PAR FOR THE COURSE​ 

CITY OF SHEBOYGAN ONCE AGAIN IGNORES ITS OWN ORDINANCES AND STATE STATUTES FOR KOHLER COMPANY. ALLOWS KOHLER TO CREATE ITS OWN PERMIT PROCESS. NO ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW FOR NEWLY DESIGNED GOLF COURSE.

Votes to extend Kohler's expired permit for course that can't be built.

FBRF was successful in in our legal  challenge to the  Wetland Fill Permit issued by the DNR to Kohler in 2018. In 2019 an Administrative Law Judge revoked the permit due to insufficient study of impacts to groundwater. among other insufficiencies. Kohler appealed and the revocation was upheld by the Circuit Court in 2024.

In 2020, The City of Sheboygan had granted a Conditional Use Permit to Kohler to build its proposed course with one condition among others,  that all required State permits be obtained. Therefore, the proposed course plan could not be built and the CUP expired in 2023.

FYI: 

**A Conditional Use Permit (CUP) is a type of zoning approval that allows a property owner to use land that is not typically permitted under the property's current zoning classification.

**A site plan is required with the CUP application to ensure that the proposed construction complies with zoning laws, land use regulations, and public safety requirements.  

** Any amendments to the issued CUP require a new CUP application and a site plan as mandated by the City.​

​

​                                                      HERE'S WHAT WE KNOW as of March 10, 2025

1. August or September, 2024, Kohler invites Sheboygan Mayor Sorenson and a few other City officials to a meeting where they are shown Kohler's newly designed proposed golf course plan. No written materials were handed out.

2. October 28, 2024, Kohler attorney writes Sheboygan Plan Commission asking for an extension of Kohler's 2020 CUP.

3. November 8, FBRF attorney Christa Westerberg, informs the Plan Commission of the multiple problems with this maneuver. "Despite stating that it is in the process of substantially redesigning the golf course, "Kohler claims that the City can simply extend its prior CUP approval that relied on an entirely different design. For the reasons below, granting the extension request would be patently unlawful and must be denied."​ FBRF Attorney 

4. The Plan Commission schedules the vote on the extension request for its November 12, 2024 meeting.

Very simply put, Kohler wanted to use an expired permit issued for a particular site plan whose State permit had been revoked, for its newly designed course whose new site plan the attorneys wouldn't present. A new CUP would necessitate public comment and a more scrutinized permit than the one permitted in 2020. 

The newly designed course plan had been: 

a. described to the Army Corps of Engineers  

b. shown to Mayor Sorenson and a few city officials at a private meeting

c. described by Attorney Tomczak in the Kohler Oct. 28 request for an extension.

However,  on November 12 , Attorney Tomczak stated:

“No change, no amendment in front of you today, we are not proposing anything different than what  was approved in 2020 at this point.” ( Nov. 12 mtg recording HERE )

Mayor Sorenson, knowing he had seen a newly designed course months earlier, asked if a year extension were sufficient for the company,  proceeded to vote for the extension all the while neglecting to mention to Attorney Tomczak that he had seen the newly designed course plan and he knew it had changed. Unfortunately, Plan Commission members were not aware of the fact that the 2020 permit was expired and a new site plan must be presented with a new CUP application. Information they should have known.

The actions on November 12 prompted two appeals to the Sheboygan Board of Adjustment (BOA) one by FBRF and another by Sheboygan County residents.

Improper BOA actions have now brought a complaint to the Circuit Court asking that the CUP extension be declared invalid. 

​FBRF'S PLANS

We have been challenging the legality of the DNR's actions since 2013.

Now, the  Sheboygan Plan Commission is unprepared to understand its mandate to review this particular developer's requests. When environmental protections are skirted people suffer. 

Sheboygan has ceded its mandate to work for the health and welfare of its residents to a billionaire company for grandiose benefits which have never been verified independently of the company's claims.

FBRF will continure to work to insist Sheboygan Plan Commission has the necessary training to be making decisions which impact residents far beyond the City.

We will make every attempt to hold the City of Sheboygan to the rule of law regardless of the fact that the Kohler Company is paying  the city's legal bills incurred by the Kohler project.