Brown Deer board adopts resolution to stop new state-approved community living arrangements pending local requirements

The Village of Brown Deer Board of Trustees voted to approve Resolution 25-10 on Aug. 4, 2025, instructing staff to notify the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) that the village will no longer accept state-approved community living arrangements that do not meet village requirements.

Village Manager Tyler told trustees the action responds to state approvals that, in his view, have proceeded without notifying the municipality. “We will no longer be accepting any more community living arrangements,” Tyler said, and staff would send DHS formal notice if the board adopted the resolution.

The resolution also directs staff to notify property owners identified in a memo who do not hold a village occupancy certificate and give them 90 days to apply. Tyler said staff will follow up quarterly by checking DHS’s public listings and will pursue local enforcement if facilities operate without the required village certificate.

The manager told trustees that a state statute limits local restrictions on such facilities unless the number of units exceeds either 25 or 1% of the community’s population. “For Brown Deer with us being, you know, right around the neighborhood of 13,000 people, We use easy math. That'd be about a 130,” Tyler said, and he told the board the village is ‘‘well above that’’ threshold.

Trustee Thompson moved to approve Resolution 25-10; Trustee Greaves seconded. The board conducted a roll-call vote, and the measure passed with all members voting in the affirmative.

The action is framed as both a regulatory stance — declining future DHS approvals that do not meet village requirements — and an enforcement step requiring existing operators to seek local occupancy certificates. Tyler told the board that for larger, previously announced facilities that had development agreements, the village would continue to engage, but the resolution targets smaller 3- to 4-unit adult family homes that, according to staff, have often opened without the village’s knowledge.

Staff did not provide a precise current count of community living arrangement units during the meeting; Tyler said the village is “well past” the 1% threshold but that exact numbers would require additional records checks. The board did not change state statute or DHS policy; the resolution triggers a local administrative process and notification to DHS.

Trustees and staff said next steps include drafting and mailing the 90-day notice to property owners listed in staff’s memo, continuing quarterly checks of DHS public records, and pursuing the village’s standard enforcement steps if operators do not obtain local occupancy certificates.

That action concludes the board’s immediate response; staff will report back on compliance and any DHS communications in a future meeting.