On the issue of zoning, Jim Logan said he was sitting on the fence.
“Five or 10 years ago, I was definitely against zoning,” he said, referring to the municipal regulation of land use.
But, he added, “I hadn’t looked into it.”
As of Oct. 20, the day Brookfield Trustee Dan Suttles held a neighborhood meeting in Brookfield Center, Logan had looked into it, but still had questions before he could decide how he would vote on the referendum, which is on the November ballot.

Dan Suttles, left, and Jim Logan.

Dan Suttles, left, and Jim Logan.

On the one hand, Logan said, “I like Brookfield the small community the way it is,” he said. But, on the other hand, as he has gone around town, he has seen things that he would not like next door to his.
Logan said he heard there would be a $200 zoning fee for anyone who wants to build, on top of the building permit fee charged by the county.
The way the zoning resolution reads, it appears the trustees should have set the fee schedule, but Suttles said he checked and it has not been created.
“I don’t think fees should be exorbitant,” Suttles said, adding they only should defray the costs of administering zoning. “I don’t think zoning should be a moneymaker.”
Logan asked who would enforce the zoning ordinance, saying he heard the trustees would hire one or two people.
“That is definitely wrong,” Suttles said, reiterating statements that he and trustees Ron Haun and Gary Lees have made that Code Enforcement Officer Jimmy Ewing would add the zoning officer duties, but his work hours would stay at 30 a week and his pay at $15 an hour.
Logan said has had heard people ask why Brookfield needs zoning when it has an exterior property maintenance code.
“They are two separate things,” Suttles said. Although both offer protection to a property owner, the property maintenance code covers the condition of a home’s exterior and the yard. Zoning regulates land use, such as setting where a home, a business or an industry could be built.
Suttles gave Logan a copy of the proposed resolution, and has promised copies to anybody who wants one.