Development

Eau Claire Plan Commission Rejects Tavern Proposal for Historic Kaiser Lumber Building

Mike Paulus |

The Kaiser Lumber Co. office at 1004 Menomonie Street
The historic Kaiser Lumber Co. office building at 1004 Menomonie St., Eau Claire.

This poor building. The Kaiser Lumber Co. office at 1004 Menomonie Street has been through a lot in the past few years. One of the last remaining buildings from Eau Claire’s lumbering era, owner James Rolbiecki had wanted to tear it down in 2014, making way for new apartments and a new home for his main business, Riverside Bike & Skate.

But in late 2015 Rolbiecki sought – and eventually got – rezoning approval to convert the century old, historic structure into a unique restaurant and pub (the building currently houses apartments). This year, Rolbiecki realized the space was too small to be an eatery (not enough kitchen space), so he decided to remodel it into a tavern, seeking the proper permits from the Eau Claire Plan Commission.

But it looks like (to me, at least) fear of drunk college kids has hobbled the project. At last night's Plan Commission meeting, City Council Members, the Eau Claire Police Department, and the City-County Health Department recommended denying Rolbiecki's permit request. And thus it was voted down 4-3.

Basically, local authorities are worried about how many bars are already in the area, its potential to help drain police resources, and possible "overcrowding" once UW-Eau Claire's proposed $80 million Sonnentag Event and Recreation Complex is built just down the street.

As quoted by the Leader-Telegram, Councilwoman and Plan Commission member Kathy Mitchell stated, “I think we’re making a big mistake if we allow a tavern here and look at the prospect of extending taverns all the way down that street. I can’t support that.”

Chad Hoyord, deputy chief of patrol at the police department, is concerned about extending the bar density seen on Water Street that far down Menomonie Street – and the increase in complaints it could bring. At one point, Hoyord mentioned how the area in question already has somewhere between six and ten taverns. (So how many is too many?)

Plan Commission Chairman Craig Brenholt was worried about the new tavern getting overwhelmed by customers (a business owner's nightmare, I'm sure) once the Sonnentag Complex is in full operation and hosting large scale events. The Leader-Telegram quotes Brenholt: "We have a very congested, or very exciting, situation, but we’re also going to have a relatively small tavern that ... could lead itself toward some of the issues that were brought up today.”

Rolbiecki did not offer any comments or arguments. I'd imagine he's frustrated – the rollercoaster his building's been on just ended by crashing into a vague bog of objections.