Warsaw City Council Tuesday approved zones where deer have been declared a nuisance within the city limits. The council approved a resolution that declares deer nuisance zones in the same areas as last year: Kosciusko Community Hospital and Springhill Addition; Country Club Road; Rozella Road and Logan Street; the former Madison Elementary School area and Boggs Industrial Park; northwest, northest and east-central parts of the city; Warsaw Municipal Airport area and Hire Park. There are 30 qualified veteran archers for the hunt that will be Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. This is the ninth year for the deer reduction effort. Archers previously hunted from mid-September to the end of January, but the city did not get urban zone status again this year. Jeff Grose, deer task force chair, thanked the deer task force, mayor, police department and archers for their efforts. There will be two to four public zones and 20 to 30 private properties in addition to the nuisance zones where trained archers will be allowed to hunt. Archers will be required to sign up at the police department for times, dates and locations where they will hunt. Grose said safety is a priority. Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said Warsaw’s deer reduction program is one of the first started in the state. “It’s a model program and other communities have modeled after what we’ve done here,” Thallemer said. In other business, the council approved transferring $58,000 from the eastern tax increment finance district fund into professional services for engineering of the proposed Mariners Drive and Husky Trail roundabout. The council on second reading approved an ordinance that will ensure the city has flood insurance. The council also approved transferring $50,000 from the motor vehicle highway fund into repairs and maintenance for road improvements at Tiger’s Retreat. Jeff Beeler, street superintendent, said the area is saturated and there was water under the asphalt. Tile was installed to manage the water and new asphalt was laid. Mike Ragan, Warsaw resident, shared concerns with traffic being backed up on U.S. 30 and Parker Street as he has in previous meetings. Jeremy Skinner, city planner, said he, Thallemer and police Lt. Kip Shuter met with Indiana Department of Transportation officials last week to discuss the issue. INDOT installed cameras to monitor the area and will get back to the city on a solution. INDOT also will do a traffic study at the area. “We know the amount of traffic out there is growing and we will continue to move toward a solution to the problem,” Skinner said. Thallemer said Ragan’s concerns are shared by many.
