By PAT CONWAY
Neighbors for Responsible Town Government
Open letter to the Monroe County Zoning Committee:
Sometimes we forget why zoning committees exist. For that matter, we forget why any governmental body exists. The primary objective of all units of government is to protect the health and safety of the people they serve.
Unfortunately, the Town of Wilton Board failed the citizens of this area when it approved the Mathy quarry permit. Even though the primary objective of the Wilton nonmetallic mining ordinance is to “protect the health and safety” of the residents, the Wilton Town Board never once addressed those concerns when considering Mathy’s application. They told us they tried to get Mathy to pay them money in exchange for the permit, but the town’s attorney said he could only get Mathy to pay the town in gravel. So the Wilton Town Board sold out the people they served for gravel. They betrayed our trust to act in the best interests of their constituents — for a load of gravel.
The betrayal began with the town board’s failure to follow its own comprehensive plan, which it adopted in 2003. One plan goal speaks of “the protection of the rural nature of the community and the development of an Amish focus or theme in the area to market to tourists.”
Another objective is to “work with the WI DNR to integrate and promote pedestrian users on the Elroy-Sparta State Trail” and to “develop a regional approach with other communities on the bike trail to market the state trail.”
The Wilton Town Board’s next betrayal was their blatant violation of the town’s nonmetallic mining ordinance, passed in 2012, when they were considering a quarry permit for Gerke. According to the ordinance, the town was to create a town plan commission, which would hold meetings to consider nonmetallic mining applications and then recommend a course of action at a public hearing to the town board. In June 2012, the three-man town board decided among themselves to disregard their duty to form a town plan commission and approved the Gerke application on their own. The Monroe County Zoning Committee in 2012 never questioned the Wilton Town Board about its failure to even form a town plan commission as required in its own ordinance.
Now in this case, with the Mathy application, opponents of the Mathy quarry asked the county district attorney for a meeting to discuss the Town of Wilton’s failure to follow its own nonmetallic Mining ordinance. The response from District Attorney Kevin Croninger was that he had no authority to force the Town of Wilton to comply with its own nonmetallic mining ordinance. And he would not meet with us.
We have many other concerns, including the lack of required studies around the high-capacity well permit, and we expect the DNR will issue stronger restrictions later this year. At the very least, Mathy’s permit should be withheld until the DNR issues the well permit and the new rules. We wish to remind you that your decision on the Mathy application will have a serious negative impact on our lives and livelihood. We ask that you postpone your decision on the Mathy application until all of our concerns have been addressed.
