The JS Online reports that citizens in Jefferson have initiated a direct legislation effort to stop a proposed Wal-Mart SuperCenter. “The petitions call for a municipal ordinance that would require any developer seeking to annex more than 15 acres to the city to complete a series of costly steps before a project could be approved.”
“The direct legislation process, which was made state law in 1911 but not used with any regularity for nearly a century, allows citizens of cities and villages – but not towns – to propose initiatives that the governing body must either approve or forward to voters in a referendum.” Two years ago the Wisconsin Supreme Court validated the law’s existence.