Richland County

Office of the Zoning Administrator

Courthouse

181 West Seminary Street

Richland Center, WI 53581

608-647-2447

www.co.richland.wi.us/departments/zoning

 

MINUTES OF THE RICHLAND COUNTY ZONING COMMITTEE

September 1, 2009

 

Item # 1           The Zoning committee meeting was called to order by Chairman Rasmussen at 1:00 PM. Those present or who signed up to speak were Donna Hoth, David Duren, Bob Holets, Carol Clausius, Marilyn Marshall, Virginia Wiedenfeld, Richard Rasmussen, Harriet Pedley, with Cheryl Dull taking minutes..

 

Item #2            Motion by Clausius, seconded by Wiedenfeld, to approve the publication and agenda. Motion carried.

 

Item #3            Moved by Holets, seconded by Marshall to approve the August 3, 2009 and August 21, 2009 meeting minutes.  Motion carried.

 

Start of Public Hearing 1:01 PM.

 

Item # 4           The committee heard a petition from Steve & Donna Hoth to rezone 8.75 acres from Agriculture/Forestry to Agriculture/Residential in Section 12 of Eagle Township     

Discussion: The Hoth’s explained that they originally owned 7 acres then they purchased more property from Tom Shields.  There present acreage is over 46 acres.  They would now like to sell some property to Stacey and Jerry Kliest and end up with the same acreage they began with.  The Kleist’s intend on adding the acreage to their farm.  Pedley stated the township approved the request and there were no neighbors heard from.

 

Motion by Holets, seconded by Clausius to approve the petition and pass it to the next county board session.  Motion carried.

 

Item # 5           Motion by Marshall, second by Wiedenfeld to bring the David Duren petition off the table from June.  Motion carried. The committee heard a petition from David Duren to rezone 5.02 acres from Agriculture/Forestry to Agriculture/Residential in Section 11 of Westford Township. Discussion: Pedley brought the committee up to date on this request saying that when it was first heard the township had not acted on it because they thought since this was not a requirement from the zoning ordinance and instead being a request from Duren’s bank, they did not think it was necessary.  Duren has since returned to the town board and explained the situation and they have now approved the rezoning request.  Pedley stated there were no neighbors heard from and none since the previous meeting.

 

Motion by Wiedenfeld, seconded by Clausius to approve the petition and pass it to the next county board session.  Motion carried.

 

Item # 6           2010 Budget was discussed. Harriet has been working on the budget, trying to get a vision of what is happening based on history. Revenues are dependent on the economy. Finance Committee has told everyone to reduce their budget by 15% of insurance cost which is $6,525 for the Zoning Department. Pedley has removed everything possible out of the office budget and now she is asking the Zoning Committee to take a look at the revenue. Harriet feels positive about being able to achieve this.  So far there are 25 zoning permits for 2009, in 2008 there was 46 total. We need 21 more to reach the anticipate revenue. These fees have not changed since 2005.  The revenues from Wisconsin Fund application are down. In 2008 there were 24 applications and in 2009 there have been 8. Nine more are need to reach our anticipated revenue. Sanitary permits numbers have increased since last year but the eligibility requirements for the Wisconsin Fund seem to be the problem. Pedley felt more out of area owners have contributed to the decrease in numbers for Wisconsin Fund applications. Also, Wisconsin fund qualifying income has not changed much over the years so people are becoming less eligible as time goes on. Sanitary permit application fees are up from 2008. The office has issued 13 more then last year. We need 4 more permits to reach our revenue goal and Pedley feels we can reach that goal with no problem. The county board increased the fees in January of 2009 to offset the increase in the dollar amount sent to the state so, all the additional revenues generated have gone to the state.  For this reason, the committee could consider increasing the cost of sanitary permit by $25.00. Raising the sanitary permit fee by $25 will increase revenue by approximately $2500.  Farmland Preservation certificates should remain the same at $300.00.  Soil test filing fees have gone way down and Pedley doesn’t think we will meet our goal.  There were 124 in 2006, 102 in 2007, and 79 in 2008. She feels soil test filing fees should be put in at $7900 for 2010 and not raise the base fee.  The fee for Land Division and division was raised in 2007 to $40. This year we have had 12, in 2008 there were 22, in 2007 there as 16, and in 2006 there was 38. This year we will be close to meeting the revenue at $1000 and this number should remain the same for 2010.  Land use permit numbers have increased and in 2009 we are at 89% of anticipated revenue. There are a few things we could propose to increase but it would not make a significant difference. The last changes were from 2005. Options are to raise residential structures presently at .10 a square ft. to coincide with the UDC inspector’s charge of .15/sq ft. This would increase revenues by $800.00 approximately. We have separate permit charges for detached garages with is $75 but an attached garage is $50. We discussed raising the $50 to $75 to match the detached which would raise revenues by approximately $250.  Pedley showed the committee $3150 in office budget reductions.  Non metallic mining is proposed to be the same in 2010 although there is one less mine this year. County address signs are down for 2009 for some unknown reason.  Sanitary maintenance filing fees for 2009 are slightly less (73) than anticipated because not all parcels have shown to have dwellings on them.  1500 people were sent to this year and Pedley feel we should reduce the 2010 number to reflect that change.  Mapping and database fees are over anticipated revenue for 2009. Pedley proposes we increase the total for 2010 by $600. Future uses for this may me do publish our own platbook.  Pedley has met with the 4-H leaders who are looking for a company at the present time.  Pedley feels the office could take the project over for the publication after this one. It could be printed locally and graphics designed in house creating a revenue stream for the county.

 

Item # 7 & 8     New Chapter 91 farmland preservation – Pedley suggested the committee wait until aft the training on September 29th to see where we want to go with this issue.  She has attended the Richwood Town Board meeting and they related to her that the farmers on the board would not be interested in the program. Pedley will continue taking the program around to the other townships this fall.

 

Item #9            Violations –Illegal installation of septic tanks were discussed.

 

Item #10          No further report

 

Item # 11         Next meeting is Thursday, September 3rd at 9:00 AM.  Motion by Clasuius, second by Wiedenfeld to adjourn at 2:48 p.m.  Motion carried.