation property owner and board member of the Sawyer County Lakes Forum, told supervisors she opposed allowing multi‑family dwellings in Commercial One districts and asked the board to consider the ad hoc multi‑dwelling development committee recommendations that had previously opposed residential structures in commercial zones. "Apartments or multi‑family dwellings are not appropriate in Commercial One," Zulmer said during public comment, and she handed a packet documenting what she described as inconsistencies among proposed solar ordinances.

Patricia Kiana Cruzan (Tish Kiana) also urged the board to treat a proposed data‑center ordinance with the same scrutiny it was giving solar rules, saying the draft lacked discussion of water and energy impacts and asking for more time or a moratorium. County legal counsel Rebecca (Altus Law) told the board the data‑center ordinance language under consideration was legally enforceable but acknowledged it was a rapidly evolving issue for many Wisconsin counties.

Supervisors raised a practical drafting concern: small telecom "hubs" or head ends already scattered across the county could be swept up by a broad data‑center definition. Several members recommended adding a size threshold or clearer wording to limit the ordinance to large, commercial‑scale facilities. The board voted to send the data‑center amendment back to the Zoning Committee for refinement and additional definition work rather than adopt it at the meeting.

On solar policy, zoning staff presented version 3.1 of a proposed Saratoga/Sawyer County solar energy systems ordinance that had been circulated to towns; staff said 11 towns approved the draft and four denied it. After questions about the specific lines raised by a small number of supervisors and counsel review, the board adopted the ordinance and approved a six‑month extension of the existing solar moratorium to ensure no regulatory gap during ordinance implementation.

What happens next: the data‑center language returns to the Zoning Committee for clearer definitions (size thresholds and exemptions for existing small telecom facilities were suggested). The new solar ordinance is adopted and the moratorium extension remains in place to allow implementation work. The apartments amendment is effective as codified under conditional use review procedures.