The county will not be changing the zoning on tourist rental cabins that have been operating out of step with local ordinances for the past several years.
The Brown County Area Plan Commission and Brown County Commissioners both voted to deny a request from Peggy Bull, owner of Brown County Getaways, to change the zoning on the land where her cabins sit from residential to accommodation business. That change would have allowed her business to operate legally.
Bull and her late husband, Dave Bull, built four cabins off State Road 46 East in the Belmont area about 10 years ago. The land was zoned primary residential (R1) and still is. They also bought an existing cabin nearby, Cozy Bear, which is a legal tourist home. The only other legal one is Rustic Elegance.
Around November 2009, they started using three unapproved cabins, Bear Pause, Bearly Ruff’n It and Bullwinkle’s Lodge, as tourist rentals, according to court documents.
Tourist rentals are not allowed on R1-zoned land without a special exception from the county. The Bulls did not get special exceptions for those three.
Tourist rentals also should be at least 1,320 feet from each other, according to local rules. The distance between the cabins on the Bulls’ land is less than that, said Planning Director Chris Ritzmann.
On AB-zoned land, there’s no distance requirement between tourist rentals. AB zoning is more like GB (general business) zoning, but more restrictive, Ritzmann said. Peggy Bull further offered to restrict the use of these properties to only single-family homes or tourist home now or in the future.
APC members were not convinced that AB zoning was envisioned for a tourist home development. They voted 6-0 to send a negative recommendation to the county commissioners.
“Accommodation business”-zoned land is “to include areas that are close to LR (lake residence) districts and appropriate to the limited shopping and service needs of those districts,” according to the county’s zoning ordinance. The Brown County Getaways cabins are just south of Somerset Lake.
After hearing from neighbors and Bull’s lawyers on June 5, county commissioner Diana Biddle made a motion to approve the change to AB zoning, but it died for lack of a second. Commissioner Jerry Pittman then made a motion to deny and commissioner Dave Anderson seconded it. The vote was 2-1 to deny the petition with Biddle supporting it.
“I’m of the opinion of looking at this and looking at the lands. I don’t care about the personalities,” Biddle said. “In looking at where this is located, I don’t understand why it was never approved because it is a low-density residential area, which screams tourist homes. It’s located on State Road 46. There’s nothing else essentially around it. To me, it seems like the highest and best use of the property, which is what we’re looking at.”
Brown County filed a lawsuit against Bull and Brown County Getaways in 2011 and reached a settlement in July 2015, according to court paperwork. Both parties agreed to a permanent injunction which barred Bear Pause, Bearly Ruff’n It and Bullwinkle’s Lodge from being used as tourist rentals past Dec. 1, 2015.
A couple years later, the Brown County planning office found evidence that Bull and Brown County Getaways were continuing to market those cabins to tourists. Screen shots of booking calendars in August 2017 and March 2018 and reviews from guests were included with court paperwork.
In March 2018, the county filed a complaint against Bull and her business, alleging she was in contempt of court and should be sanctioned for violating the previous agreement. The planning office had sent violation letters to Bull and had fined her $55,000, which she paid; yet, she kept renting the cabins, the county said in its court filing.
In November 2018, the county and Bull entered into another settlement agreement. It included a civil penalty of $47,500 to be paid to the county for illegal rentals in 2016 and 2017. If Bull and Brown County Getaways “timely and fully comply” with all the terms of this second settlement, the county will waive the penalties that Bull would have had to pay for illegal rentals in 2015, 2018 and later, the settlement said.
Part of the settlement was that Bull and her company also work with the planning department and adjacent property owners to try to change the zoning, so that the business can be conducted legally and in a way that minimizes negative effects on neighbors. That was supposed to have happened by Dec. 31, 2018.
Attorney Daniel Dixon, who spoke on behalf of Bull at the May 28 APC meeting, said that they were willing to make commitments that no more homes would be built on the land, and that they’d put up barriers and make strict rules for guests to respect land boundaries.
Eight neighbors, most of them from Somerset Lake, spoke at the May rezoning hearing and none of them were willing to believe that the Bull properties would suddenly become “good neighbors.” Neighbors also spoke at the county commissioners’ meeting on June 5.
“After years of ignoring complaints from your neighbors and your total disregard for the law, you want the board to reward you? … How many times do we have to appear here?” asked neighbor Judy Buckmaster at the APC meeting.
She asked Bull to sell the illegal rentals as private homes according to their current zoning. They also could become long-term rental homes. “Quit wasting our time and money for attorney fees,” she said, mentioning past attempts by the Bulls to get the zoning changed.
On June 5, attorney Mike Allen said that Bull no longer allows large gatherings at the homes and she’s willing to kick out guests that trespass onto neighboring properties. Even when the properties pass into new hands someday, restrictions and covenants would extend to the new owners, he said.
Dave Bull passed away about five years ago, and Peggy Bull is willing to do what she needs to do to be compliant under the law, Allen said.
“We’re not trying to ask for something outlandish, favor or reward. We’re asking to end the punishment and move this forward,” Allen said.
Neighbors said they weren’t convinced that the law and the covenants would be followed considering the history.
“I’m hoping today I’m not going to learn you can go years and years of defying laws and ordinances of this county and finally be rewarded, because that’s what we’re looking at,” Buckmaster said at the June 5 meeting.
“(The Bulls) tried to get more special exceptions on illegal homes. It didn’t matter. We would come before the board, they would be denied, and build more tourist homes despite laws and ordinances. They paid fees, but … over 10 years of violating our laws, that’s nothing compared to the income they received on illegal homes. … AB zoning allows them to do everything we have fought and won previously. … It will be sold later, they’ll get the commitments released and we’ll be up against any business entity that wants to come in there.”
