Local woman files writ against Shawano County

One local woman has filed a writ of certiorari against the Shawano County Board of Adjustment.

A writ of certiorari is a request for a higher up board to review the judgement of a case.

Carney Garcia, who recently reported violations to Shawano County regarding shared property, said that the Shawano County Planing and Development committee has stopped putting their situation on the agenda for their meetings. Garcia’s complaint came from the committee discussing the violations without letting them know that they were on the agenda. Her situation was discussed under “Discuss Any Operational Issues Within the Department As Needed.” She said that was too vague.

Garcia has a cottage on Washington Lake and shares 200 feet of lake frontage with 15 other home owners. The initial violation was that two homeowners built into the shared lot without pulling permits and using 2-foot step backs, as opposed to 25-foot step backs.

“There are more violations that have come up since then,” said Garcia. “One of our neighbors built two additions to his house without pulling permits. They are encroaching into our lot.”

She also said that sheds were built across the street of the lot and the party who built them did not request a zoning change.

“Those sheds would not be allowed,” said Garcia.

Garcia said that her neighbor who built a deck that encroaches on the lot would need to get an after-the-fact variance, for the deck to remain there.

“Not pulling a permit for the deck already disqualifies him from an after-the-fact variance because that was a self-imposed hardship,” said Garcia.

She said eight of the homeowners on the shared lot showed up to the Shawano County Board of Adjustment meeting on April 14 to voice their disapproval about the deck encroaching on their shared lot, as the homeowner was attempting to get an after-the-fact variance.

Garcia claimed that when they entered the meeting, board chairman Alan Beyer was aggressive toward the group.

“Right at the beginning of the meeting, he said, if you all talk, I am kicking you out of the meeting,” said Garcia.

When her situation was brought up to the board, she said that the board quickly discussed the issue and passed a variance.

“They did not discuss this very much,” said Garcia. “They just said that the deck was small and that people at the lake complain a lot. It only took them about three minutes to discuss.”

Garcia noted that it was a 3-2 vote in favor of granting the variance.

“The two alternates said that they wanted it on the record that they did not agree with the decision,” said Garcia. “Hearing that, I said we are going to appeal.”

Even though the meeting ended, Garcia claimed that they were told to leave the meeting for talking.

She said with the writ of certiorari, she is hoping that a judge overturns the board of adjustment’s ruling.

“One of my other neighbors pulled permits for an extension to their deck and were not allowed to extend their deck,” said Garcia. “So they were saying that it is not fair to us to reward him for not pulling a permit.”

Garcia said that allowing this situation to pass opens the county up for problems in the future.

“They set a precedent,” said Garcia. “If you are going to punish who did pull permits, what is going to happen after that? We are going to have a lot of after-the-fact variances in the district. All we care about is that the law gets applied fairly.”

NEW Media contacted the county’s board of adjustment for comment and was told that Beyer would respond; however, a response was not provided by press time.

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com