Referral Petitions Circulating on Lake County Zoning Ordinance

The Lake County Commission passed its lengthy zoning ordinance update on Tuesday. Already, county residents are circulating petitions to put the revisions to a vote. An eager reader says my friend and Madison resident Paul Nordaune just came by asking for signatures.

Nordaune and fellow petitioneers (expect a strong Winfred contingent) need to collect and submit 457 registered voter signatures (that's 5% of the total counted at general election last month) within 20 days of the ordinance's publication to put the matter to a public vote.

Now I generally say "Yahoo, democracy!" to referral drives. However, let me put this zoning ordinance into perspective. I sit on the new Lake County Water Quality Committee. We spent some of our meeting time reviewing the zoning ordinance, discussing impacts on water issues, and making some style and form recommendations (this grammar teacher loves that stuff). In a series of hour-long discussions over maybe six meetings, we barely got through the first fifth of the ordinances, and that was just the definitions.

The zoning ordinance is a big, complicated piece of local legislation. It has to be, to anticipate all possible legal challenges and complications that new development and cranky lawyers could raise. It does not lend itself easily to popular discussion. Every voter will be able to identify one small provision or another that he or she finds objectionable... and the only option at the ballot box will be to discard the whole thing.

But so be it. I will not stand in the way of neighbors calling for participation in the local political process. I'm betting my neighbors will almost certainly reject the zoning ordinance changes. The county commission will then have to get input, find out which provisions torqued off the most voters, and then write up a new version that addresses enough of those issues to pass muster with the public.

And in the process, we'll have learned a lot more about our local zoning rules. Keep on circulating, Paul!

Say here's a thought: if the petitioneers get the job done quickly enough, could Lake County save some tax dollars by scheduling the election on February 1, the same day as the school district's bond election for the new gym and high school renovations? And if they did, could coupling the two votes impact the turnout for the school election?

Hey, Bjorklund, 9-12ers! Get Real, Shift Focus to Lake County Politics

Consider this post an open letter to the local Glenn Beck club, the 9-12 Project. Their candidates for public office, Jason Bjorklund here in Madison and Steve Sibson down in Mitchell, both came in last in their respective races. I am mildly alarmed that two know-nothing conservative talk-radio karaoke speechifiers can get one in five of my neighbors to vote for them... but one in five still doesn't make me feel surrounded.

Now that I've thoroughly insulted the Glenn Beck club, I want to invite them to practical political action. Instead of being a rather harsh caricature of Toastmasters with a topic list limited to guns, the President's birth certificate, full-reserve banking, and Marxism, Jason Bjorklund and his snarling pack of poli-sci-yenas have a golden opportunity to reverse their general election failure and re-assert their relevance to real politics by getting involved in local issues.

Lake County is fertile ground for a group of citizens interested in graduating from mere talk to practical civic action. We have a range of big issues just waiting for local citizens to get up and holler:

1. On Tuesday, November 9, at 7 p.m., the Lake County Commission will hold its first public hearing on the proposed revision of the county zoning ordinance. The proposed changes raised a number of sparky questions at last week's candidates' forum. The proposed changes will also lay the roadmap for the work of the new zoning and environmental inspector the county will hire in the coming months. The county contends that the zoning revision is meant to make the ordinance more user-friendly. The Winfred freedom fighters and other folks I talk to see the zoning ordinance creating all sorts of local government intrusion into our lives. 9-12ers, you should be meeting and hosting open educational sessions to analyze the zoning ordinance for signs of tyranny that you can fight right here in our backyards.
2. The Madison Central School District is pushing a colossal waste of local tax dollars on a multi-million-dollar luxury gym to satisfy the interests of a few elite basketball players and sports fans. There are practical alternatives to this boondoggle that would save the taxpayers millions. Jason Bjorklund has declared himself a "victim" of Madison's public education system. Here's a perfect chance for him to lead his fellow citizens in focusing our dollars on real educational improvements, not more play space for varsity athletes.
3. The Lake Area Improvement Corporation continues to receive and spend thousands of local tax dollars without any real accountability to the public. The LAIC pays its director over $100,000 to bestow favors on the powers that be and shut out broad public participation while failing to meet its own anemic job creation goals. The 9-12 Project is the perfect group to catalyze public dissatisfaction with this star chamber of crony capitalism to advocate for real change to more open and participatory economic development.
   

The local Glenn Beck club showed signs of civic usefulness last spring when it brought more statewide candidates to visit with Madison voters than did any other civic organization, my benighted Democratic Party included. They slid back during Mr. Bjorklund's largely irrelevant campaign. Real Lake County politics offers a chance for redemption. Drop the talk of guns and Obama and tyranny in Washington. Turn your attention to regulation, taxation, government waste and cronyism right here on Washington Avenue and throughout Madison and Lake County.

Toward that end, I offer my services. Mr. Bjorklund, I am willing to be the featured speaker at your next 9-12 Project meeting. If you will invite me, I will come lead a conversation with your members about applying your Nine Principles and Twelve Values to local politics.

And don't forget, Glenn Beckers: there are elections for city commission and school board coming up in the spring. Let Kristi Noem carry your water against President Obama: think about making a difference for your neighbors right here in Lake County.