Town of Germantown
Official Website of the Town of Germantown, Juneau County, WIPlanning Commission Meeting
MINUTES
Town of Germantown Town Hall
N7560 17th Avenue
New Lisbon, WI 53950
June 12, 2019
5:30 p.m.
Present: Commission Chair Shannon Vogele, Commissioners Keith Korbein, Ken Jax,
Patrick McCormick, Gervase Thompson, Zoning Administrator Dick Martin,
Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Michaele Korbein
Absent: none
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at the town hall at 5:30 p.m.
Pledge
Possible approval of meeting minutes
A motion was made by Keith Korbein, seconded by Ken Jax, to approve the minutes from the May 22, 2019 meeting. Motion carried 5-0.
Work session on zoning ordinance updates
Just some of the thoughts and ideas that were discussed:
It was noted that Act 55 has taken some of our ability to govern away.
-Cell towers -outright permitted uses in a commercial district
-Limit impervious coverage and storage building/pole sheds
-Concerns with some commercial districts having permitted uses
-Separate Conditional Use Permit process from the P.U.D. process?
Section 5 Conditional Use vs Section 3.08 PUD -they are very similar procedures.
A PUD is a development district, and what is going into it is not necessarily fitting in within the ordinance. A Conditional Use deals with a specific use that is not permitted within that district.
-Have checklists for Planning Commission, Zoning Administrator, and applicants.
-Step by step procedures needed. Many times, the preliminary plat and final plat approvals are combined.
-Do we need a separate subdivision ordinance? Continuity needed. Subdivision regulated by the State.
-We go by our ordinance #25 first. Subdivision controls the splitting of land into lots (land division). A Planned Unit Development (PUD) controls the land zoning or rezoning.
-Should sundown date be part of the zoning ordinance book?
-Non- conforming property -does the state govern? In Section 2.01 & 2.02, may need something added in re: about re-building to a non-conforming standard, as in a rebuild after a fire, flood, etc.
-Don’t allow de-platting; has taken place at times sometimes to avoid fees or slowing sales, and confuses what is platted and the office records.
-Prevent people from taking out a building permit on one lot and switching it to another lot. It gets confusing when the three of us in the office and Tracy Johnson try to keep track of which permits were changed because someone changed their mind on which lots they were not going to build on after the permit paperwork was processed. And it’s even more confusing when trying to keep track of the impact fees on those changed.
-Agriculture in a residential subdivision doesn’t make sense -there are two classifications then in a development, but it wasn’t zoned that way. If zoned one way it should stay the same, unless otherwise approved via the proper channels. Example: a field of corn in a residential subdivision should have to have a permit to be planted in a subdivision. The State, however, has said that they liken it to having a garden on a lot. See Section 1.07, specifically, re: Town Center.
-Keep 2.03 that, a certificate of zoning compliance is issued with every building permit.
-Corner lots: what is front and what is side for setbacks? Section 2.09 says that, every yard abutting a street shall be considered a front yard for purposes of determining setbacks. May need a clarification to indicate that in corner lot cases the front is either the front door side or the driveway where the fire # is.
-Setbacks in individual districts may need to be changed to be more in line with each other.
-Need the PUD process to be more streamlined. Including condensing some sections so not going through page after page after page.
-Pre-petition conference Section 3.08: originally, purpose was to get an idea of what a developer wanted to do, i.e. lots, green space, parking, including a drawing, to understand what the proposal could be.
-Make sure to bill out engineering and other consultant fees Section 1.08, which we do.
Also, under 3.08 (3)(b) &(c), it discusses billing out cost of administration, investigation, advertising, and processing, including consultant’s fees -so fees are mentioned again.
-Examples: Section 2.05 Junk Vehicles and Section 2.12 Animals Regulations, and other items are regulated under separate ordinances -should or can they be rolled into one?
-Section 7.0 Administration: Clarify number of copies needed at each stage, i.e. 10 or 15. And what about PDF files -technology has changed and need to keep up with that to include PDFs in the ways to provide copies.
-Which ordinance supersedes the ordinance or other sections: Land Use or Zoning? How does shoreland County Ordinance affect and fit into our zoning? County regulations vs State regulations vs our Town regulations -how do they work together?
Next Meeting
5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 at the town hall
Adjourn
A motion was made by Ken Jax, seconded by Keith Korbein, to adjourn at 6:25 p.m. Motion carried 5-0.
Respectfully Submitted,
Michaele Korbein
Deputy Clerk/Treasurer