Iron County passes tourist rooming house amendment

By ZACHARY MARANO

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Hurley — At its monthly meeting on Tuesday, the Iron County Board of Supervisors passed an amendment to the county’s land use ordinance recommended by the Iron County Comprehensive Planning/Land and Zoning Committee. Assistant Zoning Administrator Gerry Nasi explained to the board that there were two major changes to the ordinance in the amendment.

“One is to take the burden off the district attorney and place it on court council (for helping the county deal with property violations). The other is to get our TRH ordinance up to date. The explosive growth of the tourist rooming house industry has far outpaced the system that we have. It’s a horrible system for the applicant, for the governmental units — for everybody. This should streamline it and make it nice and easy for everybody,” Nasi said.

A draft of the ordinance sent to the Daily Globe on Friday stipulates that every tourist rooming shall now have a resident agent from Wisconsin within a certain number of miles of the property as determined by the city or town, unless the property owner is a permanent resident of the state.

The amendment also includes language saying that applications for a TRH administrative permit shall be filed with the zoning department. Previously, owners had to apply for a conditional use permit from the county and then for a TRH permit from the city or town.

The board also agreed to award their recycling bid to Waste Management rather than renew its contract with Republic Services, which expired on Wednesday.

The primary reason for this change was that Republic Services’ bid included language stating that its rates would increase based on the cost of diesel, increasing 5% for every 25 cents over $4.65 per gallon, whereas Waste Management charges a flat rate.

Board member John Sendra argued that the price of fuel is too unstable for them to accept Republic Services’ bid, saying it has reached about $7 per gallon in some parts of the U.S. while being $4.50 in other parts of the country.

The board also discussed whether to choose a three- or five-year contract with Waste Management, deciding on the latter option because it would charge $20 less per haul in the longer-term contract.

Ian Shackleford, vice president of Iron County Outdoor Recreation Enthusiasts, attended the meeting to update the board on the release of railroad grade between Hurley and Montreal by the Canadian National Railroad company. ICORE wants to use this railroad grade for a planned walking and bicycling trail between.

As former railroad, the first right to acquire this land would go to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. The city of Hurley submitted a letter asking for first right to acquire in May and Shackleford said that the state will contact Iron County to ask for its recommendation. The board passed a resolution in support of the Hurley-Montreal trail project.

In separate motions, the board agreed to allow the chairman and administrative coordinator to purchase goods and services up to $2,500 without board approval, and to allow the finance committee to approve purchases up to $5,000 in goods and services without board approval.

Iron County Clerk Michael Saari said that this will allow them to purchase some items that are not in the budget on short notice without having to convene the county board for approval. He said they will only make such purchases when absolutely necessary.

Also at the meeting, Iron County Forestry and Parks Department head Eric Peterson reported that the stumpage for the county was at $482,444 as of Thursday, compared to $825,275 at this time last year.

Peterson said that they have been experiencing the effects of low stumpage prices over the last few bid cycles and poor market conditions. He said he does expect high stumpage prices for the next couple of years.

The board also approved:

—The appointment of Lori Prenderville as new child support director for the Iron County Human Services Department.

—The sale of two parcels of land in the town of Mercer to connecting landowners and the transfer of railroad grade in Mercer.