April 13, 2023 at 11:15 a.m.
Oneida County conservation committee hears update on shoreland protection ordinance hearing
A review of a letter from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regarding issues that agency has with the ordinance was also ordered, according to Jennrich.
Jennrich said a chart was put together summarizing the public comments offered in person at the public hearing. Many of those comments, he said, came from a ballot, which has received much attention since it became public.
At the planning and development meeting, Oneida County Lakes and Rivers Association (OCLRA) representative Bob Mott provided the committee with over 100 ballots collected by the OCLRA. However, the committee previously stated it would not allow public comment from anyone who was not either a property owner or a full-time resident of the county. One of the issues with the ballots, according to committee chair Jim Winkler, was that there were no addresses on the ballots, only names.
Jennrich said he could not speak to that and the committee would have to decide for itself if they will take those ballots that did not contain addresses into consideration. He said neither he nor anyone in his office would have the time to verify if any of the respondents who emailed or mailed in one of these ballots was a resident or property owner in Oneida County.
"I'd throw this stupid thing out," Winkler said, noting that he has a personal issue with the ballot. He said he took issue with the fact that OCLRA suggested where they had support or opposition to specific pieces of the shoreland protection ordinance revisions. He asked Jennrich if there were any ballots that came back with opposing views.
"I don't know," Jennrich answered.
He said he would not respond to Winkler's issue and said staff would not have time to look at each individual ballot to determine if any of the respondents disagreed with the suggestions. He said there may have been some ballots where responses were contrary to the suggestions, but said staff did not go through the ballots to see how respondents voted.
During public comment, an OCLRA board member told the committee there were several ballots given to the committee indicating respondents did not agree with OCLRA's suggestions.
In the time since the planning and development meeting, Jennrich said he had accomplished sending an email to the DNR talking about the ordinance amendment and from where some of the changes came. He also asked the department to come to talk with the committee to discuss proposed changes. This was all that had been done up to the time of the conservation committee meeting. He also said he did not go through the audio recording to see who or how many people commented for or against any of the items. He said he was not instructed to do so.
Jennrich said he would also research shoreland protection ordinances from other counties, but was not sure whether that research would be concluded within the needed time frame. Jennrich said he wanted to look into other certified ordinances. The only counties he relied on were Vilas County regarding boathouses and Lincoln County regarding the definition of a building footprint.
Now that it had held a public hearing has been held, Jennrich said the planning committee could begin to digest all of the public comments made and take those into consideration.
Committee member Bob Thome asked Jennrich whether, if changes were made, the issue would be taken back out to public hearing.
Jennrich said that would be a question for the corporation counsel, but if changes were substantial, he felt the recommendation would be to take the changes back to a public hearing.
Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].
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