BY GREG AMBROSIUS
The Waupaca County Board of Adjustment (BOA) will hear all new testimony for the Iola Car Show sand mine permit on Monday, Oct. 21, starting at 9 am.
The verdict from the Waupaca County Planning & Zoning Committee has been dismissed and the Board of Adjustment will now hear all new testimony and decide whether to grant this Conditional Use Permit.
The de novo hearing – a brand-new hearing with all new testimony – was determined as the next step by Outagamie County Judge Vincent Biskupic and sent to the BOA after three families appealed the previous decision. The five Board of Adjustment members will now be responsible for allowing the Conditional Use Permit to Faulks Bros. or denying it.
All pre-hearing briefs, witness lists, and exhibits must be submitted to the BOA by Oct. 7. The BOA will also take written comments from the public and they will be put into the public record if received by Oct. 7. Public comments up to three minutes will also be allowed at the hearing on Oct. 21.
The BOA had to adjust its policy today (July 29) to allow the de novo hearing. A Waupaca County statute approved in 2001 that did not allow new testimony or new evidence to be brought to the Board of Adjustment on an appeal or decision of the Planning & Zoning Committee was not in compliance with state regulations and had to be updated. The board unanimously approved new wording to allow for this and other de novo hearings.
The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. on Oct. 21. It will include testimony from the applicants (Faulks Bros.), testimony from the plaintiffs, and the staffers’ recommendation from the Planning & Zoning Committee. The plaintiffs requested a separate timeframe after work hours for the public meeting, but after a long deliberation, the board did not request that. Instead, the public comments will come after all testimony and written public comments are heard, which would likely take the public comments section into the late afternoon or early evening, accomplishing in some ways what the plaintiffs requested.
The five Board of Adjustment members will take an on-site tour on Wednesday, Oct.16, at 8:30 a.m.
There will be a separate day after all testimony is heard, and the board will publicly hold deliberations before deciding. That has not been determined yet as the board members needed to check their schedules, but it will be open to the public and likely be held a few days later.