June 19, 2020 at 8:14 a.m.
Lake Tomahawk ATV Club members want answers as to next step in ordinance process
Recent survey results indicate favorable response to ATV/UTV use on town roads
Lake Tomahawk ATV Club members want answers as to next step in ordinance process
Earlier this year, residents of the town of Lake Tomahawk were asked via survey if they were in favor of year-round use of allowing the use of ATV/UTVs on town roads.
The results were 421 in favor and 263 against.
Once the results were public, in a May 10 letter to town clerk Sharon Lintereur, town supervisor Larry Hoffman and members of the planning commission, Barbara Spears-Ehler, president of the Lake Tomahawk ATV Club, thanked the town for allowing the survey to be conducted and asked what the next steps should be.
"It is our understanding that the results of the survey were favorable to opening town roads to ATV/UTV use," Ehler wrote. "Our group is committed to keeping open communication with the Town, offering assistance where allowed and providing any resources we have in regards to the requests we've put forward."
She stated in the letter there were "community and club members" asking what was going to happen now that the survey is complete.
"We would like to be as transparent as possible and relay the correct information," Ehler continued. "Can you please provide some feedback as to the next steps and what we can do as a club to assist? What is the plan moving forward? How soon will the survey/results/next steps be put on the agenda?"
In response, the chairman of the town's planning commission, Steve Forrest, sent an email to the town board explaining that the plan was to have a planning commission meeting during the first week in June "where we will make our recommendation" to the town board.
"I will also have a draft ordinance for them," he wrote in the email. "After this it will be up to the town board if they move to go forward our attorney will have to review the ordinance."
Forrest said the ordinance would need to be publicized and then approved at a later town board meeting.
"Be patient as it will most likely take at least two or three town meetings to get this all through," he wrote. "I will let you know when our next meeting will be, you need not attend."
As it turned out, during the planning commission meeting on June 4, Forrest, one of three members of the five member planning commission present, made a motion to advance an ATV/UTV ordinance recommendation to the town board for consideration at its June 10 meeting.
He failed to get a second from the other planning commission members at the meeting, Catherine Parker and Roger Dorsey, and his motion died.
That set the stage for a nearly 30-minute discussion, during the June 10 public comment period, on the status of the town's ATV/UTV ordinance.
'What's the hang up?'
Ehler began her comments by saying she understood the ATV/UTV survey and ordinance weren't on the meeting agenda.
"It is not up for discussion, which I'm aware of," she said. "But I would hope to ask a couple of questions to clarify and get some definitive answers to share with our members and general public regarding our next steps."
Ehler first asked if there had been a recommendation from the planning commission regarding the survey.
"They had a meeting last Thursday and no action was taken," answered board chair George DeMet said. "They've made no recommendations as of yet."
"Why?" Lake Tomahawk ATV Club member Adam Lau asked.
DeMet said there were only three members of the planning commission at the meeting.
DeMet said Hoffman, the town board's liaison with the planning commission, was also in attendance.
"He could tell you, probably," he said, motioning to Hoffman, seated to his right at the end of a table.
"Steve made a motion and it died for lack of a second," Hoffman said.
"That's where it sits," DeMet said.
"They didn't schedule another meeting or nothing," Hoffman continued. "So, I'm perplexed as to ..."
"Does it get sent back to the town board at that point?" Ehler said.
"We're waiting for a recommendation," DeMet said. "They have to write an ordinance."
"That's what you asked them to do, is write an ordinance," Lau said. "Correct?"
"Yes," DeMet said.
"What's the hang-up?" Lau asked. "
"You would have to take that up with the plan commission," DeMet said.
"How do we go about that?" Lau asked.
Ehler interrupted, saying she wanted to get back to her question.
"From my understanding, regardless what the board decided on the planning commission ... which they didn't get a second, there's still supposed to be a recommendation sent back to the Lake Tomahawk Town Board," she said. "Whether yea or nay."
"If there was no action taken, then there would have been no recommendation," DeMet said. "There was no action taken."
'We can't do that'
DeMet could have ended the discussion then, as it was on the verge of moving outside the parameters of public comment, but he allowed it to continue and Ehler asked another question.
"OK, based on no action taken, is it reasonable to request a motion being made by the town board to either pass or not pass the opening of all town roads (to ATVs and UTVs) based on the majority of the voices of Lake Tomahawk?" she asked.
"We can't do that without an ordinance," DeMet said. "That is the whole point of the plan commission is to write the ordinance. Without an ordinance ... we can't just say, 'OK, all the roads are open.' You have to have an ordinance in order to do that."
"They're not even writing it right now," Lau said.
DeMet said he'd met with Forrest a few weeks prior to the June 10 meeting and he said Forrest told him he was working on an ordinance.
Hoffman acknowledged Forrest was working on the ordinance, but when plan commission members wouldn't foward a recommendation, "he stopped writing."
DeMet speculated the reason the ordinance didn't make it out of the plan commission meeting was because there were only three of five members at the June 4 meeting.
"That's just my speculation," he said.
"OK, so if they're allowed to have a meeting without all the members there, like, are we gonna wait until four years from now to hear from them?" Lau asked. "How does this work?"
"I would assume they're going to have another meeting and they're going to address the situation," DeMet said.
"I would assume that, too, but nothing has happened yet and we can't keep assuming," Lau said.
DeMet said he'd provided all of the information he could to that point.
"It's up to them to write the ordinance," he said.
Ehler was frustrated.
"So, I'm asking you straight out," she said. "Is this dead in the water?"
"No, it's not dead in the water," DeMet said.
"How do we get this on your agenda for a motion to get it approved or not approved?" Ehler asked. "Through our town board. Not our planning commission."
DeMet reiterated a point he made earlier.
"As soon as an ordinance is written, we will take action on it," he said.
"What action needs to be taken to force an ordinance to be written if they're not even willing to vote on it?" Lau asked.
"They either write an ordinance or we hire a town attorney to write an ordinance," DeMet said. "I would prefer that the plan commission write it. It would be a lot cheaper."
"I would too and that's the way the vote came in," Lau said. "We're jumping through hoops we don't have to. It doesn't make any sense."
Later in the discussion, Ehler made a comment regarding the possible financial impact for the town.
She said she was not as a member of the Lake Tomahawk ATV Club but was speaking as the owner of the Shamrock Pub N' Eatery in Lake Tomahawk.
"We're going on our 12th year," Ehler said. "We don't know that we'll see 13. This would help, just like every other community in our area. I'm very disappointed that I can't even get an ounce of answers for our community and our members. Very disappointed."
By the end of the discussion, DeMet said he would talk to Forrest and Hoffman, as liaison with the plan commission, would do the same.
On Friday, DeMet said he hadn't yet met with Forrest, but Hoffman said he had.
"The planning commission will have a meeting Thursday," he said. "We're gonna get it (draft ordinance) done by the next town board meeting."
Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].
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