Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Turns out they had it right the first time.
The Shawano Plan Commission on Wednesday reaffirmed its recommendation that the city approve a conditional use permit for a bed-and-breakfast business model making its debut in the city.
If approved by the Common Council next week, the conditional use permit will allow an Airbnb at a residence at 420 River Heights.
Airbnb is an online marketplace that enables people to list, find and then rent vacation space for a processing fee. The privately owned and operated company was founded in August 2008 and is headquartered in San Francisco.
The Airbnb marketplace connects hosts and travelers via its website.
Though referred to as a bed-and-breakfast, there’s actually no breakfast involved. Many of the bookings involve out-of-towners needing a place to spend the night.
The concept is gaining popularity across the country but is new to the city of Shawano.
James and Deborah Lonick had been running an Airbnb at their home on River Heights for several months before learning the operation required a conditional use permit.
The plan commission recommended approval last month, but concerns later arose about whether the commission had the authority to tack on a condition stating that the permit couldn’t be passed to new owners if the Lonicks were to sell the property.
Objections from several neighbors at last month’s meeting focused mainly on the possibility that new and less reliable owners than the Lonicks could create problems for the neighborhood, though they had no problems with the Lonicks running the operation.
Assistant City Administrator Eddie Sheppard told commissioners at last month’s meeting that they could attach a condition to the permit that would restrict it to the Lonicks.
There were subsequent conversations with legal counsel and a further review of city ordinances, Sheppard said, that suggested the commission could not impose such a restriction.
A conditional use permit is intended to go with the property, not the property owner.
Otherwise, Sheppard said, “it would limit the owner’s ability to sell the property. So it’s actually a protection for the current owner.”
A new public hearing on the matter and a new vote was scheduled for Wednesday with that new information in mind.
Since then, however, further review of city ordinances found the plan commission had been within its rights in the first place, as least when it comes to bed-and-breakfasts.
“There is a procedure in place for a limited conditional use,” Sheppard said, which would allow the commission to restrict the use to the current property owner.
City Administrator Brian Knapp said the limit on the conditional use was found in another section of the code.
“There is another section of the code that provides for successor conditional uses,” Knapp said. “It explicitly prohibits successor conditional uses from being applied to bed-and-breakfasts. Our code explicitly prohibits bed-and-breakfast conditional uses from being extended to future owners.”
Knapp said the confusion was the result of the relatively recent adoption of the city’s rewritten zoning code.
The city adopted the first complete overhaul of its zoning code in more than 30 years in December 2014. It went into effect on Jan. 1, 2015.
“This is a new code, and we’re all learning to apply it,” Knapp said.
John Lonick said he and his wife have no problem with not being allowed to sell their property as a bed-and-breakfast.
“Who knows if we’re even going to do this a year from now, two years from now,” he said. “It’s a nice thing to do. It’s generated a little bit of money for us to improve our property and do some things in the community and it’s brought people to Shawano that would not come here to stay at a regular hotel.”
There was some discussion by the commission as to whether any kind of annual review of the operation could take place, but, Zoning Administrator Brian Bunke said, a review is basically built into the conditional use permit because it can be revoked by the city if there are problems or complaints.
The Lonicks are proposing to make available a small studio apartment overlooking the river, with a maximum occupancy of three people, based on Airbnb guidelines.
The city has issued special exceptions for two other traditional bed-and-breakfast operations, though only one — located at Franklin and Green Bay streets — followed through by operating one.
Several bed-and-breakfasts are in operation outside the city limits in the town of Wescott.