MADELINE ISLAND NEWS AND INFORMATION
Town Plan Commission Meeting 10-01-08
NEW!!! TPC TAKES MORE HEAT AT RECENT MEETING
Updated: October 5
Posted: October 3
The Wednesday, October 1st TPC meeting brought citizens to Town Hall who were not able to speak at the previous night's joint Town Board - TPC Meeting. Several residents spoke out against the proposed zoning changes as well as some of the comments made at that meeting. The Commission listened to over 30 minutes of comments and letters from citizens as well as accepted a petition asking to reduce the size of the TPC from seven members to five.
Tim Eldred started the public comment protesting new language that has been brought into the process, calling terms like "value tactics ladder" confusing and inappropriate. He also took issue with the public input summary provided by Carl Broberg, TPC Chair. He also urged every member of the Town Plan Commission to read and interpret for themselves public comment and not rely on Broberg's summary, which he called necessarily incomplete. He when on to say that at least one of his comments was improperly characterized and many were ignored, which lead him to believe that there were other similar oversights and inaccuracies from the comments of others. He also questioned Broberg's condensing over 130 pages of public comment into a 3 page summary. He also commented on the 2010 deadline for zoning revisions, calling it a false interpretation of the statute and that he was confident that no revisions were necessary to the current La Pointe Zoning Ordinance. He went on to clarify, "...The TPC is not compelled to do any rewriting of the Ordinance."
He went on to say that TPC needs to state specifically where in the Comprehensive Plan (aka Smart Growth Plan) where the need for these changes originate and he said the most troubling thing about the previous night's discussion was that about making changes to the comprehensive plan.
He accused the TPC of seeking to change the Comprehensive Plan to as a means of furthering the ordinance changes proposal, calling it "putting the cart ahead of the horse." He called writing language and seeing if it fits the plan is a backward approach. He went on to remind the TPC that land use issues must be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan, saying that was the essence of the statute that created the comprehensive plan. He warned that to do otherwise would result in court challenges that the town will lose any challenge that identifies inconsistencies with the vision of the Comprehensive Plan. Click here to hear Tim Eldred's comments.
Tom Nelson submitted a petition of over 80 La Pointe voters calling for the size of the Town Plan Commission to be reduced from seven to five members. Nelson was informed by Broberg that his request was a Town Board matter, but it would be forwarded on to them.
An unidentied resident, submitted a letter from Bill Bussey, a Bayfield attorney representing Nebraska Row and Grant's Point residents, pointed out that multi-family dwellings in zones R1, R2, and S1 weren't addressed at the previous night's meeting. Click here to hear his comments. (Editor's Note: We have not been able to identify this person from the recording.)
Paul Brummer spoke about several issues concerning him including the ignoring of public comment at the previous nights' meeting, and that some are not looking at the big picture. He praised Tim Eldred's letter. Click here to hear his comments.
Dick Hoffman spoke a handout he provided about Ashland County zoning requirements, specifically citing an Ashland County ordinance concerning shoreline setbacks and municipal sewer systems, pointing out that some of the proposed setbacks do not meet Ashland County requirements. He proposed that La Pointe simply adapt the County requirements to keep things less complicated and eliminate the need for both County and Town inspections; if adopted, only the County would need to inspect. He also disputed setbacks being apportioned to parcel size, saying that they are not. He said in some cases, once all of the subtractions for setbacks were calculated, including wetlands and ravines, the property owner was left with less than 50% of that they could put a structure on, which in his opinion, takes rights away from property owners. He went onto talk about County regulations on density which he felt were good enough for La Pointe. His final comments to the TPC were to "do it right the first time," and that he also agreed with Tim Eldred, "...in particular of making 14 pages of recommendations that weren't the best efforts, best practices, or the best we could do and if we had a chance to do it, we wouldn't vote for them anyway. My God. Do it right the first time." Click here to hear his comments.
Gary Russell spoke about his involvement with the C.A.P.P. Committee citing that input was gathered from many different groups of people all of the people involved with the Comprehensive Plan processes. He said that he hears a lot of people accused the TPC of putting things into the zoning ordinance that are not in the plan, but he hears a lot of people wanting things put into the ordinance or taken out of the existing ordinance that weren't part of the plan and says he thinks that we all interpret it a little differently. He went to talk about established patterns of use about activities that have been going on forever; sometimes its how an islander makes their living or its how an islander finds a place to live and said he was happy to hear that they are trying to address that. He said it seemed to him that they were interested in trying to provide housing opportunities and employment opportunities, and he thought that the idea of the Comprehensive Plan was to do that. But he also said those involved with the comprehensive plan were very concerned about protecting the island's "quality of life". Click here to hear his comments.
Joe McCarthy asked if this was the public's only opportunity to speak. TPC CHair Carl Broberg replied "It's not an open forum , per say, but if you do have specific knowledge on what's being presented, I try to be very libreal and allow comment."
McCarthy said in regards to the meeting last night, he said he appreciated Broberg's complied list of all of the concerns of the public, but he didn't see how those three pages, with omissions and misquotes, were to be used as a worksheet adding, "Mine were a half a dozen".
He said that he didn't see any another committer members adding to it or asking any other questions about it. Rather than trying to identifying problems or concerns, he said he thought that more attention needed to be paid to those letters and what was said at the public hearing. He also went on to say that he didn't hear any discussion of P.U.D.s. (Public Unit Developments), something that was a hot topic several years ago that the Zoning Committee worked very hard to come up with an ordinance that prohibited them along the lake shore. He said that this was a very important topic that needed their scrutiny. He went on to talk about a term he hear a lot at the previous night's meeting, "density neutral". Click here to hear his comments.
Charles Brummer spoke briefly and hoped that the Town Plan Commission would take into account all of the letters that they received stating it was their duty to listen to what the public had to say at that hearing.
Mike Starck replied that everyone of the people on the Commission and the Town Board had gotten copies of every one of the letters that came in, as well the minutes and the recap of what was said at the Public Hearing.
Broberg then read a letter from Burke Henry, as requested. Henry's letter pointed out that one of the proposed changes would permit population density in all districts to be increased to make room for the population growth forecasted in the Comprehensive Plan. He said the control mechanism is the CUP process, which he called burdensome and expensive and called the process divisive to the community. The need for this could and should be eliminated if the population projections in the Comprehensive Plan were reexamined and modified, citing pages in the plan which allows for that. (Editor's Note: We will be obtaining his letter shortly.)
He said that the Comprehensive Plan's population growth data and forecasts needed to be changed to reflect what is actually occurring. His research of the actual population/housing unit growth data for the last 4 years is less than forecasted with population is at 92% and the number of new households is at 45% of what is forecasted in the plan.
His letter went on to point out to a table 4-6 "Land Area Requirements by Housing Type 2006-2025" , which that he believes is flawed. since it makes no accounting that the residential accurate on the island is finite. He went on to suggest that a group be formed to make changes in the comprehensive plan which establishes a limit to the population as to preserve "the island way land use densities". This number, yet to be calculated needs to be determined soon and his letter went on to say he is confident that the new numbers would be less than is what is stated in the comprehensive plan which he said that this would eliminate the requirement to modify the Zoning Ordinance to allow greater densities in all zones. He went on to suggest the Zoning Ordinance be modified to support home-based occupation and that the Commercial Zone needs to be increased. Click here to hear Broberg read his letter.
Joe McCarthy talked about the guest house issue. Click here to hear his comments.
The rest of the meeting followed the published agenda.
A report from Jennifer Croonborg, Zoning Administrator voiced concern about the possibility of a "Protest Petitions", a right of the public to protest Town Plan Commission's recommendations to the Town Board regarding text changes.
A discussion of requirements and restriction of grandfathered non-conforming lots. A letter from Alan Fischlowitz states he has been asked to form a committee to make some sense on grandfathered and none conforming lots. His letter states that a Committee has been formed, with himself, William Tibbs, Ron Madich and Michael Childers.
A discussion about Commissioners voting on issues perceived as a conflict of interest. Apparently, this discussion centered around Lois Carlson voting on a CSM in which involved a property for sale listed by Island Shores Realty. Carlson claims to have heard that she had been accused of committing a felony, was insulted, and frustrated that an attorney was consulted about her actions without her knowledge. (Editor's Note: After hearing this we decided to look into this further. Click here for more information about this "Conflict of Interest.")
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