DATE: August 26, 2008
Committee Members Present: Cassity, Ashford, Gaalswyk, Lehman, and Netzinger.
Others Present: Mark Steward, Mary White, Ben Bromley, Brian Simmert, Steve Sorenson, Richard Grant, and others.
Chairman Cassity called the meeting to order at approximately 9:05 a.m., and staff verified compliance with open meeting law. Motion by Gaalswyk, seconded by Ashford to approve the agenda. Motion carried 4-0.
Motion by Gaalswyk, seconded by Ashford, to approve the minutes of the August 12, 2008., Committee meeting. Discussion followed regarding the remonumentation program discussed at the previous meeting. Minutes were approved as presented. Motion carried 4-0.
Cassity requestedto be allowed more input in meeting agendas.
Public Comment: Dick Grant, Town of Merrimac Chair, requested to appear. He distributed copies of Wisconsin Act 317 and State Statutes regarding methods of annexation. Lehman joined the Committee at this time. Grant was concerned about a suggested change in wording that is being proposed regarding contiguous property to a village or town. This was a proposal to allow for direct annexation without the property being contiguous to the municipality. The Committee asked what he was asking the Committee to do. Grant stated that Wisconsin Act 317 took away the right of a municipality to appeal. He responded with possibly a stance that at a minimum, the term "contiguous" could be added back into the language. The Committee could approve a resolution requesting the word "contiguous" and the right to appeal a decision be added to the statutes. This will be brought back to the Committee at their next meeting. Grant would like to appear at the next meeting and requested Counsel be in attendance. Grant would be going to the next Elective and Legislative Committee meeting. Bringing this problem to the Towns Association was also discussed.
Communications: Attendance at the "Working Lands Initiative" conference was briefly discussed.
Steward announce a meeting on September 11, 2008 with surveyors regarding ordinance changes.
It was noted that the October meeting date was in conflict with another meeting. This will be discussed at the next Committee meeting.
Business items: None
Order of Committee meetings was discussed.
Chairman Cassity called the public hearing to order at approximately 9:30 A.M.
The Committee introduced themselves and Chair Cassity gave the order of the hearing.
The matter before the Committee was a petition to rezone certain lands in the Town of Freedom, County of Sauk, Wisconsin, from a Resource Conservancy 35 to a Commercial Zoning District for Norbert & Donna Meunier. Lands to be affected by the proposed rezone are located in Section 21, T11N, R5E, Town of Freedom, Sauk County, Wisconsin. Said parcel to be rezoned includes 16.9 acres more or less.
Brian Simmert, Planing and Zoning staff, appeared and gave the history and background on the request. He presented additional information from the Town of Freedom Plan Commission. Staff recommendation was denial of petition. The Committee viewed a zoning map of the area.
Paul Johnson, appearing on behalf of the owners, Norbert and Donna Meunier, spoke in favor of the rezone. The application as presented was to rezone the entire 16.9 acres. He stated the applicant was willing to only rezone property covered by the buildings. They would do a CSM to make two parcels. This would address several of the Town's concerns.. Future use of the property would be addressed. 1 or 2 acres would be zoned as commercial. He gave general background on the proposal. He explained there would be no retail business, a semi-truck may come in once a week and no equipment would be stored outside. There already was a commercial use in the area. The town plan supported like uses or would like uses to be clustered together. He stated that a quarry in the area already causes more noise and pollution. Condition of the outbuildings were discussed. Highway PF was a well traveled road and he didn't think this business would cause more traffic. He requested no formal action today to give them more time to negotiate with the Town.
Cassity asked why the zoning was questioned in the first plan. Johnson didn't have an answer. This was the site of the old Maple Hill Orchard. The BOA denied the classification of a cottage industry on the grounds that the business was too big. The business is to be incidental to the residential use.
Natalie Bussan appeared for the Town of Freedom. She did not address specific items such as traffic. The Town tried to negotiate with rules and conditions that would allow continued operations as a cottage industry. The Town is willing to go back to review this item. It was suggested that possibly the property could be rezoned and restrict the use. She stated that the town has not had enough time to work through this request. The Town requested the Committee not to take action today but give the Town more time. The property owners could have appealed the BOA decision. The Town does not want to create a commercial district in the middle of the township. She stated that the owners knew of the zoning when they purchased the property. The Town has decided to deny the rezone as presented. The description of a "cottage industry" was questioned and what was considered too large. Simmert read the definition of "cottage industry" from the ordinance. The Town of Freedom's recommendation was that the Committee take no action today giving the Town more time to review the new proposal.
Norbert Meuier did not wish to speak.
Tom Schlickau appeared in favor of the petition. He operates a business across the road. He stated the property is kept neat. There isn't a lot of noise and one semi-truck comes maybe once a week.
Verla Klingemeyer appeared in opposition. She owns property near the area. She stated that a cottage industry use is smaller than what is being proposed. She was concerned that if they only rezone 1 or 2 acres now, they could come back in the future to rezone more. Rezoning a property is forever. Having buildings for storage of personal property is different than operation of a business out of the building.
Tony Weitzel appeared in opposition. He was a neighbor. He gave some history of the property. He stated that they had built a building within the side yard setbacks. He distributed a survey that was done showing they were within the setbacks of his property. He also indicated that there may be other problems if the petition was approved.
Larry Phelps, Chairman of the Plan Commission, appeared in opposition. He said the commission was trying to follow the development plan. Commercial zoning does not follow the plan. He had traffic concerns. A semi across PF could jam up traffic. He stated there would be large areas of asphalt. He thought some villages would be eager to get such a business. The quarry is only operated sporadically. He stated he had drafted the letter distributed by Simmert earlier in the meeting. The Committee questioned why all the commission members had not signed it. The legality of the letter was questioned. The use of E-mail on official documents was also discussed.
David Baumgarten, Town of Freedom Chair, did not wish to speak.
Steve Sorenson, Planning and Zoning staff, spoke next. He presented information on permits that have been issued over the years on this property. There had been 3 permits issued for storage of personal property. The application for the building questioned by Weitzel showed a 23 foot setback. There was no mention of a business on the property. Storage of personal property versus farm equipment was discussion. Cassity asked if the Planning and Zoning Department did not go out to check setbacks. Sorenson responded that he didn't have the time or staff to check each application that is considered close. The owner could have as many outbuildings as wished as long as he could meet setbacks.
Johnson appeared again. A point was made by Sorenson that the permits were for personal property storage. Johnson stated the property owners paid personal property taxes on the buildings. There was no effort to cover up the use of the buildings. The owners proposed to deed restrict the remaining acres to be sure that they don't get rezoned or developed. The setback problem was a completely different issue.
Seeing no one else wished to speak, the public portion of the hearing was closed at 11:30 A.M..
Motion by Gaalsywk, seconded by Lehman to postpone action on this petition pending negotiations between the Town of Freedom and the property owner. Motion carried, 5-0.
Discussion followed on small claims. Sorenson gave the background on violations and citation procedures The use of small claims charges is new. These violations are then turned over to the Corporation Counsel. The Committee approved of the process and requested to be notified as charges are being initiated.
Steward updated the Committee on lodging house violations at Lake Redstone. He explained that the County was willing to take a settlement on these cases. Adjacent property owners do not approve of this procedure and want the case to go to court. The Committee requested to be kept informed on the cases.
A resolution on changes to the department fee schedule was discussed.. The Committee reviewed the changes. Cassity felt commercial fees should be higher. Exactly, where the staff was spending more time was questioned. Motion by Ashford, seconded by Gaalswyk to approve the fee schedule, this was amended by Lehman, seconded by Netzinger to have staff make changes and bring this back at the next meeting. Amended motion carried, 4-1, with Gaalswyk in opposition.
Lehman requested to review the budget at the next meeting. Motion by Lehman, seconded by Netzinger to postpone budget until the next meeting. Motion carried, 5-0.
Motion by Gaalswyk, seconded by Lehman to adjourn. Motion carried, 5-0.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Ashford, Secretary
Notes by Mary White.