MINUTES

CONCORD TOWN PLAN PUBLIC INPUT MEETING

April 21, 2022

Present: Larry Oliverson (steering committee chair), Dale Konle (Town Chair), Kim Miller, Sally Williams (minute taker), there were over 30 citizens present.

Larry Oliverson chaired the meeting and began with an overview of the Town Plan. He stressed that public participation and input is very important. The plan should reflect what the citizens want. This is the second meeting. There will be one more public input meeting conducted by MSA, the consulting firm the Town has hired to help with the Plan.

At the public input meeting on March 24, citizens indicated that what they liked about the town was the rural atmosphere, simple life, close to amenities, peaceful, lower taxes, hunting, lack of development. Main concern was the loss of community identity if there is too much development.

Items of consensus at the last meeting: continue to limit lot splits as we do now, do not expand the hamlet.

Citizens present had no other “likes/ concerns” to add to those stated at the last meeting.

Boat Storage update

Kim Miller provided an update on the proposal by the Boat House to build 10 new buildings on 7.4 acres on CTH B. She stated that this proposal conflicts with our town plan because the proposal is outside the town hamlet. Nonetheless both the Town & County have approved it. There is concern that this development would be a “foot in the door” for further business development outside of the hamlet. Adherence to our town plan is what has held business development in the town in check and prevented development around the CTH F/ I94 interchange. Once the town diverges from the plan, further development may be harder to control.

Due to these wider implications, some citizens feel it is necessary to determine legal status of town plans and to define to what extent towns and counties are legally bound to follow them. A citizen group will be approaching a lawyer tomorrow to determine what action can be taken both to challenge the approval of this proposal and to determine the legal status of a town plan.

Mark Groose indicated that there are significant concerns with the proposal including traffic issues, dust, water runoff. He said that Dale (the town chair) can bring it up at next town meeting for a final vote to potentially overturn the approval.

The fact that our plan is out of date came up – Larry said there are quite a few plans in Wisconsin that are out of date. Whether or not this nullifies the plan is uncertain.

Larry clarified that the attorney action is coming from citizens – not the town.

DISCUSSION OF THE ELEMENTS

Housing Element

Larry Oliverson described the Housing element. It provides background information on available housing. Both the town and county have discouraged high density housing in the town as there is no sewer and water. The plan does need to have policies which fill the housing needs for persons of all incomes, ages, and needs. However, there is a recognition that some housing needs will be met in neighboring municipalities. We want to preserve older homes and structures in the town.

Lot splits were discussed at the last meeting– anyone interested can review that discussion in the minutes posted on website. The consensus at the last meeting was to continue limiting lot splits.

No comments

Multifamily housing – we have none

Subdivisions – our current plan doesn’t support creation of more subdivisions and the county has no area in Concord identified for potential subdivision development.

Comments:

in Washington county when subdivisions are developed, all costs for roads and maintenance are covered by development.

not in favor of subdivisions – there are plenty in surrounding communities;

decisions in areas with extraterritorial plat review may be driven by neighboring municipalities making it difficult to maintain a rural setting and hold development forces at bay.

Currently, municipalities cannot annex across county lines.

There was an opinion that we should focus on light industrial rather than residential which would support the tax base and not demand services. Our location is perfect for transport of goods. Residential development costs the community whereas business development brings revenue and doesn’t cost the community.

There was a suggestion that becoming a village may give us more control over development. Suggest checking with Summit because they just became a village.

Consensus: There seemed to be general agreement that we do not need more housing density/ subdivisions.

There was a fair amount of discussion as to whether or not we want more light industrial development. It was difficult to gain a consensus either way - no one had a definition for light industrial. However, it was pointed out that the last meeting showed no support for more development and traffic and the consensus was to contain future business development to the hamlet.

***Items for action:

check into process and advantages/ disadvantages of becoming a village – may be able to address at the next meeting with the planner from MSA

need definition of light industry

potential survey question – do people want to see more business/ light industrial development at the interchange or elsewhere in the town?

Transportation

Larry - this element gives an overview of existing transportation. In the town it primarily addresses road conditions and maintenance and potential for new roads.

traffic concerns – particularly at interchanges and in hamlet

Comments:

There is a large amount of semi traffic (long haul) on Allen Rd. (& Morgan Rd.) - started suddenly about a year ago, one driver said he uses that route because it comes up on GPS. There was a suggestion to post weight limits on roads. Rockvale would be a better road for this type of traffic.

Increased traffic on B, E, F can make the intersection at the triangle in the hamlet difficult to maneuver

There is increased traffic on B and E - especially semi’s

Non-vehicular trails Comment that we need more bike trails - suggest 3 ft bike lane on new roads. This would be cost prohibitive for the town but there was general consensus that people are in favor if the county wanted to develop them or if grant money was available. Also a comment that we may need to maintain them even if they were paid for by another entity. There are a number of trails in the area including the glacial drumlin and interurban trail.

*** Items for action

explore options with consultant to address use of semi’s on Allen Rd. Consider posting weight limits.

Utilities

Larry gave an overview – this element assesses current facilities and future needs. This includes fire, EMS, waste disposal, recycling, communication facilities

Fire & EMS - costs for these services have increased dramatically. We have little say in cost as we have no fire dept. Costs for the departments are going up as well due to state regulations and difficulty of finding volunteers. The increased costs basically come out of our road fund.

Solar & wind energy facilities - the town can express an opinion but state has final say. Consensus at last meeting is that we are not in favor of these facilities.

Environmental Resources

Larry – this element gives an overview of resources and environmentally sensitive areas.

Comments:

The primary resource we need to protect is farmland - particularly from development by industrial uses and subdivisions

Want to make statements stronger in the plan to say we do not want solar farms especially as they threaten farm land.

If solar panels are put up high, farming and prairie can be planted underneath so that solar farms are not necessarily taking farmland out of production.

there are no guidelines for siting solar farms, the town should encourage siting requirements to mitigate impact on existing development

There was a brief discussion on Billboards – who controls them? The DOT sets guidelines. There was a thought that there is no new billboard space in Concord. A large one going up north of the freeway is replacing an existing billboard.

Water quality & conservation – there is concern about water conservation and quality – Larry has discussed this with the consultant to address in the plan; A concern was brought up about deep agricultural wells and a comment that these are regulated by the state.

Cultural & Historic Resources

Larry – this element outlines ways to identify and preserve historic resources. Cindy Arbiture has revised this element.

Cindy Arbiture – the Concord Historical Society is a non-profit - any money goes into town for education.

Intergovernmental Cooperation

Larry – this element analyzes the relationship between Concord and neighboring municipalities, school districts, drainage districts, and other governmental entities. This element covers boundary agreements and extraterritorial plat review.

Issues - strategies for cooperation, sharing of services with other governmental entities, identifying & resolving conflicts.

The threat of annexation – this is a concern. Currently land cannot be annexed across county lines. One way to prevent annexation is with the purchase of development rights. This is costly, but the general consensus was in favor of this if money was available from other sources.

County zoning authority is a concern as they are not currently making decisions consistent with our plan.

Implementation

Larry – this element outlines the steps the town will take to implement the plan. Many strategies in current plan were never implemented.

The new Plan will contain a land use plan for the hamlet area to better direct future development in this area. This is an area outlined by the county surrounding existing denser housing and small business. The hamlet is centered on Highways B, E. and F south of the freeway.

This element will include a process for amending the plan –it will be an involved process so changing the plan is not easy.

Further discussion - How do people generally feel about light industrial development?

Comments:

a big part of EMS/fire costs is the residential development in Ixonia – they should have stuck with light industrial which brings in more revenue. This is what we should do. If we had our own light industrial, we could develop our own fire/ EMS.

Unsure of what light industrial is – seems like a “foot in the door” for more development – would not be in favor.

This type of development may bring more heavy traffic.

Increased EMS costs for ixonia were partly due to the purchase of a new ambulance and state regulations regarding equipment. Light industrial would not automatically give us the funds for our own department. These costs are extensive and need to be shared. Our town cost is based on calls and houses in the call area in our town. The Interstate also adds to our cost cost.

No consensus on this question in part due to lack of definition of light industrial.

*** Item for action - bring this question at the next public input meeting with consultant

Continue barn discussion

There was discussion over the fact that our Plan is expired. It was pointed out that even though plan is expired, we have been following it. We need to treat all proposals the same whether the Plan is expired or not. The plan is not like a contract which is over at its expiration date. Consistency is key so decisions aren’t arbitrary.

The county is required to follow its plan, but the county plan says it has to follow the town plan. In deciding this proposal, the County changed its policy to follow town board decisions instead of town plans.

Note: a definition of light industry that I looked up after the meeting to aid in future discussion:

Light industry refers to manufacturing of everyday items for the end consumer. It uses moderate amounts of partially processed materials to produce items of relatively high value per unit weight. Light industries require only small amounts of raw materials, area and power. The value of the goods produced is relatively low and they are easy to transport. Light industries cause relatively little pollution when compared to heavy industries. As light industry facilities have less environmental impact than those associated with heavy industry zoning laws permit light industry near residential areas. It is a criterion for zoning classification. The manufacturing of clothes, shoes, furniture, consumer electronics and household items are a few examples of light industries.

Some examples of light industries are:

The electronics manufacturing industries - cell phones, remote controls, cameras, computers, etc.

The food industries, which produce canned, packaged and bottled or “tetra-brick” beverages.

The automotive or vehicle parts manufacturing industries.

The printers.

The woodwork, furniture factories and plumbing parts.