It took about four minutes Thursday for the Shawano County Board of Adjustment to end a four-year legal battle with the owners of the Lighthouse Pub in the town of Wescott.
The board voted 4-0, with one abstention, not to contest a court ruling last month that overturned the board’s decision to deny an after-the-fact variance for a concrete, waterfront patio at the restaurant.
“I feel that this case has been dissected and re-sected and everything else,” Chairman Phil Zuhse said. “I just cannot in my own mind feel that we should appeal this case.”
Board member Gary Thomack agreed, adding he took offense with a letter from the board’s attorney, John Bruce, that criticized the judge’s ruling in the case.
“I just don’t go along with that,” he said. “This has been going on long enough. I received two calls last night from taxpayers of Shawano County and they said, ‘Enough is enough, let it go and don’t spend any more money.’”
Bruce was not at Thursday’s meeting.
Lighthouse owners Jeff and Tammy Stachowiak had been fighting an order to remove the patio since 2009 when their original request for an after-the-fact variance was denied.
The Board of Adjustment had been court-ordered in April 2012 to explain the reasoning behind the 2009 denial, but at their July 2012 meeting, board members — several of them new to the board since the previous decision — concluded there was not sufficient information in their records to provide a more detailed explanation.
They decided to start their review from scratch, hearing new testimony and visiting the Lighthouse property at W6440 Gumaer Road.
In the end, however, they voted 3-2 in September 2012 to uphold the 2009 denial, sending the matter back to court.
On Thursday, board members Jim Gutt and Wayne Evraets, who voted last year to uphold the 2009 denial, reversed themselves and voted in favor of Zuhse’s motion not to appeal the court ruling.
“We beat the dog long enough,” Gutt said.
Board member Robert Korth, however, said he did not feel there was any hardship involved in the case that necessitated a variance. He also said all of the evidence presented in the case had been “he said, she said.”
Korth ultimately abstained from the vote.
“That’s the easy way out,” Zuhse said.
After the vote, Jeff Stachowiak said he was relieved the matter was finally settled and just wanted to put it behind him.
“It feels like we’ve been held hostage for four years,” he said. “It’s just over. Let it rest.”
Stachowiak also thanked community members for their support.
More than a dozen supporters turned out for Thursday’s meeting, but bigger numbers attended previous board meetings and court hearings in the case.
About 100 people attended the September 2012 meeting, many of them addressing board members during public comments to defend the waterfront patio as an important addition to local tourism and the economy.
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