Advertisement Under the proposal, residents of the town would be prohibited from feeding deer and even some other animals.
The ordinance board members previewed Tuesday makes it illegal to place food on or within five feet of the ground, unless it is made deer-proof. Included in the ban are fruits, grains, salt licks, minerals, seeds, nuts and hay. Excluded are naturally growing vegetables, gardens, lawn residue, stored crops not made available to deer, spilled seed or feed, and bird or squirrel feeders.
Board members seemed to be in consensus on approving the measure — although no action was taken — but some resistance is anticipated.
“Whatever we do, there are going to be people who won’t be happy about it,” said Supervisor Marc Schultz.
The stated goal of the ordinance, which mirrors those already in place in other area municipalities, points to the traffic hazard, destructive nature and the potential for diseases over-population creates.
“If we are going to try to control the population we are going to have to say no feeding,” said Town Chairman Dave Paudler. “There’s just no way around it.”
Although the issue was discussed, no clear vision emerged on how the ordinance would be enforced.
Supervisor Shane Davis suggested word-of-mouth, complaints or even fly-overs might work.
Paudler said the town would likely have to work with the county and other municipalities on enforcement issues.
Penalties for violating the ordinance were not spelled out.
The ordinance will go up before an as-yet unscheduled public hearing and back to the urban deer committee and the full board before it could be modified and/or approved.
Other business
In other business, board members got a reintroduction to its border agreement with the city of Onalaska. The agreement is the same that was introduced in 2007. Paudler said in it the town would preserve its industrial park — near the Kwik Trip on Highway OT — and the business-dense Highway 35 corridor from future acquisitions by the city.
Only in the instance of disaster, one in which the town could not afford to reconnect services, would the town allow the city to annex those protected areas.
Supervisors also approved a $900 proposal for exterior maintenance to the town hall by Kevin Devine of Onalaska. Davis pointed out that the town is not hiring summer help, which would usually do the work, and instead is spending money to hire it out. Officials said the job would take several days of labor for town employees to complete and that money was set aside in the budget for building maintenance.
Black Lab wrote on May 30, 2009 10:52 AM: