Board rejects Legacy Seeds' request for 8-foot fence in highway setback

The Waupaca County Board of Adjustment denied a petition from Legacy Seeds Prop LLC to construct an eight-foot fence within the highway setback on roughly 24.41 acres, finding the request did not satisfy the county’s variance criteria.

At the Nov. 2 hearing, applicant representative Mike Sankey said an eight-foot fence was necessary to keep deer out of experimental alfalfa breeding plots and that moving the fence back would permanently remove about three-quarters of an acre from protected research. "We need to install a fence to deter deer from accessing our crops…conforming to the current restriction would make us permanently lose about ¾ of an acre of land to do research on," Sankey testified.

Planning and Zoning staff, presented by Candace Bauer, recommended denial, saying economic or financial hardship from lost research area is not a valid basis for a variance and that the property does not present unique physical limitations such as wetlands or steep slopes. Bauer also noted that the 24.41-acre parcel contains sufficient area where an eight-foot fence could be placed while meeting setback requirements.

Board members additionally discussed the difficulty of administratively distinguishing types of fences. The staff report and some board members said allowing an eight-foot fence—even a ‘‘see-through’’ design—within the highway setback could undermine the ordinance’s dimensional standards and might create enforceability problems.

After deliberation, a motion by M. Strebe, seconded by P. Leder, to deny the variance carried with Chair A. Richardson, Vice-Chair D. Johnson, P. Leder, M. Strebe and G. Marx voting yes. The hearing was closed at 11:28 a.m. The board later adjourned at 11:35 a.m.