TOWN OF HUNTER
SAWYER COUNTY, WISCONSIN
PUBLIC NUISANCE
ORDINNACE NO. 2026-05
SECTION I – TITLE AND PURPOSE
The title of this ordinance is the Town of Hunter Public Nuisance Ordinance.
The purpose of this ordinance is to regulate for public health and safety reasons public nuisances and certain uses and activities in the town.
SECTION II – AUTHORITY
The town board has the specific authority under ss. 29.038, 66.0407, 66.0413, 125.14, 169.01, and 175.25, and ch. 823, Wis. stats., and general authority under its village powers under s. 60.22, Wis. stats., to adopt this ordinance.
SECTION III – ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE
This ordinance, adopted by a majority of the town board on a roll call vote with a quorum present and voting and proper notice having been given, provides for the regulation of the storage, treatment, disposal, and discharge of certain junk and of other items, uses, and activities in the town.
SECTION IV – DEFINITIONS
A. “Agricultural use” means any beekeeping, commercial feed lots, dairying, egg production, floriculture, fish or fur farming, forest and game management, grazing, livestock raising, orchards, plant greenhouses and nurseries, poultry raising, raising of grain, grass, mint, and seed crops, raising of fruits, nuts, and berries, sod farming, placing land in federal programs in return for payments in kind, owning land, at least 35 acres of which is enrolled in the conservation reserve program under 16 USC 3831 to 3835, participating in the milk production termination program under 7 USC 1446 (d), and vegetable raising.
B. “Appliance” means any household or office device, instrument, utensil, apparatus, or machine that utilizes power, including, but not limited to, any stove, clothes washer or dryer, refrigerator, dish washer, freezer, water heater, water pump, furnace, television set, home entertainment device, computer or peripheral device, or other home or office electronic device.
C. “Building” includes any building or structure or any portion of a building or structure.
D. “Debris” means any litter, junk, wood, bricks, paper, cement, concrete blocks, or any other unsightly accumulation of items or materials that may tend to depreciate property values in the adjacent or near area, create a blighted condition, present a substantial threat to public health or safety, or create a public nuisance or a public safety or health hazard, except when such items are determined by the town board or town committee or other agent of the town to be stored or housed out of public view and are treated and maintained so as not to be a public nuisance.
E. “Equipment” means goods used or bought for use primarily in a business, including farming and a profession.
F. “Hazardous waste” means any solid waste identified by the State of Wisconsin, Department of Natural Resources as hazardous under s. 291.05 (2), Wis. stats.
G. “Junk or Junked” means scrap metal, metal alloy, wood, concrete, or synthetic or organic material or any junked, inoperative, unlicensed, or unregistered vehicle, or dismantled vehicle or vehicle parts, structure, equipment, furniture, appliances, or machinery, or any part thereof. “Junk” includes refuse, used tires, parts of dismantled buildings, agricultural use equipment not in usable condition, parts of agricultural use equipment, and contaminated recyclable material.
H. “Local zoning and land use regulation” means any applicable county, town, or extraterritorial zoning, subdivision, land division, platting, official map, building code, building permit, or other ordinance adopted pursuant to general police powers that is applicable in any manner to the use of land.
I. “Machinery” means a structure or assemblage of parts that transmits forces, motion, or energy from one part to another in a predetermined way by electrical, mechanical, or chemical means. “Machinery” does not include a building.
J. “Not registered,” in reference to “all-terrain vehicles” as defined in s. 340.01 (2g), Wis. stats., “snowmobiles” as defined in s. 340.01 (58a), Wis. stats., or “boats” as defined in s. 29.001 (16), Wis. stats., means those that are required to, but do not have nor bear, required current and valid State of Wisconsin licenses or registrations.
K. “Public nuisance” means a thing, act, occupation, condition, or use of property that continues in the town for such time as to do any of the following:
1. Substantially annoy, injure, or endanger the comfort, health, repose, or safety of the public.
2. A loud noise area where any unreasonably loud, discordant and unnecessary loud conditions, including sounds from motor vehicles, equipment, machinery, guns, fireworks, domestic animals, music, human-created or aided sounds repulsive to the senses of ordinary persons are allowed to continue to the substantial annoyance or discomfort of persons or injury to person or property in the Town of Hunter.
3. In any way render the public insecure in life or in the use of property.
4. Unlawfully and substantially interfere with, obstruct or attempt 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.
L. “Recyclable material” means material that is suitable for recycling.
M. “Solid waste” means any garbage, refuse, sludge, ash, paper, wood, metal, glass, cloth, plastic, lumber, concrete, food waste and other organics, boxes, barrels and other containers, tires and other like materials, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, and any other discarded or salvageable materials, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, agricultural, and community activities, but does not include solids or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges that are point sources subject to permits under ch. 283, Wis. stats., source material as defined in s. 254.31 (1), Wis. stats., special nuclear material as defined in s. 254.31 (11), Wis. stats., or by-product material as defined in s. 254.31 (1), Wis. stats.
N. “Town” means the Town of Hunter, Sawyer County, Wisconsin.
O. “Town board” means the board of supervisors for the Town of Hunter, Sawyer County, Wisconsin, and includes designees of the board authorized to act for the board, specifically including the town clerk and town chair.
P. “Unlicensed” or “unregistered” in reference to vehicles, mobile homes, or manufactured homes means those that are required to be licensed or registered for operation in the state, but do not have nor bear required current and valid State of Wisconsin licenses or registration.
Q. “Vehicle” means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported. “Vehicle” includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
1. “Aircraft” as defined in s. 29.001 (16), Wis. stats.
2. “All-terrain vehicles” as defined in s. 340.01 (2g), Wis. stats.
3. “Antique vehicles” as described in s. 341.265, Wis. stats.
4. “Automobiles” as defined in s. 340.01 (4), Wis. stats.
5. “Boats” as defined in s. 29.001 (16), Wis. stats.
6. “Camping trailers” as defined in s. 340.01 (6m), Wis. stats.
7. “Farm equipment” as defined in s. 100.47 (1), Wis. stats.
8. “Farm tractors” as defined in s. 340.01 (16), Wis. stats.
9. “Hobbyist or homemade vehicles” as defined in s. 341.268, Wis. stats.
10. “Junk vehicles” as defined in s. 340.01 (25j), Wis. stats.
11. “Implements of husbandry” as defined in s. 340.01 (24), Wis. stats.
12. “Manufactured homes” as defined in s. 101.91 (2), Wis. stats.
13. “Mobile homes” as defined in s. 340.01 (29), Wis. stats.
14. “Mopeds” as defined in s. 340.01 (29m), Wis. stats.
15. “Motor bicycles” as defined in s. 340.01 (30), Wis. stats.
16. “Motor buses” as defined in s. 340.01 (31), Wis. stats.
17. “Motor homes” as defined in s. 340.01 (33m), Wis. stats.
18. “Motor trucks” as defined in s. 340.01 (34), Wis. stats.
19. “Motorcycles” as defined in s. 340.01 (32), Wis. stats.
20. “Recreational vehicles” as defined in s. 340.01 (48r), Wis. stats.
21. “Road machinery” as defined in s. 340.01 (52), Wis. stats.
22. “Road tractors” as defined in s. 340.01 (53), Wis. stats.
23. “Salvage vehicles” as defined in s. 340.01 (55g), Wis. stats.
21. “School buses” as defined in s. 340.01 (56), Wis. stats.
25. “Semi trailers” as defined in s. 340.01 (57), Wis. stats.
26. “Snowmobiles” as defined in s. 340.01 (58), Wis. stats.
27. “Special interest vehicles” as defined in s. 341.266, Wis. stats.
28. “Trailers” as defined in s. 340.01 (71), Wis. stats.
29. “Truck tractors” as defined in s. 340.01 (73), Wis. stats.
30. Unlicensed demolition vehicles and unlicensed racing vehicles.
31. Golf carts, garden tractors, riding lawn mowers, and other motorized tractors, motorized carts, and motorized utility vehicles that require no registration or licensure by the State of Wisconsin.
R. “Wild animal” means any animal of a wild nature that is normally found in the wild and that is not a farm-raised deer, a pet bird, a farm-raised game bird, or an animal that is listed as a domestic animal by rule by the State of Wisconsin, Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
S. “Wis. stats.” means the Wisconsin Statutes, including successor provisions to cited statutes.
SECTION V – PUBLIC HEALTH OR SAFETY
No person may create, contrive, erect, maintain, cause, continue, install, construct, or permit to exist in the town a public nuisance associated with, causing, or likely to cause danger, disturbance, or injury to the public health or safety. The following acts, uses, activities, things, occupations, places, or physical conditions, not properly and timely removed after written notice to remove from the Town Board to any owner or occupant a person responsible for the creation, maintenance or providing of the act of the land where the act, use, activity, thing, occupation, place, or physical condition exists, is located, or occurred, are specifically declared to be a public nuisance:
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Unburied animal carcass areas. Any place in the town where unburied animal carcasses are located on private or public land and the animal carcasses are not timely removed or discarded, including by timely burial in a sanitary manner, within 72 hours after receipt of written notice to remove from the town board.
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A waste accumulation area where solid waste amounts in excess of five 30 gallon bags are allowed to accumulate.
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Rat or vermin areas. Any place in the town where rats or other vermin are located or frequent on public or private land, and those conditions are not removed or destroyed within 72 hours after receipt of written notice to remove from the town board.
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Dangerous or dilapidated building areas. Any place in the town where a building or structure, the contents of a building or structure, or any associated electrical, heat, water, or sewer system located on public or private lands is so old, dilapidated, or out of repair as to be dangerous, unsafe, unsanitary, or otherwise unfit for human habitation, and the conditions that are dangerous, unsafe, unsanitary, or otherwise render the building unfit for human habitation are not timely removed or discontinued within 72 hours of receipt of written notice to remove from the town board.
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Fire hazard areas. Any place in the town where combustible materials are located and stored on private or public lands and the materials are not timely removed or safely stored within 72 hours after receipt of written notice from the town board.
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Improper encroachment or discharge areas. Any unauthorized or improper encroachments and discharges, including solid waste, trees, limbs, vehicles, structures, equipment, signs, manure, weeds, crops, and other materials on any town roadway or on other town public lands without written permission from the town board, and the improper or unauthorized encroachment or discharge is not timely removed or discontinued within 72 hours of the receipt of written notice to remove from the town board.
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Junked vehicle and junked part areas. Any place in the town within 500 feet of the center line of any town highway in the town, or within 750 feet of the center line of any county trunk, state trunk, or federal highway where junked vehicles or junked vehicle parts are accumulated or stored or any place in the town where junked vehicles or junked vehicle parts are accumulated or stored outside of a building for a period exceeding 30 days if upon public property.
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Unlicensed or unregistered vehicle area. Any place in the town where for a period exceeding 30 days upon private property a not registered, unlicensed or unregistered vehicle is parked, stored, or otherwise kept outside a building without written permission.
SECTION VI – ABANDONED VEHICLES, MACHINERY, EQUIPMENT AND APPLIANCES ON PUBLIC LANDS
No person shall leave unattended or stored any vehicle, regardless of the vehicle’s physical condition, registration, or license held, any appliance, equipment, or machinery, or parts thereof, on any public street, public road, public highway, or other public property in the town, including the road right-of-way, for such time and under such circumstances as to cause the vehicle, appliance, equipment, or machinery to reasonably appear to have been abandoned. When any vehicle, machinery, appliances, or equipment has been left unattended, parked, or stored on any public street, road, highway, or other public property, including a road right-of-way, within the town for a period of more than 72 hours, the vehicle, structure, machinery, appliances, or equipment is presumed by the town to be abandoned and a public nuisance and may be removed in accordance with s. 342.40, Wis. stats., and the owner of the vehicle is subject to the imposition of forfeitures under Section VIII of this ordinance
SECTION VII – COSTS OF ABATEMENT OR DISPOSAL
In addition to any other penalty imposed by this ordinance for the erection, contrivance, creation, continuance, or maintenance of a public nuisance and violation of this ordinance, the cost of abatement of any public nuisance by the town may be collected under this ordinance or s. 823.06, Wis. stats., as a debt or expense from the owner or occupant of the real property for causing, permitting, or maintaining the public nuisance. If notice to abate the nuisance has been given to the owner or occupant previously, the cost of abatement may be assessed against the real property for services rendered and incurred by the town to enjoin or abate the public nuisance as a special charge under s. 66.0627, Wis. stats., unless paid earlier. If any vehicle, structure, equipment, implement, or appliance is abandoned or remains unclaimed in violation of this ordinance, the town board may proceed to declare this personal property abandoned and proceed to dispose of this personal property under s. 66.0139, Wis. stats., by public auction or other means as determined in writing by the town board.
SECTION VIII – ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS
A. Penalties. 1. 1st Offense. Any person who violates this ordinance shall, upon conviction, forfeit not less than $20 nor more than $500 together with the costs of prosecution, and in default of payment of such forfeiture and costs of prosecution shall be imprisoned in the county jail until the forfeiture and costs are paid, but not exceeding 90 days.
2. Second and Subsequent Offenses; Penalty. Any person guilty of violating this ordinance or any person who has previously been convicted of a violation of this ordinance shall, upon conviction, forfeit not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 for each offense, together with the costs of prosecution, and in default of payment of such forfeiture and costs of prosecution shall be imprisoned in the county jail until the forfeiture and costs of prosecution are paid, but not exceeding 6 months.
B. Separate Violations. Each day of violation of this ordinance constitutes a separate offense.
SECTION IX – SEVERABILITY
If any provision of this ordinance or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this ordinance that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this ordinance are severable.
SECTION X – EFFECTIVE DATE
This ordinance is effective on publication or posting.
The town clerk shall properly publish this ordinance as required under s. 60.80, Wis. stats.
Adopted this 9th day of September, 2026
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Jon M. LeBlanc, Chair
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Barbara A. Czarmecki, Supervisor
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Kyle L. Cummings, Supervisor
Attest:
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Patricia R. Swaffield, Clerk