Pay-to-hunt proposal gets tabled

A request by a town resident to open a pay-to-hunt operation on a 65-acre parcel on the corner of Lake Church and Silver Beach Road that the Belgium Town Plan Commission voted to deny in November was tabled by the Town Board on Monday.

Dan Large and his wife Annie own Pheasants @ Large, a pay-to-hunt operation near highways KW and A in the town, and want to expand to the recently purchased property.

Hunts, Dan said at the November meeting, would usually involve groups of four to seven people and 25 to 30 birds. He expects that about 20 groups per year would use the property.

Large already has the ability to hunt on the land himself and allow anyone else to do the same. He is seeking a pay-to-hunt provision.

“I bought the land for investment,” he said.

That Plan Commission meeting filled the Town Hall with 50 people, most who spoke against the proposal due to safety and noise concerns. Monday’s crowd was slightly smaller.

A major element in the November discussion is that a conditional use permit ties to the land and not a person or company, meaning the pay-to-hunt operation could continue for the foreseeable future.

On Monday, the Larges brought their attorney, Rebecca Roecker, who said that is not the case.

New legislation — Act 67 — was passed by the Wisconsin Legislature in 2017 that “really ties the hands of local officials” in regards to conditional use permits, she said, adding it has an exception that allows a permit to be tied to people and not the land.

Town resident Don Feyereisen said attaching the permit to the land would add value to a property.

“If you put it with the land, it becomes a selling point whether it’s for paid hunting, or horses or chickens, and that shouldn’t be allowed in some situations,” he said.

The Town Board did not come to a resolution on that issue on Monday.

Zoning Administrator Charlie Parks said  town officials talked to its attorney before the November Plan Commission meeting to “interpret and present facts as accurately as we could with what we have to work with, and that’s what we did.

“Attorneys don’t agree. There are different positions that are given, and this is what was given to us to present to the town,” he said.

Among residents’ concerns at November’s Plan Commission meeting were possibly being hit by stray bullets and the loss of quality of life due to the noise of gunshots, especially since the land is closer to a residential area than Large’s current pay-to-hunt operation.

Some people expressed support for Large and asked if the town has ever received a complaint about Pheasants @ Large. Parks said he never heard any.

The Plan Commission denied the conditional use permit, 7-1. Among the no votes were Town Chairman Tom Winker and Supr. Tom Bichler, who make up a majority of the three-member Town Board.

But after talking to the town attorney and the Wisconsin Towns Association’s attorney, Winker said more time is needed to address the issue.

“I will tell you we’re not ready to make a decision. There’s a lot of loose ends we need to tie up as a township,” he said.

He made a motion to table the issue to the March 4 Town Board meeting, saying that much time would be needed since the town’s attorney is busy representing other municipalities as well.

Large said the issue has been going on since last April and the delay “doesn’t smell good.”

Parks said Act 67 is new and needs time to be understood.

“The Plan Commission needs to learn it. The Town Board needs to learn it. We need a little guidance through the darkness,” he said. “This one was worth taking a little time and making sure we had all those boxes checked and really looked at this as objectively as possible and equitably for you and for the neighborhood.”

Supr. Bill Janeshek requested the issue be sent back to the Plan Commission, “so that it’s ready to go in March.”

Roecker said the board could put a clause into its motion to send the issue back to the commission, but the board chose not to, citing uncertainty on the necessity of the move.

The motion to table the issue to the March Town Board meeting passed, 2-1. Janeshek voted against.