Plan Commission Minutes
Town of Washburn
Outdoors at 74785 Ondossagon Road
Sunday, November 2, 2025

Commission members present: Cyndi Belanger (secretary), Kim Bro (chair), Tim Schwenzfeier (vice chair), Caroline Twombly.
Commission members absent: Seth Vasser (town board representative).
Others present (at first site visit): Eric Serrine.

1. Chairman Bro called the meeting of the Commission to order at 4:06 P.M. and verified its legal notification (posted at Town Hall, Tetzner Dairy and Town website) on October 31, 2025.
2. The minutes of the October 7, 2025 meeting were approved (Tim moves, Caroline seconds).
3. Just prior to the meeting, the commission conducted a site visit for a proposed driveway extension at Eric and Brittany Serrine’s 40 acre parcel at 74785 Ondossagon Road. An initial gravel base of the driveway was put in place, and a 1-acre clearing 330 feet west of Ondossagon Road was created in the southeast quarter when the applicants harvested timber in 2022. A new driveway permit is required because the applicants are filing a county land use permit to build a house. The Commission conducted a site visit to assure that the proposed driveway will accommodate emergency vehicle access to proposed buildings on the property. The applicants already had placed a 12’x24’ shed on the property and were building 24’x40’ pole building. They marked the proposed house with stakes. The outline of the driveway was not flagged, but the base of the logging truck road was visible. The entire forest parcel is on clay soils and a mapped wetland occupies approximately half of the property in the center of the parcel. The wetland drains to Thompson Creek a Class 1 trout stream. All of the driveway and buildings are several feet south of the wetland and the landscape drains toward the wetland. The applicants will use the existing logging road during construction and will add the required gravel base before occupying the house. They may put in a sand base for a concrete slab for the house this fall.
4. The commission reviewed the driveway permit application for Eric & Brittany Sirrine to construct a residence on their 40-acre parcel in a Forestry 1 zoning district (NE¼NE¼ Section 10 T.48N R.5W; Tax ID#: 30709). The Commission recommends (Cyndi moves, Caroline seconds, Tim abstains) that the Town Board approve the driveway permit. The proposed driveway meets the roadbed, drainage, visibility, and turnaround requirements of the driveway ordinance, and is located in an area that accommodates the erodibility of the clay soils (pp.7-4 of plan). The development retains the natural wooded character of the area (Objective 8.4). The applicants’ sketch does not show the required 48-foot tee turnaround, but there is an existing base extending from the pole building toward the existing shed. They do not plan to construct a driveway in the 50-foot area between the shed and the proposed house. The Commission recommends that a 6-inch base of gravel be added to the drive when home construction is completed.
5. Tim said that the County’s Building Inspector recommends that the Town issue an official driveway permit to applicants after a driveway permit is approved. Doing so would be consistent with the approach of other towns and the County after a permit is approved. Kim will mention this to the Town Board.
6. The next meeting will be Tuesday, November 4, 2025 at 7 PM if there is business to conduct. If a site visit is required, the meeting will be Sunday, November 2 in the afternoon outdoors after the site visit.
7. The meeting adjourned at 4:20 P.M. (Tim moves, Cyndi seconds).

Draft submitted by: Kenneth Bro, Chair, Town of Washburn Plan Commission (November 11, 2025).
Approved May 5, 2026.

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Plan Commission Report

The Commission recommends that the Town Board approve the driveway permit for Eric & Brittany Sirrine provided that a 6-inch gravel base is added when home construction is completed. The Commission proposes creating a driveway permit to be issued to applicants when an application is approved.