Minutes
Community Input Meeting with MSA
May 4 2022
The meeting opened at 7:04 pm with 25 citizens in attendance. Larry gave a brief summary of the previous meetings. Citizen Input indicated a consensus on most issues.
What people like about the town: rural atmosphere, simple life, close to amenities, peaceful, lower taxes, hunting, lack of development.
Concern about loss of community identity with too much development and annexation.
Items of consensus: continue restricting lot splits policy, do not expand the hamlet, contain future business development to the hamlet, do not support more housing density or subdivisions, keep traffic levels low, reduce semi traffic, against solar, protect farmland and natural resources.
Items for more discussion: light Industrial, explore becoming a village to gain more control over development
Larry introduced MSA consultants Jason Valerius & Jeff Thelen
Jason conducted the rest of the meeting
Planning Process
Jason recapped his meetings with the town steering committee. The goal is for the plan to be done by fall. This will be last community input meeting until the public hearing prior to adoption of the amended plan.
There will be an online community survey concentrating on non-consensus topics
In the coming months MSA will be reviewing drafts of the plan elements updated by the steering committee.
Planning vs Zoning and municipal law
The Comprehensive Plan primarily guides zoning decisions.
Zoning ordinance and decisions need to be consistent with the plan.
For Concord, the county controls the zoning ordinance.
Jefferson County defers to what the town wants by looking at town plan and town board decisions. The county’s obligation is to adhere to the county plan (not to the town plan).
Town could have its own subdivision ordinance separate from the county – the most restrictive aspects would apply.
Relationship with cities and villages:
Extraterritorial Land Division Authority - cities and villages can approve or deny zoning in their area of extraterritorial jurisdiction (cities – 3 mi., villages – 1.5 mi.). The purpose is to protect their future growth area - this authority is weak. Can’t use authority to promote growth – only to stop growth. Concord is very low growth; we don’t approve much so denial by the city or village is unlikely
Annexation – Currently cannot annex across county lines without town approval by resolution. If the town approves once, they cannot deny future annexations by that municipality. Usually, property owners are asking to annex and they must agree to the annexation.
Extraterritorial Zoning – A City or village creates a joint zoning ordinance with a neighboring town for the extraterritorial zone. Not really necessary for us because we don’t want growth in that area anyway.
Boundary agreements – No pressure for this since Oconomowoc can’t annex across county line without our approval unless state law changes.
Incorporation – Become a village to control our boundaries and prevent annexation. Not critical as not much pressure for annexation now. Not likely possible for Concord due to low density of development – too small and dispersed.
Discussion – known topics of interest
A-2 Zoning – Town has concerns about scattered business development. The purpose of this zoning according to the county is to provide area for businesses related to agriculture. Many conditional uses are not agricultural. According to Matt at the zoning office – these uses have evolved over time due to requests and the zoning has become a catch-all. Matt indicated that the county will be reviewing this district with Planning and zoning committee.
The town can have conditions/ criteria setting specific character for conditional uses. As long as the town follows its plan, only conditional uses meeting those criteria would be approved. Can put uses into categories as to which meet the town’s criteria and which do not.
Utility Scale Solar – There has been a solar project proposed part of which is in the town. Concord did pass a resolution indicating the town is against solar and putting in place guidelines for development. Impact of this resolution is uncertain. May be able to influence but not block the project.
In Concord’s plan – we will reinforce the town’s interest in trying to modulate how these projects occur.
The state has determined that solar facilities are a compatible use in a farmland preservation area.
Hamlet –The county map has a slightly larger boundary to the south than the town hamlet map. According to Matt at the zoning office, the county will go with the hamlet boundaries as defined by the town and will amend their map to match.
Light industrial – question as to whether or not Concord wants this type of development. Definition - means the indoor manufacturing of finished products or parts, including processing, fabrication, assembly, treatment, packaging, storage, sales, and distribution. Does not produce noise, odors, vibration, hazardous waste materials, or particulate that will disturb or endanger neighboring properties. Compatible with being close to residential development.
Traffic semi – Truck traffic on local roads has been an issue. Usually due to GPS finding the quickest route. In Concord, semi’s end up on Allen Rd. when going to Oconomowoc from the west. We can set and post weight limits on roads to address this.
Discussion – new topics
Q. Is development west of 67 / N of 94 considered light industrial?
A. unsure, probably yes
Q. will county override the town limitation on lot splits if challenged by individual?
A. The county policy is to follow the town decision & town plan on this issue. Do not think there is basis for a law suit over this issue.
Q. how to set weight limits on roads to limit semi traffic
A. unsure
Q. Question about a state Park and Ride on I94 & F?
A. This project is no longer being pursued
Q. How to protect drumlins and other natural resources
A. The county plan does protect some natural resources. The zoning ordinance sets a priority of developing residential zoning on non-prime soil if possible. Also prevents development on steep slopes. The town can indicate in the plan that it wants to protect these areas.
Q. How well can a town plan be enforced? Can a county override the town plan?
A. Statues require zoning to be consistent with the plan. The only enforcement mechanism is legal action if the plan is not followed. To date, there has been no law suit to challenge a decision which was inconsistent with the plan. What it comes down to is having a local commitment to follow the plan.
Discussion of barns issue – Kim Miller explained the proposal for 10 more boat storage buildings on Hwy B. This proposal is outside the hamlet. It does not fit the town plan criteria which says all business development must be in the hamlet. The town plan commission recommended denying the petition but the town board approved it. The county has decided that they will now follow town board decisions rather than town plans and so it was approved by the county even though it is contrary to the town plan. The town board has 40 days (from the county board approval) to reverse their decision. The item will be on the town board agenda on Monday, May 9 for reconsideration.
The problem with approval of this petition is that it results in inconsistency with the plan and makes future similar proposals difficult to deny.
Q. Is a plan valid if outdated?
A. The plan is still the best guide you have until its replaced. There has been no court case yet to test validity of an outdated plan.
Q. Can we reapprove the existing plan in 10 yrs?
A. yes – you would follow the same procedure to adopt as if you were amending the plan.
Q. How to enforce the plan if the county chooses not to follow it
A. Relationship between towns and counties is a gray area. Dane county uses its authority to overrule towns and not accept their plans. Some towns in Dane county were able to break out of county zoning. Jefferson County seems more permissive and flexible in working with towns and town plans. Gives deference to property owners and local town decisions.
Q. Is the process the same for amending the plan as for updating the plan?
A. Statutory process is the same for amending the plan as for passing the original plan. Need to publish 30-day notice and have a public hearing before the town board can approve an amendment or a new plan. Our plan has added some extra steps.
Q. How does a town get its own zoning authority?
A. A town can’t break out of county zoning unless the county is going through a complete overhaul of their zoning ordinance.
Q. Can you amend the plan for one proposal?
A. Yes – the amendment could be a map change to change the acceptable use for one property, or it could be a text change which would allow the proposal in question and similar future proposals.
Comment: seems like were faced with impending development. If we plan for it, that would be better than simply having it forced on us. Would like to plan for more residential(subdivisions). Maybe we could increase population and become a village.
A. You can allow growth with guidelines to control appearance and design.
Q. How much of the guidelines in the plan do we need to change into ordinances rather than just using the plan?
A. Ordinances do give more strength to things. It doesn’t necessarily tie the town board to following the plan because they can change ordinances. Unsure what type of ordinances we would need. A town ordinance does no more than the plan when it is a zoning issue since we are under county zoning, but it may make it easier for the town board to follow.
Comment: 30 yrs ago Pabst farm & 83 was not developed. What’s going to stop us from being annexed and developed in the future? We need more growth and to consider becoming a village so we can control our own growth.
Q. How realistic is Purchase of Development Rights to prevent annexation?
A. It is theoretically possible but the cost makes it unfeasible.
Q. Do land trusts have funding for purchase of development rights?
A. Yes, but trusts want to protect valuable resources rather than control growth.
Q. If we set criteria in our plan for A-2 zoning, how does that control parcels that are already zoned A-2.
A. Because the county controls conditional uses, our criteria may not have a lot of impact.
Q. what is the requirement to be a village?
A. It’s based on population density. Would need a population of about 5000 for the whole town to become a village. If core of town becomes a village, it has to wait 5 yrs to annex any further land – can’t just annex rest of the town immediately. To plan for development consider the town would need sewer and water, staffing to administer zoning, etc.
(2) Comment sheets collected after the meeting:
1. Comments: Keep it rural, no new development
2. Comments: No subdivisions, no light industrial
Meeting closed at 9PM
Minutes submitted by Sally Williams
NOTES from Jason Valerius after the meeting: If the core of the town becomes a village, statutes limit annexation of the remainder of the town for 5 years (66.02165). This became law in March 2022. Also, another section, 66.0230, describes an option for consolidating instead of annexing. This can be done immediately if certain criteria are met, which include having boundary agreements with the neighboring cities and villages and having sewer service somewhere in the combined jurisdiction.
Regarding annexation across county lines, Act 198 passed in March 2022 that made the above changes also changed the rules on annexation across county lines. See 66.0217(14)(b)1.There is now a part b here that simply allows the annexation by unanimous approval of the property owners. In other words, annexation of Town of Concord property by Oconomowoc or Summit can occur simply by landowner approval, without Town approval.