Town has no say in pay-to-hunt plan

Months of debate over safety, noise pollution, quality of life and other issues that came with a request for a conditional use permit for a pay-to-hunt bird preserve in the Town of Belgium turned out to be irrelevant.

It turns out Dan Large, who with his wife Ann own and operate Pheasants @ Large, a pay-to-hunt operation near highways KW and A in the town, didn’t need to ask the town for permission to expand the business to a 65-acre parcel at the corner of Lake Church and Silver Beach roads. He just needed a license from the Department of Natural Resources, which he received.

The DNR license supersedes town zoning ordinances, so the town has no jurisdiction over the business.

As such, the Town Board on Monday unanimously agreed that Large’s conditional use permit request be found moot.

Janice Poss, who lives on Sauk Trail Road, said the issue of local control goes beyond this case.

“It’s not about hunting. It’s not about guns. I think the most shocking thing I’ve learned in sitting through these meetings in this process is the DNR has authority to  override the town zoning and land use plan for pay for hunt,” she said.

“I’m just very concerned. How far is the state going to go? What’s the next issue … that completely obliterates a town’s ability to zone?”

Since the DNR isn’t made up of elected officials, Poss said, she has contacted the offices of local legislators Duey Stroebel and Rob Brooks, as well as Gov. Tony Evers to ask their positions on the “usurpation” of local control in regard to a state agency and private business.

“I hear Janice’s concern about the loss of local control. The pendulum has swung the other way,” Zoning Administrator Charlie Parks said.

“I was a little surprised the DNR doesn’t do any inspecting of these sites before they issue these permits.”

Regardless, Parks said, this experience is something to learn from.

Mark Bednarek, who lives on a parcel on Silver Beach Road that the pay-to-hunt land surrounds, asked for clarification about what he can expect to happen on the land when hunting begins. Large had discussed putting in a berm, which helps muffle gunfire at his Pheasants @ Large pay-to-hunt property in the town.

Large said he is still considering the berm and may put trees on it.

Bednarek said it wouldn’t help in the short term.

“I think anybody in this room knows that trees don’t grow overnight. If we’re talking about 15 to 20 years … it’s not going to do anything (now),” he said.

Town Chairman Tom Winker encouraged everyone to cooperate as best they can.

“At the end of the day, we all need to walk away friends and neighbors and very simply try to get along,” he said. “We don’t have a police force to go out and try to resolve neighborhood disputes.”

The Plan Commission last week on a 5-3 vote  recommended rendering Large’s request moot, with Larry Bares, Al Poull and Dennis Dimmer voting no.

“So we’re really voting on nothing,” Poull said.

Questions were raised over whether Large should have a Class A or B license. A Class A requires 80 acres and Large has 65, but Large said the DNR allows non-contiguous properties to be combined to reach 80 acres.

A Class B license allows less than 1,000 birds to be shot per year and limits the type of birds and times they may be shot.

The town got help in drafting the motion from Zoning Board of Appeals member Jim Hubing.