The Farmer and the Realtor...

I LOVE that when you google my family, this is what comes up. If you know my family, this is extra halarious! :

POLICE DEPARTMENT:

Discussion and action on nuisance complaint at 706 South Waterville Lake Road

Richard Schowalter, 34591 Four Seasons Road, stated they moved into the house in October 2006 and the first night they were in their new house they were woken at 3:30 am to a loud rooster. At times during the winter and it is extremely cold the roosters have been inactive. Basically over the past 5 months they have been woken between 3:30 and 4:30 am continually by this rooster. Mr. Schowalter brought the issue to the Town and they decided it was a police issue so Chief Race sent a letter to the Couillard’s that the rooster would have to be removed from the property. The Couillard’s protested the letter so the Chief’s hands were temporarily tied and now they are bringing this to back to the Town. There is a history of rooster annoyances so this is not new, but it is new to his family. It has put them in a very uncomfortable situation. There was never a complaint before from this house but Mr. Showalter thinks (he is not 100% sure) that the previous owners were Mrs. Couillard’s brother and mother.

Cindy Schowalter, 34591 Four Seasons Road, stated she grew up on a farm so has nothing against farm animals but she has a problem being woken up every morning at 3 am since she is a nurse and needs to be sharp and alert and this is affecting her disposition and job. If the rooster would be locked up in a sound proof room until 6 am she wouldn’t have a problem with that. She woke up at 4:18 am on Sunday and counted that the rooster crowed 30 times in 20 minutes. She doesn’t understand why the Town of Summit has this in the Code but it is being allowed to continue and they are not in an agricultural neighborhood.

Bill Dionne, 34599 Four Seasons Road, he is property owner directly north of Schowalter’s and he stated he is a construction worker so he gets up very early in the morning but on his days off this does bothers him, it is very repetitive and they cannot sleep with the windows open in the summer. He moved out to the country because he likes it. He is not looking for the Couillard’s to get rid of the roosters completely he is just here to support his neighbors and go in a direction to make everybody happy, maybe they could build some type of enclosure. Mr. Dionne doesn’t have a problem with any of the other animals and likes living in the country.

Mr. Schowalter stated this has been going on for five months and doesn’t know how you can contain a rooster in a room to keep it quiet and as long as the roosters are on that property he will always question if he will be woken up at 3:30 in the morning. The rules are on the books and he thinks we should abide by them. His goal is to get rid of those roosters so he can get a good night sleep. Mr. Schowalter stated he is a realtor and knows the laws of real estate and if he wanted to put his house up for sale, he would have to disclose this nuisance and his house would not sell. If he would have known that this nuisance was there he would not have bought the house.

Jeff Couillard, 706 S Waterville Lake Road, stated they have been raising animals for over ten years. H stated the roosters have always been there and they have had no previous complaints in those ten years until these neighbors moved in. Mr. Couillard lets the rooster out in the early morning while he is cleaning the pastures. In the summer he plans to round them up and keep them inside over night. The only time he has had any neighbors come and talk to him about it was because they liked them. His brother and mother in law did live in the house previously but the roosters were always around when the house was being sold.

Lindsay Couillard, 706 S Waterville Lake Road, stated they are grandfathered in with laws and that the laws have changed since they have been living there, they have always had animals at that location and this was discussed at a board meeting and determined that they are not violating any laws or rules as far as animals are concerned. A nuisance is dependent on the person there is not one thing that is clarified as a nuisance. She believes nuisance is a disturbance to the public as a whole, not just one person or one family.

Mr. Schowalter stated he was not aware of the rooster situation when he bought the property. At closing the realtor made a comment to Mrs. Schowalter something to the effect of “good luck with the rooster”. They did not understand at that time what he was referring to.

Supervisor Kraut stated this is probably one of the toughest things that she has had to deal with and the reason being is this still a small town in a rural area and generally neighbors can talk these problems through and solve the problem. She is beginning to think that the nuisance ordinance needs to be taken to the Town legal counsel for review.

Supervisor Arenz stated he agrees with Supervisor Kraut and we need to address this as a bigger issue as far as definition of our ordinance and existing conditions.

Supervisor Clifford asked Manager Elling if the Couillard’s are in complete compliance with the zoning on the property. Manager Elling stated that in January 2006 the Plan Commission determined that the harboring of animals including up to two roosters was allowed as a legal non-conforming use. Supervisor Clifford stated his position is that the rooster has been there for ten years and the Town has had only one complaint so they Couillard’s are not in violation.

Supervisor Arenz asked Chief Race to confirm that there has only been one complaint. Chief Race confirmed that this is the only complaint received.

Supervisor Riley asked Mr. Schowalter if he had contacted Mr. Couillard about this issue to try and solve the problem. Mr. Schowalter stated that he found out what the legal end of this was and chose to take that route.

Chairperson Susa stated they have been asked to go through mediation and the Couillard’s agreed but this has not been done yet. He has a concern with the community if the neighbors cannot go over to their neighbor and talk about this and highly recommends that this go to mediation.

Motion by Kraut, second by Riley to direct the Schowalter’s and Couillard’s to meet with the Waukesha County Mediation group.
Motion carried 5-0.