DATE: November 8, 2005
Committee Members Present: Gaalswyk, Sprecher, Ashford, Wiese and Lehman.
Others Present: Lance Gurney, Mary White, Steve Pate, Brent Bailey, and Lowell Haugen.
Chairman Wiese called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M. and staff certified the meeting had been properly posted.
Motion by Sprecher, seconded by Gaalswyck to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0.
Motion by Ashford, seconded by Gaalswyck to approve the minutes of the September 27, 2005 as presented and the October 11, 2005 meeting minutes with the addition as follows: Motion by Ashford, seconded by Gaalswyck to adopt the agenda as presented. Motion carried 5-0.
Communications: Committee members had received correspondence in opposition to a proposed ATV trail near Lone Rock.
Business items: none.
Mr. Steve Pate, Mapping Department, appeared first. He distributed copies of a letter from the Department of Administration regarding approval of the Sauk County Land Records Modernization Plan. Staff members had received training from Taylor Technologies. The parcel map updates have been finished and they were continuing to work on the web site to make it more user friendly.
Mr. Pate submitted his voucher list for approval. Motion by Lehman, seconded by Sprecher to approve the invoices from the Mapping Department in the amount of $7,054.73. Motion carried, 5-0.
Mr. Brent Bailey, Register of Deeds, then appeared. He stated that as of November 1, 2005 has been a record year as far as documents recorded and revenues collected. 5 people have been taking advantage of on line doucments. Time shares and condos were discussed.
Mr. Bailey presented his voucher lists for September and October for approval. Motion by Ashford, seconded by Gaalswyck to approve the lists in amounts of $115.38 and $1,573.93. Motion carried, 5-0.
The County Surveyor was not in attendance.
Mr. Gurney, Planning and Zoning Director, appeared and gave a proposed time line for completion of municipality comprehensive plans. The Town of Freedom's plan was near completion, the Town of Troy would be having an open house on December 1st with adoption in February and Westfield would be done in March. Mr. Gurney stated that the 2006 Comprehensive Planning Grant application had been submitted with 9 participants. The Town of Washington and the Village of Rock Springs had not responded. He stated that he will have a "year-to-date" report on the budget for the next meeting. He has been monitoring fees closely. Discussion followed regarding realtor signs and mailboxes.
The next item for discussion was the big cat rescue in the Town of Excelsior. The County Health Committee had approved a permit under Chapter 27. Mr. Gurney stated that the State had inspected the facilities, the owner had a veterinarian for the animals and was accepting donations for daily operations. The residence was being used as a duplex. When the owner was asked how he would handle a situation such as an animal getting loose, he stated there were weapons on the property. Mr. Gurney felt this was a land use issue and he wanted to get input from the Committee before pursuing any enforcement action. Mr. Gaalswyck felt the animal situation should be ignored, but the duplex use could be pursued. Mr. Gurney stated that such a use was allowed as a special exception only in a recreational commercial district. Mr. Bob Cassity, Town of Excelsior Chair, briefly joined the Committee meeting. He stated that there had been numerous complaints regarding this use. He felt the animals were well taken care of, but this wasn't the place for them. The Public Health Committee approved this use thinking the property may be in the Village of Rock Springs. Mr. Gaalswyck stated this is one form of wildness around us. Wolves and cats pose one of the tiniest threats to life. Ms. Ashford stated this was true but cats were not native to this area. The number of cats was discusssed. The main concerns were that the structure is being used as a duplex, this use is not permitted under the current zoning and there may be weapons in the posession of a convicted felon. The weapons could be allowed if an unrelated person has title to them. The premises and wild cat facility is located on a small lot of approximately 1 to 1.5 acres. Mr. Sprecher requested that Mr. Gurney put something together for the next meeting.
Item b. was not discussed because the Town of Baraboo had not acted on it.
The next item for discussion was regarding land use regulations and the commercial sex trade. The Towns of Dellona, Baraboo, Freedom and Greenfield requested the department to consider provisions for adult entertainment facilities and how to incorporate those revisions into the zoning ordinance. The County needs to know exactly what are the towns' concerns, what they are based on and how they compare to other counties. Mr. Sprecher questioned on how the Coumty could enforce such an ordinance. Ms. Ashford asked if the town needed to handle this or would the County take care of enforcement. Mr. Gurney stated that the County could lnot stop adult entertainment, but could put conditions on it. Mr. Gurney said he would meet with the Corporation Counsel and probably send out a questionnaire to find out what the concerns were and secondary impacts.
The Committee then reviewed the voucher list for the Planning and Zoning Department. Motion by Gaalswyck, seconded by Ashford to approve the vouchers in the amount of $3,260.50. Motion carried, 5-0.
The Committee then briefly reviewed changes to the ordinances regarding clustering and Mr. Gurney reviewed his calendar.
Motion by Ashford, seconded by Gaalswyck to adjourn. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Ashford, Secretary