County board denies Chimney Rock Campground rezoning

Winneshiek County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to deny a rezoning request by Deb Keefe, the owner of Chimney Rock Campgrounds.

Keefe had asked that property she owns be rezoned to C1 Commercial, so she could build three more cabins on the property.  Her attorney, Jim Burns, in arguing for the zoning change, said the campground "is not a rendering plant."  He noted that the C1 zoning classification was the only one that mentioned campgrounds in the  county's comprehensive plan.

But neighbor John Hall argued the C1 zoning "would be a terrible zoning change."  He said changing the campground property to C1 would be "scattered development" that would be far from the spirit and letter of the comprehensive plan.

Campground user Barb Anderson called Chimney Rock "a very lovely campground" and noted that Keefe just wanted to build three more cabins--it was county officials who suggested the C1 zoning.

Campground neighbor Jim Tweedy noted that Keefe two weekends ago hosted a rave festival at her campground--despite not having a conditional use permit.  Tweedy noted that Keefe "flagrantly ignored regulations."  "They've been abused--they were just abused two weeks ago," he said.

Supervisor Dean Thompson called the potential rezoning to C1 Commercial "a bad precedent" and the other four supervisors agreed, voting 5-0 against the rezoning.