Planning, Zoning & Land Record Committee

Minutes (5 KB)

Sauk County Planning, Zoning and Land Records Committee Meeting

February 12, 2010

Committee Members Present: Ashford, Gaalswyk, Lehman, Netzinger and Blakeslee.

Others Present: Mark Steward, Mary White, Steve Pate, Liz Geoghegan and Woody Anderson.

Chair Lehman opened the meeting with three members present and compliance with open meetings law was certified.

Motion by Gaalswyk, seconded by Blakeslee to adopt the agenda as presented. Motion carried, 3-0.

Motion by Gaalswyk, seconded by Blakeslee to approve the minutes of the January 26, 2010 Committee meeting. Motion carried, 5-0.

Public Comment: Woody Anderson was present to report the Town of Excelsior Board had approved the Excelsior Comprehensive Plan by resolution on April 1, 2009. There had been numerous delays in getting it approved.

There is a meeting on March 18, 2010 of the Wisconsin Town’s Association to discuss certain zoning regulations. Brian Simmert or Mark Steward would be attending that meeting. Junkyard and nuisance ordinances were discussed. The Committee discussed individual ordinances. Hopefully the ordinances could be made more user friendly.

Anderson was supporting a zoning change from RC5 to a new classification of RC2. County Board approval was discussed. Anderson did not want to wait possibly 1-2 years for an ordinance re-write. He stated the town was not requesting a re-write. A zoning change needed to go to the County Board for approval. Steward explained that this would be handled like any other rezone and the Town Board would have to make a written request for this.

Communications: A bill relating to a conversion fee for rezoning land out of the farmland preservation district was briefly discussed.

Wind turbines were discussed. Farm land is not impacted by this use. The steel septic tank replacement program was discussed. Brian Cunningham will attend the February 23, 2010 meeting to explain this program to the Committee.

Steve Pate, Mapping Department, appeared to discuss parcel mapping. He stated that the County has a good set of digital maps which the Treasurer’s Office does not utilize. The process of making changes or corrections to these maps is cumbersome. In some other counties the tax lister and mapping departments are together. He is proposing to move a cartographer into the tax lister’s office. This process could be consolidated. The Committee, as well as the County Treasurer, were in favor of this change. Records and maps need to be centralized and each map should only be drawn once to prevent errors. County Board approval is not needed for this re-positioning because one position is just moving to another department. If they create a “Land Information Office” Board approval is needed.

Mark Steward gave the Planning and Zoning departmental report. Demolition landfills were discussed. The Ewers home buy-out by the township for FEMA was discussed in length. The township doesn’t want to purchase a “flag” lot, but a rectangle.

Propp BOA appeal was reviewed. The County has been in court for 6-7 years on this case. The Appellate Court found in favor of the Propps. Floor area as it relates to this property was discussed. The E & L Committee approved the Corporation Counsel to file an appeal to the Supreme Court. There is approximately a 10% chance the Court will hear the appeal. The attorney assigned to this case only argued one point. Assemblyman Fred Clark has drafted legislation language to define floor area.

Working lands initiative to delay the rezoning conversion fee was discussed. This item went to public hearing before the Committee on January 26, 2010. At that time, the Committee decided to postpone a decision for 30 days. Steward had gotten answers to several questions presented at the hearing. This will be put on the agenda for February 23, 2010.

An application for a DNR Lake Protection Grant was then discussed. A sample resolution was reviewed. This grant is to be used for a rewrite of the Shoreland Protection Ordinance. The County has two years to rewrite the ordinance. The grant deadline is May 1, 2010. County Board approval is required. A resolution will be available at the next meeting.

Attendance at “Our Energy Future” seminar on March 30, 2010 in Lake Delton was discussed. Motion by Ashford, seconded by Blakeslee to approve the attendance at this seminar by Netzinger and Lehman. Motion carried, 5-0.

Committee agendas and the process to notify committee members were discussed. A uniform, County wide procedure was favored. This procedure should be referred to Kathy Schauf.

Items for next meeting: Steel septic tank replacement program, rezoning conversion fee, resolution for Lake Protection Grant, resolution for Committee members’ attendance at seminar.

Motion by Netzinger, seconded by Ashford to adjourn.

Respectfully submitted,



Joel Gaalswyk, Secretary



Notes by mary white.