Richland County

Office of the Zoning Administrator

Courthouse

181 West Seminary Street

Richland Center, WI 53581

608-647-2447

RICHLAND COUNTY ZONING COMMITTEE

MEETING MINUTES

November 7, 2007

Item #1 Rasmussen called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. Those present were Richard Rasmussen, Marilyn Marshall, Bruce Wunnicke, Carol Clausius, Harriet Pedley, Mary Storms, Myrna Beechey, Marie Liefheit, Mike Cooper and Cindy Brimmer. Betty Havlik was not present.

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

Item #3 Rasmussen asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes of October 1, 2007. Hearing none, Rasmussen moved to approve the minutes as mailed.

Start of Public Hearing 1:02 p.m.

Item #4 The committee heard the petition from LeRoy and Myrna Beechey to rezone 10 acres from Agriculture/Forestry to Agriculture/Residential in Section 12 of Akan Township. Beechey stated that they own approximately 59 acres. Joe Propp, an adjoining land owner would like to purchase the balance of the land minus the 10 acres they are rezoning around the house. A good portion of the land that Propp is purchasing is in the flood plain, so it can not be built on but Propp can farm it. Beechey stated she attended the planning commission and the Akan Town Board meeting. The town board had no objection to her request. Marie Liefheit, the Town of Akan clerk was in attendance. Pedley stated that no neighbors were heard from. Motion by Clausius, seconded by Marshall to grant the rezoning of 10 acres from Agriculture/Forestry to Agriculture/Residential in Section 12 of Akan Township. Motion carried. This petition be passed on to the next county board session which is scheduled for December 11, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. Pedley already has the legal description.

Item #5 Rockbridge Township rezoning for Richard Wilson to rezone 10 acres from Agriculture/Forestry to Non-Platted Residential in Sections 33 & 34. Motion by Wunnicke, seconded by Clausius to pass rezone request on to the next county board session on December 11 at 10:00 a.m. Motion carried.

End of Public Hearing 1:15 p.m.

Item #6 Discussions and possible approval of amendments to the Richland County Zoning Ordinance #5 – There was considerable discussion on “Lot Size Requirements in the Agricultural and Forestry District” on page 11 of the current ordinance. This section refers to legal non-conforming parcels. If the requirements are met there is no way to control the number of animal units on a sometimes very small parcel. One suggestion was to amend the language to something along the lines that no animals units would be allowed on 5 acres or less, and the language would be similar to how the Agriculture/Residential language is applied. The committee is to think about this over the next month to see how they would like to handle the smaller parcels zoned Agriculture/Forestry, not meeting the minimum 35 acre parcel size.

Item #7 Farm Consolidations – Pedley discussed this issue with the board asking if they would consider eliminating farm consolidations completely from the zoning ordinance as they are a night mare to deal with when tracking a parcel to check on its zoning district. It is not a statutory requirement that we have farm consolidations in our ordinance. After continued discussion it was decided to eliminate any language in the ordinance concerning farm consolidations.

Item #8 County Address Signs – Decker Supply sent a sample of the new county address sign. The committee would like to keep conformity with the signs and would like the posts to be blue with white numbering. We will contact Decker to make sure that is available, and see if they would send us one, at no charge. We are not anticipating needing any supplies from Decker until spring. Motion by Rasmussen, seconded by Wunnicke to have blue posts with white numbers. Motion carried.

Item #9 2007 Flood Report – Pedley stated she is still working on the aftermath of the flooding event. To date she is still working with 5 property owners. One mobile home owned by Schubert in Dayton Township and one home owned by Burns in Richwood Township will have to be removed as they are over 50% damaged in a mapped floodway. The Johnson home in Richland Township will have to be elevated. There were two structures that were less than 50% damaged; Bee in Richland Township and O’Brien in Ithaca Township that can be repaired. Pedley will keep the committee advised as to their status.

Item #10 Zoning Violations – Pedley stated she is still involved with the Bailey property in Westford Township. This will probably be turned over to the Attorney General for further action. She also stated that she will be working on a site in the Lone Rock area where the individual filled in the flood plain. She will keep committee informed as to status of each. Pedley stated she wanted to inform the committee that the Bannister property has been sold and will check with corporation counsel as to how to precede with the required clean-up of the property.

Item #11 Report from zoning administrator –

a.) Wisconsin Fund - Pedley stated that the Wisconsin Fund program was left in the state budget. Items b. & c. were to be considered as other revenue sources but will not need to be considered now that the Wisconsin Fund will be available at least for the next two years.

b.) County program for septage haulers – no need to discuss

c.) County program for private wells – no need to discuss

d.) Reduction of Fees for Flood Victims – Mike Cooper and Cindy Brimmer own a parcel of land in Woodstock. There is a mobile home on the site and it was destroyed during the recent flooding. There is considerable mold in the trailer and Troy Morris from the health department has condemned the property. The home was not in the flood plain. Cooper and Brimmer have been working with the county Resource Center along with Neighborhood Housing. Members of the family had become ill because they had been in the trailer before it was condemned. The family lost everything and has no extra money. They are appearing before the committee to see if the county would be willing to waive any of the required fees for bringing in a new trailer when one is found. There was discussion as to what actually needs inspections that would take office personnel to physically go out to the site. Motion by Wunnicke, seconded by Clausius to waive the fees for the conditional use permit and the land use permit but the required paperwork will still need to be done. The fees will not be waived for the sanitary permit (reconnect) or the building inspections to be performed by the building inspector. Motion carried.

Item #11 The next regular meeting will be Monday, December 3, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. Motion by Wunnicke, seconded by Clausius to adjourn. Motion carried.