Bed and breakfast permit is approved

By Adam Tobias of the Daily Times staff
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 12:55 PM CDT

A conditional use permit to allow a proposed bed and breakfast on South Washington Street was approved Monday by the Watertown Plan Commission.

According to Charles Damaske, owner of 300 S. Washington St., the home will have up to three bedrooms for guests. As a condition of the approval, Damaske cannot have more than a total of eight guests staying in the rooms at one time.

Some property owners near the proposed bed and breakfast said they approved of the idea, but brought up concerns dealing with on-street parking and an increase of traffic in the area. Damaske said his bed and breakfast will have up to three parking stalls on the site and will not need on-street parking.

Randy Roeseler, executive director of the Watertown Chamber of Commerce, said this proposed bed and breakfast is vital to the city because it will help increase tourism.

“We have been sorely lacking a bed and breakfast for the last couple of years and we need that for the tourism and business activity,” Roeseler said. He added Damaske's bed and breakfast would be the only one in the city.

ADVERTISEMENT

In other action Monday, the Plan Commission granted a conditional use permit to Scott Johnson and Mark Hellekson for an office building with six rental suites at 200 E. Main St.

As a condition of the approval, the suites can only be used for office purposes.

Commission members also granted a variance that would allow Johnson and Hellekson to construct an approximately 80-square-foot sign on the Main Street building.

The proposed sign is about 56 square feet more than what city code allows.

“I would say that since these guys took a building that could have been a problem and stuck a lot of money and time and effort into it, I think it's a welcome addition to the downtown business district and I see no problem approving the variance,” Mayor Ron Krueger said.

The Plan Commission also granted a conditional use permit to Aaron and Laurie Peirick that allows them to construct a 1,040-square-foot building at 310 E. Leonard St.

The Peiricks are looking to raze a 480-square-foot building already on the site before they build the new structure, which will be used as a personal vehicle garage.

As a condition of the conditional use permit, the new building cannot be used for a home-based business.

Plan Commission members rezoned three properties and a future park in the South Concord Estates subdivision to single-family residential.

According to city Engineer Joe Radocay, during the approval process in 2003 the preliminary plat showed a mixed zoning of several single-family lots that should have been zoned single-family residential, but when the final plat was submitted and approved that information was missing.

A land survey splitting off a two-acre buildable lot from the 35-acre property at W5707 County Highway T was approved by the commission members.

The Plan Commission denied a land survey to split off two buildable lots from a 10.9-acre parcel on Ebenezer Road near Airport Road. The commission also denied a request to split off two buildable lots from the 16-acre property at N8498 Highway Y.

In both instances the proposals do not meet the city's subdivision code that requires a minimum of 35 acres of property for a land division.