7-2-2026 Zoning Committee Minutes

MARQUETTE COUNTY PLANNING & ZONING COMMITTEE Thursday, July 2, 2026, 1:00pm – Virtual and In-Person PUBLIC SAFETY ROOM – MARQUETTE COUNTY COURTHOUSE Members present: Gary Sorensen-Chair, John Bennett, John Larkin-Virtual, Eli Schmudlach, Dennis Fenner-Virtual Members absent: None Staff absent: None Others present: Jean Potter, Megan Stalker, Zach Hughes, Nicole Ziebell, Ron Barger, Roger Wallis Chair Sorensen called the meeting to order at 1:04am and asked for approval of the agenda. Motion by Bennett, 2nd by Schmudlach; motion carried 5-0. Chair Sorenson asked for approval of minutes from previous meeting. Motion by Fenner, 2nd by Bennett; motion carried 5-0. Citizens’ comments or concerns: None. Chair opened item 5: A public hearing for Melvin Kuhns, N914 State Hwy 22, Dalton, WI 53926, requesting a rezoning from Prime Agriculture (AG-1) to Ag ricultural Residential (AG- 3(5)) district for the following lands, all in Section 11, T14N R10E, Town of Buffalo, Marquette County, WI. A request to rezone 5 acres to AG-3(5) described as the S1/2 of the E1/2 of the E1/2 of SW-NE, totaling 5 acres for tax parcel 002-00347-0005. Potter summarized stating that rezone was properly noticed in local paper twice. Town of Buffalo approved as it was presented per Wallis. Motion to approve the rezone and move onto County Board by Fenner; Second by Bennett; discussion; motion carried 5-0. Chair opened item 6: Fidlar Technologies eRecording Updates (Register of Deeds): Ziebell discussed the new eRecording software through Laredo Anywhere for only Escrow account and Subscription holders. $4 a recording with $2 for revenue for the County and $2 to Fidlar. Chair opened item 7: Budget 2027 Updates and Proposed Fee Changes a. Register of Deeds: Ziebell updated committee with the Software savings and changing coming this year and the years to follow. Has a meeting on July 9th with the Budget Team to discuss changes. Fee Schedule only chang e was statute required for Transportation Project Plats went from $25 to $30 as of 4/10/2026. b. Land Information: Stalker discussed that she had a budget meeting with the Budget Team. Noted that her department mostly runs off grants. She also stated she wrote for another grant and was awarded it to help with updating servers and programs. Discussed increase in fees for Fire numb ers that are processed through her office. c. Planning & Zoning: Potter discussed sanitary fees that were created last year. She stated that the zoning fees have not been updated since 2022. Publication and postage costs have and are continually increasing and this is ma ndatory for some of her office procedures. Multiple strategic fee incre ases will offset required department expenses. Software costs will be $9000 a year, starting in 2027 for 5 years. Vehicle lease is $8000/year and was only budg eted for $5000 in 2026 in the outlay account. Potter stated a budget updat e will be given in August as she needs the proposed fees approved b efore she can get projected revenue and expenditure numbers for the 2027 budg et. Motion to approve the fee increases for zoning and sanitary and move onto County Board by Bennett; Second by Fenner; discussion; motion carried 5-0. Chair opened item 8: Department Reports a. Register of Deeds: Ziebell reported a comparison of numbers from June 2025 to June 2026, and everything has increased and as of May 2026 the revenue collected is at 43.27%. b. Land Information Director: Stalker reported State grants close outs have been submitted. There will be a revenue line for 2026. Still have a few open books and board of reviews due to townships being re-assessed. c. Zoning Administrator: Potter reported YTD numbers of $63,281.00 Revenue at 57% and tracking correctly. Increased 2% from last year. Permits are coming in at a good rate. Comprehensive plan website survey will be released to t he public. July 21 st WCCA meeting will be held for the Regional District as Marquette and Adams County is hosting at Emrick Lake Campground from 10am to 2pm. d. Zoning Technician: Hughes reported 16 septic inspections and 9 zoning on-sites completed. 19 sanitary permits reviews and issued, two of them being reviewed by the state. These numbers are up from last year. In connection with strate gic plan goal 4.2, initiative 3, peak days and hours for customer walk- ins are MWF in the morning while the building inspectors are in office and around l unch time with 104 in June. Calls this month: 535 total calls with Kari winning with number of calls 189 totaling 8 hours, Jean 159 totaling 16 hours and Zach 187 calls to taling 15 hours. BOA training in Waushara County was very informative and whole department went including some of the BOA committee members. Chair opened item 9: Review of Department Vouchers – none Chair opened item 10: Future Agenda Items for Action or Discussion. None Chair adjourned meeting at 2:24pm. Respectfully Submitted by Nicole Ziebell