Planning Commission — Minutes

Town of Fond du Lac Planning Commission Meeting Date Tuesday, March 17, 2026 Location Town Hall W5990 Pioneer Road Time 6:00 PM Meeting Materials Meeting Materials Link (Google Drive Folder) Note Town board members may be in attendance for information-gathering purposes but will not take any action. Interested parties are encouraged to attend. All plan commission decisions are recommendations; the town board makes the final decision based on the recommendation. Members Jess Allender, Mike Guilfoile, Scott Roltgen, Herb Kedinger, Lisa McArthur Minutes Last updated 3/17/26 1. Call to order. Roll call. Called to order at 6:18 pm. 2. Approval of minutes from previous meetings in January and February. Motion by Mike Guilfoile and second by Herb Kedinger, carries 5-0. 3. Review and recommend action to the Town Board on the Weier CSM at N5601 Esterbrook Road, T09-15-17-29-06-018-00, GIS. The request is to combine two RR lots into one. a. The Planning Commission recommended the Town Board approve this CSM. Motion by Herb Kedinger, second by Lisa McArthur, carries 5-0. To be added to Town agenda. 4. Review and consider recommending amendments to Title 15-1-2(b) regarding conforming site plan reviews by the Planning Commission. a. Title 15-1-2(b) currently reads "All applications for building permits for any construction, reconstruction, expansion or conversion, except for one (1) and two (2) family residences in residentially zoned districts, shall require site plan approval by the Plan Commission in accordance with the requirements of this Section. The applicant shall submit a site plan and sufficient plans and specifications of proposed buildings, machinery and operations to enable the Plan Commission or its expert consultants to determine whether the proposed application meets all the requirements applicable thereto under this Chapter." i. The planning commission would like to see site plans that exceed an acre of disturbance or exceed 50% of the existing footprint. 5. Review Ordinance 13-1-2-62 and consider recommending to the Town Board a revised definition of “front yard.” a. Section 13-1-2-62 defines “Front Yard” and includes the statement: “Notwithstanding the preceding, no accessory building shall occupy any portion of the front yard.” Placing a substantive prohibition within a definitional section may create confusion and potentially limit the intended operation of Section 13-1-6(c)(1b) p.50, which regulates accessory structure placement by referencing the “front face” and “rear face” of the principal structure. Those faces do not necessarily correspond directly to defined yard areas. The Planning Commission may wish to consider whether the prohibition should be removed from the definitional section and addressed exclusively within the applicable use and setback provisions. b. The Planning Commission recommends the Town Board move “Notwithstanding the preceding, no accessory building shall occupy any portion of the front yard.” to section 3- 1-6(c)(1)(t). Motion by Scott Roltgen, second by Jess Allender , carries 5-0. 6. Review Ordinance 13-1-6(c)(b) regarding accessory building placement in front yards and consider recommending amendments to the Town Board. a. Given the number of variance requests the Board of Appeals has received regarding front yard accessory buildings, the Planning Commission is reviewing this part of the ordinance. b. Background: Section 13-1-6(c)(b) requires that the front face of an accessory structure be located at least two feet further in the rear yard than the rear face of the principal structure. As written, and depending on property layout, an accessory structure could potentially be located in the front, side, or rear yard. The ordinance does not clearly specify when placement in each yard is permitted. Clarification may be warranted to specify whether and under what circumstances accessory structures may be located in front, side, or rear yards. c. The Planning Commission discussed whether this should be changed, and they decided that they don’t think front yard accessory buildings should always be allowed, but are going to research this more by the next meeting. It sounds like a special exception for front yard accessory buildings may be the route they want to take, and if so, they need to consider when this may be appropriate. They will refer to this Proposed Special Exception as a starting point. d. No action taken at this time. 7. Review, discuss, and recommend clarified wording and costs on various town applications, including the Certified Survey Map (CSM) Form, Cover Letter, Site and Grading Plan, Minimum Requirements for Site and Grading Plans, Site Plan Review, Special Exception, Land Division, and Zoning Change applications. a. Background: The Town does not have a fee schedule for non-building permit-related fees. b. The goal is to create and recommend a Fee Schedule to the Town Board. c. The Planning Commission attempted to identify all the different fees that should be included in this list, and believe it to be complete. At the next meeting, any fees that still cannot be found will be re-evaluated and the Planning Commission will recommend a Fee Schedule to the Town Board. 8. Future agenda items. a. Planning Commission i. Research and review fee schedule ii. Research and review special exceptions for front/side accessory buildings iii. Principal structure without primary structure b. Town Board - Weier CSM c. Town Board - The planning commission would like to see site plans that exceed an acre of disturbance or exceed 50% of the existing footprint. d. Town Board - move front yard definition down 9. Adjournment at 7:40 pm.