Mistakes and needs for revision on municipal maps led to a public outcry at a recent Village of Innsbrook Board of Trustees meeting.

Several citizens spoke during public comment at the Thursday, Oct. 15 board meeting, raising concerns about a draft future land use map that is currently under development.

Les Kauble, the first resident to speak, raised the issue of areas on the draft map that are currently zoned as non-urban, also known as agricultural forest management (AFM), but which are shown on the map as “PR,” or “planned resort.”

“We’re not going to be PR. You may want us to be PR, planned resort, but it’s a violation of our land use plan,” Kauble said.

According to Board Chairman Michael Caton, areas of the draft future land use plan were incorrectly labeled as planned resort zoning, and the village is in the process of correcting those errors. He noted, however, that people may be confused because the village is also in the process of updating other maps as well.

“The village limits map and the village zoning map are in the process of being revised,” Caton said. He added that the future land use map will not be finalized until after those other two maps are updated to reflect annexations and zoning changes that have happened since they were last fully revised.

The Village of Innsbrook approved a contract with Surveying And Mapping LLC in August and received initial drafts of the updated zoning and limits maps on Sept. 23, Caton said, adding that he was in contact with the company Monday about additional revisions to be made.

Surveying And Mapping LLC will also be preparing the future land use map.

“They will be, but we have to do a change order for the contract,” Caton said. “That has not been signed yet.”

Other members of the public who spoke at the Oct. 15 meeting, like Kauble, made clear that they have no interest in their property being absorbed into Innsbrook Resort, although Caton said this could not happen without the property owners requesting it.

“I mean, we put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into our property, trying to keep it fixed up and everything, and like I said, we have enjoyed it. But we made a conscious decision not to be inside the Innsbrook gates when we sold our A-frame and bought property,” said Carol Zuckner.

Alan Seifert said he moved to the area five years ago and bought non-urban zoned land because he wanted to be left alone.

“I’m a two-time combat tour vet. I don’t like people. I don’t want to be near people, and I don’t want people telling me what I can and cannot do, so I bought AFM land to do what I want to do,” he said.

“Now, I operate that land within reason, but I am not going to have a board or the government, or anybody else tell me what I can do on my land that I fought for and paid for.”

Another member of the public, Mark Lowrence, similarly said he purposely bought property outside of Innsbrook Resort, and broadly criticized the village board.

“It kind of seems like they pick and choose what rules they want to follow, and then they keep making up new ones as they go along,” he said.

Another speaker, Jayson Pohlmann, said he has lived in Wright City for 25 years. He said his concern was that “from the outside looking in, it looks as if you guys keep buying up more and more land, and I don’t have a problem with that, but it just seems like a bully tactic.”

While the VIllage of Innsbrook Board of Trustees approved annexing 109 acres of property into the village in July, and then a rezoning of that property in September at the request of Innsbrook Resort, which owns the land, Caton said, it is not the case that the Village of Innsbrook has itself been buying up land.

“The Innsbrook Corporation is acquiring additional land, but the village is not purchasing any land,” he said.

Once the updated village limits and zoning maps are in their final form, Caton said, and before the board approves them, he would be happy to go over the maps with residents and show them the zoning of their property.

“Most of you are AFM, and that’s what will be reflected on this updated zoning map,” he said.

“And once the zoning map is approved, then the board and the Planning & Zoning Commission will revise the future land use map to make the necessary corrections to it, because the comprehensive plan, the planner that prepared it basically made everything PR, and it shouldn’t have been,” Caton added.

“So that’s going to be corrected. It’s going to take time, and we are working on it, and I’m hoping to get it done as quickly as I can,” he said.

The future land use map is “a document intended to merely guide the city with respect to future development,” Caton added. “It’s not a zoning map. It doesn’t mean that any of the properties shown on there have been rezoned to that designation.”

Besides Caton, other trustees addressed the concerns brought up by members of the public at the Oct. 15 meeting.

Trustee Virgal Woolfolk said that as a veteran himself, he understood Seifert’s concerns, “and we really are working to try to make sure we get through some of these problems, I just want you to know.”

Trustee Donna West said there may be some inaccurate information going around, and she said the Village of Innsbrook could benefit from more of its residents who live outside of Innsbrook Resort getting involved in the local government.

“I would highly encourage you all to maybe get involved in the village government a little more. Right now, I am the only person from outside the gate on the board and on P&Z,” she said, adding that there are currently vacancies on the Village of Innsbrook Planning & Zoning Commission.