[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Rome as
indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted as Sec. 7.14 of the prior Code]
A.
The purpose of this article is to regulate the disposal of waste,
garbage, refuse, putrescible animal/vegetable matter or sludge upon
public and private properties in the Town by individuals, corporations,
and municipalities. Any such disposal in violation of the terms and
provisions contained in this article is hereby declared to be a public
nuisance.
B.
Environmental and health hazards may result if heavy metals, toxic
substances and hazardous materials are deposited on land in the Town.
The Town Board is aware of guidelines and administrative rules that
have been established by the Department of Natural Resources for the
land spreading of certain waste materials upon properties in Wisconsin.
However, in many instances landowners and permittees are allowed to
conduct land-spreading operations by voluntarily following the Department's
guidelines due to the insufficiency of the Department's staff
to actually monitor land-spreading operations as they occur. The Town
Board, therefore, deems it necessary for the protection of the health,
general welfare and environment of the Town of Rome that regulations
be adopted to provide additional adequate protection for its inhabitants,
wild and domestic animals, its water supplies, its wetlands and other
natural resources. In addition, adequate remedies for any violations
of such regulations are necessary without intending to prohibit the
application of land spreading in the Town of Rome or to abrogate,
annul, impair, or interfere with any existing rules, regulations or
permits previously adopted or issued pursuant to law. The purpose
of this article is to provide those additional regulations and protections.
C.
The following are not within the scope or meaning of this article:
(1)
Sites used for the disposal of waste, garbage, or refuse from a single
family or household, a member of which is the owner, occupant, or
lessee of the property; provided, however, that such waste, garbage,
or refuse is placed in suitable containers or stored in such other
way as not to cause a public or private nuisance.
(2)
The use of sanitary privies and public and private sewerage disposal
systems, which conform to state statutes and regulations and any applicable
ordinances of Adams County and the Town of Rome.
(3)
Animal waste regulated under Ch. NR 243, Wisconsin Administrative
Code, liquid manure applied in accordance with sound agricultural
practices and farms on which only animal wastes resulting from the
operation of the farm are disposed.
(4)
Any waste disposal operation conducted under the ownership, direction
and control of the Town.
Except as expressly permitted in Subsection F herein, no person,
corporation, or municipality shall dispose of waste, garbage, refuse,
putrescible animals/vegetable matter or sludge within the Town of
Rome unless a permit to engage in such dumping or disposal is first
obtained from the Town under the conditions prescribed herein. Persons
or municipalities permitted to engage in disposal operations in the
Town are subject to the following regulations:
A.
The disposal operations must be conducted in such a way as not to
constitute a public or private nuisance.
B.
Permittees engaged in dumping or disposal operations must conduct
the operations in such a way that odors or dust, dirt, debris, or
other materials or substances will not be carried by wind or water
across the boundary of the parcel of land being used for the operations.
C.
A covering, which meets standards established by the Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources, shall be placed over all of the area used for
the disposal operation within a reasonable time, not to exceed 24
hours, after the disposal occurs. The covering must be applied so
as to make the area covered compatible with the surrounding and adjacent
property and in such a manner as to not substantially depreciate property
values within the immediate area unless property owners have been
previously compensated for the loss.
D.
Such disposal operations must not be in violation of any applicable
zoning regulations and must not violate any deed restriction or covenant,
which would prohibit or restrict such use of the land.
E.
The information submitted with the application for a permit as specified under § 314-3, together with any additional information received at the public hearing by the Town Board must be sufficient so as to enable the Town Board in its discretion to determine that the purposes for which this article was enacted will not be compromised or in any way violated by the issuance of a permit.
F.
A permit under this article shall not be effective unless there is
on file with the Town Clerk/Treasurer a cash bond or a bond with a
corporate surety duly licensed in the State of Wisconsin in the amount
of $100,000. The bond is to assure that the applicant will comply
with all the provisions of this article and will save harmless, indemnify,
and defend the Town, its officers, its representatives, and its agents
from any expenses or costs incurred through action of the applicant
with regard to the operation.
G.
If the article is violated or if the disposal plan is not carried
out, the Town shall have the right to revoke the disposal permit after
a public hearing upon a published Class 1 notice and, if necessary,
to obtain a court order terminating such operation. If the owner of
the land does not cover the disposal area in accordance with the disposal
plan, the Town Board shall have the right to correct the violation
and to charge the expense against the bond.
H.
The applicant for a disposal permit in making the application, grants
to the Town the right to go on the land for necessary inspections
at any time and to carry out the disposal plan if the owner or occupant
of the land fails to do so after reasonable notice is given.
I.
Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to limit or restrict the
application of any state law or administrative regulation of any state
agency regulating the subject of this article.
An application for a permit for a solid waste facility shall
be filed with the Zoning Administrator in writing at least 30 days
before a public hearing is held. The initial application fee of $5,000
shall accompany the application, unless waived or reduced by the Town
Board. In addition, the Town Board may charge the applicant an additional
fee to reimburse the Town for appropriate and necessary costs and
expenses incurred by the Town for attorneys' fees and experts'
fees related to the application process. The total application fees,
both initial and subsequent, shall not exceed $20,000 for any application.
The application for a permit shall be processed within 90 days of
the receipt of a completed application accompanied by full documentation
and required bond. A sworn statement that they are true and factual
shall follow the application and accompanying information. The information
to be provided shall include:
A.
Name, address, and telephone number of the applicant.
B.
Location, current owners, and legal description of the site of the
proposed facility.
C.
Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of any persons who will represent
the applicant.
D.
Copies of available site reports, feasibility reports, engineering
plans, or other documents filed or to be filed with the Department
of Natural Resources, or the United States EPA, that are related to
the proposed facility.
E.
A plan for construction, operation, maintenance, closure, and long-term
care of the proposed facility that describes the size, capacity, and
other features of the site and its proposed future.
F.
A plan for financial, legal, and environmental protection of the
Town government, its employees and agents, and for current and future
residents living within one mile of the facility.
G.
Proposed traffic patterns to and from the proposed facility and for
roadway usage for access to the site.
H.
Copies of current financial statements or other financial information.
A public hearing will be held at which the Plan Commission will
invite all interested parties from the Town and the applicant to provide
information as to the need for the permit, positive and negative potential
effects of the proposed facility on the Town and its residents, and
the probability of reasonable compliance by the applicant with the
regulations of this article. The hearing will be of an informational
nature for the Town Board. The hearing will be held under the following
conditions:
The Plan Commission shall review the application and make a
recommendation in writing to the Town Board regarding approval, approval
with conditions or denial of the application. The Town Board shall
then decide whether to issue the permit.
Any person, firm, company, or corporation who violates any provision
of this article or fails to comply with any of its requirements shall
be subject to a forfeiture for each offense of not less than $200
nor more than $2,000 for each violation and, in addition, shall pay
all costs and expenses involved in the matter, including reasonable
attorneys' fees and court costs. Each day that a violation continues
shall be considered a separate offense.
The Town Board of the Town of Rome by the Town Attorney or such
person as appointed by the Town Board, may bring a civil action in
the Adams County Circuit Court by filing with it a complaint setting
forth the facts and requesting such preventative relief, including
an application for a temporary or permanent injunction, restraining
order, or such other order as the Town deems necessary to ensure the
full enjoyment of the rights granted by this article; provided, however,
that nothing contained herein shall prevent the imposition of a forfeiture
in addition to other remedies enumerated herein. The costs of such
proceedings shall be collected as a debt from the owner, occupant,
or person causing, permitting, or maintaining the violation and/or
nuisance, and such cost shall be assessed against real estate as a
special charge on the tax rolls. For purposes hereof, costs shall
include, but not be limited to, actual attorneys' fees and court
costs.
For the purpose of this article, the following terms, phrases,
words, and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein.
If not defined herein, the word, term or phrase shall have the definition
commonly accepted including a relevant definition contained in the
Wisconsin Statutes. When not inconsistent with the context, the words
used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural
number include the singular number and words in the singular number
include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and
not merely directory:
Includes, but is not limited to, unloading, throwing away,
discarding, emptying, abandoning, discharging, burning, spreading
onto open fields, land spreading or burying waste, garbage, refuse,
or sludge on, into, or under any property or lands whether publicly
or privately owned within the Town of Rome.
All waste, animal, fish, fowl or vegetable matter incidental
to and resulting from the use, preparation and storage of food for
human consumption.
Municipality is any city, village, town or county.
Any person occupying or having use of a building, structure,
premises of any part thereof.
Includes the plural as well as the singular and may mean
either a natural person, firm, association, partnership, private corporation,
public or quasi-public corporation, or combination of these who shall
hold title to a building, structure or property, or who shall be in
actual possession of, or have charge, or control of building, structure,
or property as agent of the title holder, or who shall be trustee
or guardian of the estate or person of the title holder.
Includes all abutting property owners, all property owners
within 200 feet, and all property owners of opposite frontages.
Includes a corporation, firm partnership, association, organization
and any other group acting as a unit as well as individuals, including
a personal representative, receiver or other representative appointed
according to law. Whenever the term "person" is used in any section
of this article prescribing a penalty or fine, as to partnerships
or associations, the work shall include the partners or members thereof,
and as to corporations, shall include the officers, agents or members
thereof who are responsible for any violation of such section.
A thing, act, occupation, condition or use of property, which
shall continue for such length of time as to substantially annoy,
injure or endanger the comfort, health, repose or safety of the public;
in any way render the public insecure in life or in the use of property;
greatly offend the public morals or decency; unlawfully and substantially
interfere with, obstruct or tend to obstruct or render dangerous for
passage any street, alley, highway, navigable body of water or other
public way or the use of public property.
Combustible and noncombustible discarded material including,
but not limited to, trash, rubbish, paper, wood, metal, glass, plastic,
rubber, cloth, ashes, litter and street rubbish, industrial waste,
dead animal tissue, blood or parts, mine tailings, gravel pit and
quarry spoils, and material and debris resulting from construction
or demolition.
Sludge is sewage treatment residue, residue which represents
waste material generated from the industrial or commercial slaughtering
of farm animals which residue is in any form whatsoever, whether solid
or semisolid or liquid.
The Town of Rome, Adams County, Wisconsin, or any duly appointed
designate thereof, including, but not limited to, the Town Board and
Town committees.
The present governing body of the Town or any successors
to the legislative power of said body, or any duly appointed designate
thereof.
Waste is garbage, refuse, and all other discarded or salvageable
material, including materials resulting from industrial, commercial,
and agricultural operations and from domestic use and public service
activities.
