Town Of Stephenson Board Takes No Action On Zoning

It appears the controversial Town of Stephenson zoning ordinance is dead, at least for now. A group opposed to zoning for the town has scheduled a citizens meeting for 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22 to find out what steps they can take to be sure it isn’t resurrected.

The town board’s decision to take no action on the zoning ordinance was announced by Attorney Kim Coggins to a crowd of over 300 persons at the regular monthly board meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

Coggins said the ordinance could only become effective if it were approved by the majority of voters in a referendum election, or by a majority of residents at a special town meeting. He said this was because the town board had adopted village powers some years ago. To a question after the meeting he said in theory the board might have adopted the ordinance under regular town board powers but he doubted it would stand up if the legality was challenged.

The audience was much larger than it had been at the board committee meetings the week before, or at the Plan Commission’s public hearing on the 89-page Title 13 Zoning Ordinance on Wednesday, Aug. 29.

At the town hall entrance, people were greeted with anti-zoning handouts and literature advertising the Sept. 22 citizens meeting, and declaring, “The Zoning Ordinance has gone overboard. We need to protect our individual freedom and property rights.”

“Thank the Planning Commission and Ordinance/Safety Committee for their work, and tell the Town Board No Thank you,” the sheets advised. “We want to preserve our town the way it is!”

One of the sheets alleged that the Plan Commission had violated the Open Meetings laws, and said the Sept. 22 meeting will include information on how citizens can withdraw town board authority as part of Village Powers.

Most of those attending donned colorful sticky notes bearing the word “NO”.

The meeting room was filled to capacity and beyond. People spilled out the front door, and those who couldn’t get in stood outside, looking in the windows trying to hear what was going on inside.

Despite strong opposition from nearly everyone who spoke at the Aug. 29 public hearing on the proposed zoning ordinance, the Plan Commission voted without dissent that evening to send it along to the Town Board with a recommendation for approval. Chair Nick Vento said the town board had more than two years ago asked the Plan Commission to develop a zoning ordinance, and they had now completed their assigned task. What to do with it now would be up to the town board.

There were many calls from the public at that meeting for a referendum on the issue, but the Plan Commission took no action on suggestions or comments. At a regular meeting following the public hearing the Plan Commission then spent a great deal of time rezoning individual properties, most of them businesses that were placed in residential zoning designations, which would have made them non conforming if the ordinance was adopted.

Indications at that meeting and the town board’s committee meetings on Wednesday, Sept. 5 were that a simple majority vote of the Town Board would be sufficient to adopt the zoning ordinance and put it into effect.

However, at the Town Board’s Ordinance/Public Safety Committee meeting on Sept. 5, motion was made by Supervisor Mike Kudick, seconded by Supervisor Joe Banaszak and approved without dissent to send the Zoning Ordinance to the full board with a recommendation that they schedule a referendum vote in April and until then put a moratorium on the entire zoning issue. That motion passed without dissent, and most of those present expected approval at the Sept. 12 board meeting.

Instead, when the issue came up on the Sept. 12 agenda Town Chair John Konopacki gave a short history of when and where the zoning had been brought up at various times over the years. It was started before he became a member of the town board. He was told when he first came on the board that this was all under Town Statutes. There were three years of meetings and discussions.

He said contrary to comments he had heard from the public, the town board was not trying to “ram zoning” through. He said the move toward zoning resulted from a survey taken in 2006, when a substantial number of property owners said they were in favor of “some sort of land use control.” The state had ordered all municipalities to adopt land use plans under the “Smart Growth” law, and the Plan Commission was established. In 2009 the town adopted village powers.

Konopacki said the board feels they would be better off to go with village powers provisions, because then adopting the ordinance would require a vote by residents either in a referendum or at an annual meeting or a special town meeting. Special town meetings can be convened by electors.

He repeated, “The word is out that this town board is trying to force zoning through,” and again declared that was not true.

He then turned the meeting over to Town Attorney Coggins, who announced that the board had decided not to hold a referendum. He said by taking no action the zoning ordinance would not go into effect.

He said under village powers there are only two ways the town could enact a zoning ordinance. One would be if a majority of voters at a town meeting by resolution directed the board to enact zoning, and the other would be for the town board to direct a referendum on the issue and the referendum question was approved by a majority of voters.

“It’s your call. You, the voters, are in control,” Coggins said. “Under village powers the electors continue to have power over zoning...If the town board does not direct a referendum, there will be no zoning ordinance.” He said the board had decided not to order a referendum, which meant the zoning ordinance would not be adopted.

There was no board discussion or vote on this issue at the meeting, and there had been no official meetings either in open or closed session since the committee meeting a week earlier when the recommendation had been to hold a referendum in April. Questioned later on how this decision had come about, Coggins said he, as legal counsel, can speak individually with board members on town issues and obtain their opinions without violating open meetings laws.

The attorney then outlined what procedures the public, or the town board, would have to go through if they wanted to get zoning adopted, and repeated, “the power remains with the electors.”

Since the town board was not going to call for a referendum the only other way the zoning ordinance could be put through would be for a percentage of the electors to sign a petition calling for a special town meeting, and then have a resolution in favor of the ordinance approved by majority vote there.

There were requests from the audience for the board to pass a motion stating they were not going to hold a referendum so it would be on record, but there was no motion made.

There were questions from the floor on how the electors could prevent the town board or the plan commission from spending any more money on land use control or zoning. This included questions on how the electors could take away the village powers the board had adopted.

“You want them to have village powers!” Coggins declared. “You do not want to take that away.” He said it was because of having village powers that the board could not simply adopt zoning on its own without first getting approval from the electors.

Literature distributed outside the meeting room showed the town to date has spent over $40,000 on zoning and planning. Supervisor Tom LaSusa said at one point in the meeting that the town has spent about $20,000 on zoning.

One resident asked if this decision for non-action by the board meant the Plan Commission will not continue to discuss zoning. Coggins said they will continue to discuss land use control issues in relation to Smart Growth, which is or was required by the state, but he repeated “this is not zoning.”

Several members of the audience wondered what should be their next step. “There is no next step if you decide not to have a town meeting,” Konopacki replied. “We’re not going to vote on a referendum.” He said a vote by the board to put zoning on referendum would be a vote in favor of zoning.

There were several requests for assurance that any future meetings involving zoning will be well advertised in the newspaper. There also were numerous suggestions that those leading the battle against zoning should assign representatives to attend all future Plan Commission and Town Board meetings.

“You folks are under the understanding that we’re trying to ram this down your throats,” LaSusa declared, adding that was not true. He said the move toward zoning started with the Smart Growth work in 2003, and was well underway in 2006. Only one of the current board members had been on the Town Board at that time, LaSusa said, “It was the past board, not this board, that started this.”

He said all the while the planning and work on the zoning ordinance was in progress, “Nobody came to the meetings. Nobody called anybody. We didn’t hear from you.” He said the town has spent over $20,000 on this, without input, and declared, “We need guidance (from you). We haven’t had it for six years!”

There was a question on why the people had not been told sooner about village powers and their effect on adopting a zoning ordinance, but there was no real answer.

“The bottom line, guys is, you won. If we do not request a referendum, the only way it can come back is if you request a special town meeting,” Konopacki declared.

Asked how they can prevent the Plan Commission from continuing to work on zoning, along with a suggestion that the Plan Commission be dissolved, Konopacki replied the Commission has other responsibilities, “Their meetings cover a gamut of different issues. They were given this responsibility (zoning). They didn’t ask for it.”

David Anderson, a fairly recent appointee to the Plan Commission, said he had been coming to the town since 1968, and became a full time resident four years ago. He said after being appointed to the Plan Commission he read the whole thing and tried to learn a little about zoning. “I thank God every day for this country, it is so beautiful,” he said, adding, “Zoning does limit you, but it protects you in different ways.” He said only two groups - realtors and land developers - benefit from having no zoning.

That comment drew objections from the audience, including one who declared, “No, as a small land owner, I would lose everything!”

Coggins said towns without zoning cannot regulate land use, but then moderated that by stating they can regulate setbacks, land divisions, roads, and other things.

After the meeting, Amy Shaffer, a longtime Plan Commission member and zoning opponent who was not reappointed when her term ended last year, said the Realtors Association in fact favors zoning. She is a local supper club/resort owner and a licensed real estate agent.

After the zoning discussion ended Konopacki declared a short recess, during which time many of the audience left, but a sizable crowd remained.

In his report for the Plan Commission, Vento reviewed some changes they proposed. The board approved their recommendation to add a requirement that Certified Survey Map requests include a 22” x 36” copy to make Commission review easier, and added verbiage to setback rules for temporary uses.

All members of the Town Board were present. The meeting began with the usual formalities and monthly reports.

Fire Chief Jim Stradal said the Fire Department had one meeting, and two drills. They responded to one lost boat call, a motor cycle accident, a motor home engine fire, and a grass fire, and rescued two parties from the island.

Foreman Don Weinhart reported that the town road crew was patching roads, installed culverts on Butler Rock Road, worked on recycling, hauled pit run gravel on Butler Rock Road, mowed road sides, replaced signs, hauled limestone on Moonshine Hill Road, piled topsoil on Deer Lake Road, worked on ditching on Parkway across from Boat Landing 5, repaired washouts, graded roads, chipped brush on Ray’s Lane and Parkway Road, and removed silt fence on South Parkway Road, County X and High Falls Road.

The crew did staking and grade setting in preparation for reconstructing the curve on Deer Lake Road, which is in progress. Bid to demolish the hills was awarded to Richlen Construction. Blacktop pulverizing was to be done during the coming week, and they were waiting for Public Service to dig underground wires deeper on the hills being cut down.

Later in the meeting the board discussed removal of the hills on Deer Lake Road. The work had been held up because of reports of a burial ground there. After investigation it was found to be untrue, so the work will proceed.

Reconstruction of Parkway Road north of County W will not be started until spring of 2013. Robert E. Lee Associates has submitted plans, and Marinette County Highway and Forestry departments are waiting to meet with them on the design.

Code Enforcer Gary Richter reported that he received five complaints. Results of three are still pending, and another has been given until the end of October to clear up a violation.

Building Inspector Jane Meissner reported she issued 13 building permits, of which one was for a dwelling, two were for mobile homes, and eight were for garages.

David Tomaszewski, reporting for Recyling, said he had three semis in last month. Two were for 40 bales of cardboard and one for 42 “gaylords” of newspaper and magazines. He hauled in a load of tin and aluminum and got over $1,000 for the Coalition.

Vento gave a summary of the previous month’s Plan Commission meetings and announced that the next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, September 27. He said public attendance and participation is encouraged and welcomed, and commented that apparently his summaries have generated little notice or interest. He said at the Commission meeting immediately after the public hearing on Aug. 29 they approved two Certified Survey Maps and recommended some changes in the driveway and access easement ordinances.

Supervisor Kevin Solway in the Water Patrol report stated that 22 citations had been given out during 72 hours spent on patrol. Eight were for “boating under the influence.” There were 19 warnings issued, 168 compliance safety inspections, and one search and rescue. They also assisted the DNR investigation of a boating accident in which a group of tubers ran into the side of a boat.

After the recess, the board went over a complaint about noise made by a corn dryer on a farm on Airport Road. The Board decided there was nothing they could do since it came under agriculture and suggested the problem should be worked out between the neighbors.

Operators licenses were approved for Bonita Berch and Joann Rietveld.

A drainage ditch extension project planned by the Village of Crivitz was discussed and then approved by the board. Intent is to get continuous water flow so it does not back up. Robert E. Lee is preparing design plans. The board saw no problem, since it was felt that the ditch will not affect anything in the town.

Since no bids had been received for vehicles the fire department has offered for sale, the board decided to advertise again.

Town Hall security was discussed and it was decided to turn information on the locks and keys over to the Building and Grounds Committee for further study. Hall rental and cleaning cost were discussed.

The board agreed to waive the fees for a lawn tractor run to be held Monday, Sept. 17.

The board agreed to sell a building at the Town Shop in the Village of Crivitz to the Northwoods Recycling Coalition, which needs more space because of recent changes in DNR requirements.

Upgrading of the town website was approved.

The board agreed that anything costing over $5,000 should be put out on bids.

A request from the Village of Hobart to adopt a resolution to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (WPSC) supporting their efforts to get new rules that might protect trees along transmission line corridors from being clear cut by American Transmission Company (ATC), which delivers electricity to various power companies around the state. The lines pass through several counties, including Marinette County, and a new transmission corridor is urrently being proposed.

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