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Bloomfield wants control of its own zoning

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — Land use matters soon could be the responsibility of town rather than county officials.

The Bloomfield Town Board will ask residents to support two measures as the town seeks to opt out of county zoning:

-- Adopting a 90-day moratorium on rezone, conditional use and variance applications.

-- Enacting a town zoning ordinance.

The meetings at which residents can weigh in on the measures are scheduled for Thursday and Monday respectively.

Zoning matters in Walworth County townships are controlled not by town officials but by county officials. The town plan commission makes a recommendation to the town board, and the town board makes a recommendation to the county. The county ultimately decides what happens on town land.

Town Chairman Ken Monroe said it's not that the county has made decisions against the will of the town, but people in Bloomfield Township know their land better and might have different ideas about how it should be used than people in an office in Elkhorn.

"People want to have a say as to what happens in the township (with regard to land use)," he said.

The town board is seeking a temporary moratorium on zoning applications to give officials time to draw up a town zoning ordinance, Monroe said. It also is seeking authority to enact a town zoning ordinance so the town can have something in place when it opts out of county zoning and so it can have something in place if the town someday becomes a village, he said.

It's a big responsibility—and it's one town officials are not taking lightly, Monroe said.

Town officials understand they will be accountable for their decisions on land use matters, he said, and they plan to follow closely the comprehensive land use plan already in place.

Although opting out of county zoning would give town officials control over the majority of land use matters in the township, the county still would control some matters, such as shoreland zoning.