Minutes

Planning Commission Meeting Minutes from 04/28/2026 Meeting Attendees: Wayne, Lori, Fred, Travis, Kat, Prescott Absent: Dale Meeting called to order 6:30pm Roll Call-See Attendees above Meeting was properly noticed Motion to approve the agenda by Travis and 2nd by Wayne-All approved Motion was made by Lori to strike from the current agenda the All Croix reporting process-2nd by Travis and all approved. Motion to approve the minutes from the previous meeting 3/24/2026: Motion made-Travis and second by Wayne. All approved. Persons wishing to address the Planning Committee-None noted in advance of the meeting Mary Brand-Pierce County Stake Holders Committee (Pierce County Farm Bureau) Committee is made up of Farmers, Haulers, some non-farmers and non-haulers as well. Mary would not indicate specifically who was on the committee. She indicated that the committee is working to determine ways to communicate more efficiently to eliminate and mitigate road damage issues specifically working with the county. The two takeaways are that there needs to be better communication • This is a big issue with many facets • The committee is working to have some goals identified to provide to Pierce County for an overall direction on how to proceed by the late Fall or early winter of 2026. • Kewaunee county is the only county that Mary has referenced. • Mary to provide other counties to reference that may have better resolutions or that they have been in contact with regarding the road issue • Heavy vehicles overall are the focus and not simply manure haulers • Board will need to consider either having the Planning committee waiting for more information from either the county or Mary’s group or having the committee making a final recommendation on an ordinance. Rich Olson-Trailblazers Tree Service regarding CUP application • Rich indicated he understood he started his business and didn’t realize he needed a CUP to operate on the property. • He provided a plot plan as well with his CUP • He indicated that the IBC’s that are currently on his property are food grade IBC’s • His website indicated he is a tree removal service versus a forestry service which is what his was indicating. • Prescott indicted that he didn’t believe if he was going to use a Biomass burner that he would be meeting the WI statues regarding that type of processing • Rich indicated he had more work to do regarding the burner and he had only just started that process of investigation. • The committee pointed out that he didn’t have a fire management plan and Rich indicated he would develop one • The committee had concerns with Rich bringing diseased trees from neighboring communities thus driving up the likelihood that our trees could be impacted overall. • Fred pointed out that Rich has several areas on his application that were simply left blank such as Insurance etc. Rich indicated that he only filled out what the county told him he needed to fill out. • Rich indicated he would do what he needed to do to get the CUP form as the committee needed • There was a general concern voiced from the attendees other than the committee that Rich didn’t have enough knowledge on what he doesn’t know about the rules and regulations regarding his potential business and it would/could adversely impact the neighbors. • The committee asked if he was currently operating his business on the property even though he didn’t have a CUP and Rich indicated that the county told him that would be fine while he was in the application process for the CUP • Rich wasn’t aware that the county requires the town to sign off on the approval of the CUP before it goes into effect • The committee discussed the county meeting on May 6th regarding this topic as the county was struggling fitting this business under the Ag specification. o Commercial use codes o Subdivision use codes • Other concerns were raised regarding if the DNR has been contacted regarding his plans and the question came up of who should be contacting the DNR • Prescott to share some more specific information that is lacking based on WI statutes that Rich will need to conform to overall • Committee’s intention is to send the CUP application back to the board with a referral of not agreeing to it at this time as the application is lacking quite a bit of information. • Kat will collate the list from the Planning committee of the issues with the CUP application and provide the feedback to Rich for his attention/action Discussion: At this point Wayne opened the meeting for public comments asking that each person limit their time to 2 minutes. • Conversation began around not blaming the larger dairy farmers for the nitrates in the water as it could be from tree decomposition, septic systems or other sources. • This comment was followed up by quite a bit of conversation regarding the number of head of cows that were in the town etc. • More continued discussion around the large manure haulers and the potential impact they are having not only on the roads but also on our wells. • A discussion was brought forward on a way to combine the chippings from trees with the manure to create a type of compost if you will to be spread on gardens and flower beds overall as an alternative • Mary Brand offered to share her information regarding CAFO spreading overall Next meeting is scheduled for 5/26/2026 at 6:30pm Wayne made a motion to adjourn that was 2nd by Fred and all approved.