This map shows where sex offenders are allowed to reside (green shading) under the current Twin Lakes ordinance. (Click for larger view) /Twin Lakes document
The Twin Lakes Village Board is considering some changes to its sex offender residency ordinance aimed at making it more difficult to challenge in the wake of some recent court cases.
Along with making the law more difficult to challenge, one change also may increase the percentage of territory in the village in which a sex offender could live, said village attorney Elaine Ekes at the Monday committee of the whole meeting.
One change proposed by Ekes was to consider a reduction in the size of buffer zones around public places where children gather — such as schools, churches and parks — from the current 1,200 feet to 1,000 or 750 feet.
Based on preliminary mapping, under the current ordinance 57 percent of the village is available for sex offenders to live in. Ekes said a percentage closer to 60 or a little above would be more defensible if the village were sued over its ordinance. A 1,000-foot buffer would yield 62 percent of the village available to sex offenders to live in and a 750-foot buffer would yield 68 percent available to sex offenders to live in.
Successful challenges have been made to local ordinances that eliminate so much territory that it results in an effective “banishment,” Ekes explained. A recent case successfully challenging Pleasant Prairie’s sex offender residency ordinance showed that municipality had 10 percent of the village available for sex offender residency, but 7 percent of that was actually commercial property.
“My recommendation is that you have roughly 60 percent available for residency,” Ekes said. “That’s certainly not a banishment.”
Trustees did not appear ready to change the buffer in the ordinance on Monday.
“Our job as a board is to protect the citizens from danger, not just protect the village from litigation,” said Trustee Barbara Andres.
Ultimately, the board asked Ekes and village staff to add some prohibited places missing from the preliminary map still using the current 1,200 foot buffer zones and come back to a future meeting for additional consideration of the changes.
Besides the buffer zone distance, changes to the ordinance suggested by Ekes include new exceptions and a more structured appeal process.
