Town of Waukesha - Town plan commissioners are calling for even tougher limits on any public wells drilled - like those contemplated by the City of Waukesha - than regulations contained in a draft ordinance they reviewed Thursday.
Waukesha is under state orders to reduce radium, a cancer-causing agent, from its water supply by 2018. It is applying to get water from Lake Michigan. That's a lengthy process that requires approval of Wisconsin and seven other states, as well as negotiations with Milwaukee, Oak Creek or Racine, the potential suppliers.
However, the city is proposing a redundant water system - primarily shallow wells in the Town of Waukesha - should there be a failure in the Lake Michigan pipeline or delivery system.
The town is proposing a "wellhead protection ordinance" as part of zoning revisions that would allow public wells to be drilled only as a conditional use in institutional zones - primarily where the town hall and churches are located - and in a new category of mixed commercial / residential uses. None of those zones yet exist, and none are yet planned for the site where the city is aiming to drill wells.
The city has voted to condemn a parcel in the town for shallow wells near the Vernon Marsh, but has been negotiating a settlement since then that divides the land between the city, the Department of Natural Resources for Vernon Marsh expansion, and developer Fiduciary Real Estate Development Inc.
The Town Board's 2-1 approval of a land division that is part of that deal has prompted a recall petition drive against two board members. The petition states the two are negligent in protecting the town's water supply.
Plan commissioners told Town Attorney James Hammes to increase permit fees per well from the $25,000 listed in the draft to $100,000 per well. They told him to increase an annual operating fee to the well owner to $10,000 per well, from the proposed $1,000 - until a total fund of $500,000 exists. That money would be used to pay claims for town residents whose wells are contaminated or go dry after the public wells go in.
When Hammes told commissioners there must be some basis for the fees, commissioner Angie VanScyoc said a six-figure number would feel better, without any basis. She said the proposed $50,000 per well trust fund wasn't high enough to do town residents any good.
A revised draft will be posted on the town Web site, Hammes said, and a public hearing will be held in late May or early June after he consults with Waukesha County planners. Both the County Board and Town Board must approve the zoning ordinance changes.
Waukesha City Attorney Curt Meitz said this week that he was unfamiliar with the town's proposed wellhead protection measure, but was not surprised by it.
As for Hammes' contention that town agricultural zoning prohibits the Waukesha Water Utility from drilling public wells on the parcel off Highway I, without rezoning, Meitz declined comment except to say, "We're aware of the zoning issues. We're working on a number of solutions."