Warsaw City Council approved a resolution Tuesday that declares eight deer nuisance areas within city limits. The areas are wooded lots around Kosciusko Community Hospital and Springhill addition, a private lot near Hire Park, the former Madison Elementary School and Boggs Addition, Rozella Road and Logan Street, and Country Club Drive. Other areas are the east central zone east of Detroit Street by Warsaw Municipal Airport; the northwest zone by Hidden Lake; and east central zone along U.S. 30. The council still needs to approve the areas as deer reduction zones. If approved, the deer reduction effort by trained archers selected by the city will be Sept. 15 to Jan. 31. This would be the seventh year for the deer reduction effort and 50 deer were taken last year. There were 50 veteran archers who expressed interest in this year’s reduction and participated in required training Aug. 22 and 24 at Warsaw Police Department. The archers will be selected by the end of the week, according to Jeff Grose, Deer Task Force chairman. “The state has given Warsaw urban zone status which means the entire city is experiencing a problem with deer overpopulation,” Grose said. “The deer management committee believes for the safety of residents that we should identify areas in the city where deer overpopulation exist.” The committee consists of Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer, Police Chief Scott Whitaker, Matt Dick, Jon Cook and Grose. “We believe the program has been successful and we appreciate the council’s support,” Grose said. Grose said crossbows will not be allowed for safety reasons, and only bows and arrows will be used. Archers will hunt in wooded lots in tree stands 70 yards from properties. There is an earn a buck program where archers must take a doe then be allowed to take a buck. After they take a buck, they will be required to take two more doe before taking a second buck. Grose thanked the city, police department, and archers for supporting the city’s deer reduction efforts. In other business, the council reviewed appropriating $550,000 out of the Northern Tax Increment Finance district redevelopment budget into the capital outlays budget to allow for the acquisition of 90 acres within the designated Warsaw Technology Park to develop the land. The city is close to signing a purchase agreement for the property and is waiting for two appraisals to come back before proceeding with an agreement. A public hearing on the topic will be at the Sept. 16 council meeting. The council also approved transferring $100,000 from the Northern TIF professional services fund to the capital outlays fund in order to allow for the acquisition of 90 acres within the designated Warsaw Technology Park. The council also heard about seven streets to be paved in 2013. There is $93,000 available for the paving projects. Projects include West Street from Porter to Pike Streets; West Street from Pike to Perry Street; West Street from Perry to Rutter streets; West Street from Rutter to Lake streets; Indiana Street from Main to Center streets; Indiana Street from Center to Market streets; and South Lake Street from Market to Winona Avenue. The total remaining balance of $90,365.09 will be used for striping of South Lake Street and Indiana Street.
