January 19th Town Board meeting agenda

The agenda for tomorrow's Town Board meeting can be downloaded here.

January 19th Plan Commission Meeting cancelled

This Tuesday's January 19th Plan Commission meeting at 6pm has been cancelled due to lack of quorum. The 7pm Town Board meeting is still scheduled.

DNR denies appeal for Natures Lane Trail

The DNR has denied requests from two residents for a contested case hearing regarding proposed construction of the Nature's Lane Trail. The trail is part of Grand Chute's comprehensive parks and recreation plan. There was quite a controversy from three residents whose backyards abutt the trail. I covered the construction and background here.

There is a 30 day appeal period from the date a notice is mailed. That would place the appeal deadline at February 10th.

Hog Heaven has gone to heaven

Harley lovers will have to find a new spot to have a frosty beverage. Hog Heaven bar, which was the site of a recent drug bust on January 6th is shut down. The landlord has changed locks on the building.

Countywide Assessment Proposal unlikely to proceed

Grand Chute's town assessor recently attended a meeting of the Wisconsin Assessors Association. A board member relayed that Secretary of Revenue Ervin has announced the Countywide Assessment Proposal is officially dead.

Secretary Erwin had proposed reducing the 1,851 assessment districts in the State to 100 districts or less will benefit property tax payers with a streamlined, cost effective procedure under county management. Currently, Wisconsin has the largest number of assessment districts of any state.

Opponents of the plan cited enormous start-up costs and non uniformity of municipalities in each county.

The state will be making an official announcement, and plans to tighten some rules on the reevaluations and Assessor qualification standards throughout the state. Our assessor was informed that jurisdicitions that will to retain their current Assessor and locally controlled processes will be able to do so.