The Rusk County Zoning Committee will be discussing "Changes to Fee Schedule, Private Sewage Ordinance, Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, Subdivision Ordinance and Shoreland Ordinance. According to the Zoning Administrator none of the changes to be discussed are of major substance. No Public Hearing date is scheduled for any of these changes.

Sawyer County Zoning Committee has reviewed proposed changes to the Subdivision Ordinance. Further discussion on the proposed ordinance is scheduled for the October Zoning Committee meeting with a Public Hearing in November. A copy of the proposed changes can be requested from the Zoning Department

The Barron County Comprehensive Plan Committee meets Wednesday October 1 at 7:00 pm. Dates and locations of Public Visioning Sessions will be discussed. Since this plan will be hastily thrown together it will be interesting to see if these "Visioning Sessions" will be of any consequence.

The Sawyer County Board of Supervisors has approved the new Wilderness Lakes Classification. It was not done without controversy and a close 9-6 decision. A complete recap of the meeting can be found HaywardWi.Com.

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In a story I find fascinating...the Wal-mart saga in Spooner continues to divide the residents of Washburn County. Now being discussed is changes in the road to decrease costs, lowering the asking price of the land and possible TIF funding. If there is ANY public money put toward this project the residents will go ballistic. More info can be found at SpoonerAdvocate.Com.

In an attempt to clarify some of the changes proposed in the Burnett County Subdivision Ordinance a meeting was held on September 12. The meeting brought together the County Surveyor, Zoning Administrator, county surveyors and the Realtors® Association. The changes proposed are wide and varied. Only one or two major issues of contention remain. Those will be reviewed by County Staff.

The Sawyer County Board of Supervisors will be voting on the Wilderness Lakes Classification. The meeting is scheduled at the Winter School on Tuesday September 18 at 6:30 pm. This shorland ordinance change has been more than two years in the making. Everyone interested in this issue should attend.

In some election news from the area...

In the 87th Assembly District (Price, Rusk, Tayor) Judy Reas defeated J. Suzanne Murphy in the Democratic primary. Reas will now oppose the incumbent Mary Williams (R). This sets up a repeat contest from two years ago.

In the 73rd Assembly District (Douglas, Washburn, Burnett) Nick Milroy won the Democratic primary over three others and will face Independent Party candidate Jeffery Monaghan. There is no Republican Party candidate. This is the district which has been represented for years by Frank Boyle who has retired.

In the 74th Assembly District (Ashland, Bayfield, Sawyer) the incumbent Gary Sherman won the Democratic primary and will face Shirl LaBarre in November. This is also a repeat of a contest two years ago.

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The on again, off again Wal-Mart project in Spooner looks like it headed off again. According to the Washburn County Register...

A Spooner Wal-Mart may be at a standstill, after the Washburn County Executive Committee announced that the company said the project was “in trouble” due to budget issues.

The committee met Monday, Sept. 8, in the Elliott Building, Shell Lake, to discuss the matter. Chair Micheal Bobin said four Wal-Mart representatives met with the county, city of Spooner and the Department of Transportation last week. Bobin said the representatives told those present that originally $2 million of infrastructure improvements for the Spooner project were slated. Now, he said, the company told him the costs have escalated, raising the total to around $4 million. If the cost can’t be brought back down to around $3 million, Bobin said, the store may not come to Spooner.

“They threatened to cancel the project,” Bobin said.