By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Donna Kaiser’s concern about her county lake neighborhood filling up with storage buildings brought much discussion at Monday’s county commission meeting.

Zoning regulations in the residential area by the lake require single-family homes to be built in the area with water and sewer connections.

The rule in on the books, but the county does not have a building inspector to enforce it.

“What is happening is, three lots were sold and people were going to store their lake toys,” Kaiser said.

“My concern is, if one gets to do it, pretty soon everyone wants to do it.”

Kaiser said there are zoning regulations, and if there are regulations, they need to be followed.

Several people attended the meeting and decided to speak.

Commission chairman Kent Becker brought up the idea of lake residents forming a homeowner’s association.

Some audience members said lake residents would never put together an HOA, but others thought it was a good idea.

Planning and zoning director Sharon Omstead said after a building permit is granted, if she doesn’t do an inspection and issue a certificate of occupancy, the permit is no longer valid.

Lake resident Roger Holter said there are ways to solve the problem, but any solutions need to be developed with the help of legal counsel.

Kaiser said county zoning regulations have been followed in the past, but now aren’t.

The county does not have a building inspector.

Kaiser asked why people who buy property are not told about the rules and wondered why no one is enforcing them.

County counselor Brand Jantz said the best way to get

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buy-in for zoning regulations is to form an HOA with 100 percent participation. Kaiser asked if an HOA would be able to enforce issues such as people not mowing their grass or having trash on their property.

Jantz said, “Yes.”

“Maybe that would be a good thing,” she said.

Sherry Conyers, a new lake resident, said she thinks an HOA would be a great idea. She asked if there is a way to form an advisory board.

“I know there’s tons of people who don’t want to see change, and I understand that, but there’s got to be some change,” Conyers said.