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County Executive's Office

County Executive Falk Announces Third Public Session Tonight to Create “Map” for Dane County

March 09, 2005
Lesley Sillaman, Office of the County Executive (608) 267-8823
County Executive

Third Attain Dane Listening Sessions will be held in the Village of Oregon Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk today invited county residents to attend the third of six public listening/working sessions to involve citizens and local governments in creating a map for Dane County. The first and second sessions, held in the Town of Sun Prairie and the Village of Cross Plains, had over 100 attendees. “Now is the time for all of us to decide where we want to grow and what we want to protect,” said Falk. The public session will be held Wednesday, March 9, at 7 p.m., in the Village Hall at 117 Spring Street in Oregon. Other working sessions will follow in the Village of DeForest, and in the Cities of Verona and Madison, ending in May. At each working session, Falk will display maps that clearly show the combined growth that will take place under the planning done separately by each municipality in that region. This combined growth will consume much more land than most people expect, Falk said. “Under the status quo we lose what we love. We lose our farms, community character, natural resources and wonderful lakes, while traffic jams increase,” said Falk. Mapping is the next step in the county executive’s Attain Dane major land use plan initiative to prevent sprawl from diminishing the quality of life for citizens in Dane County. Major points of Attain Dane! include: · At mapping working sessions, citizens and local government leaders will tell Falk their priorities for preservation and development in their region. After the six working sessions, Falk will then create a county-wide map identifying areas to protect and areas where development could occur. · Using the private market system to compensate farmers for the value of their land (called a transfer of development rights). · A system of tax base sharing and intergovernmental agreements will be implemented, to share the benefits of development and to reduce competition for development among municipalities. “A bold initiative is needed, or we will simply plan ourselves to sprawl to death,” said Falk. Dane County added more people than any other county in the state during the past 10 years. The county is adding 60,000 people a decade—that’s the equivalent of adding a Mount Horeb every year, or three Sun Prairies every 10 years. An overview of Falk’s Attain Dane land use plan can be found at http://wwwco.dane.wi.us/exec/exechome.htm. # # #
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