Town of Kaukauna

Town of Kaukauna
W780 Greiner Rd
Kaukauna, WI 54130

Planning Meeting
7:00pm, July 26, 2010

The meeting was called to order at 7:07pm by Chairperson, Pete Van Wychen.
Board members present were Pete Van Wychen, Marvin Fox, Jackie Calaway, Terry Van Eperen, and Bernie Vander Heiden. Debbie Vander Heiden, the Town Supervisor was sitting in for Mike Van Asten. Also present, John Alferi, Town Chair and Guests Jeff Saunders and Marvin Jones.

Motion by Bernie Vander Heiden to nominate Jackie Calaway as the new Planning Commission Secretary. Second by Ken Vander Heiden. Motion carried.

Jeff Saunders introduced the board to the Working Lands Initiative, the old Farmland Preservation act. The website is http://datcp.state.wi.us/workinglands/index.jsp. As of January 1, 2010 WLI is the new act to receive the tax credit for land that is exclusive agriculture. Towns and landowners can stay under the old act until 2012 or transition to the new act immediately, either way a Conversion Fee exists.

Comp Plan Law requires Towns to review and revise if necessary land use ordinances to be consistent with the Comp Plan. The Town adopted our Comp Plan in December of 2009. The Town could just do this or they could participate in the WLI, which revises land use as well. Towns do not have to participate in WLI, but then no tax credits will be available.

The day the WLI is adopted by the Town is the day the base farm tract is established. The base farm tract may be one parcel or many parcels. That has not been established by the state yet.

There are 3 tiers to the act. $5 credit per acre with a farmland preservation agreement (like the old plan). $7.50 per acre if located in farmland preservation zoned area. $10.00 per acre if you have an agreement and are in the farmland preservation area. Please refer to the website for the specifics.

The new act does allow for up to 4 additional residential parcels to be created off the original base tract without a rezone. This requires a 20:1 ratio, however. For example, if you have 21 acres, 1 acre could be broken off and built on. The 20 acres remains agriculture and so does the 1 acre. The Town has to establish what their 20:1 ratio will be. Also, the parcels must remain physically together. They can be broken apart in different years.

There is a conversion fee that applies for any rezone from Agriculture to anything else. This is collected at the time of application and started back on January 1 of 2010. The fee is $216 x 3 x number of acres. So $648 for 1 acre. These fees are paid to the state around November to help offset the tax credits granted for the WLI program. The town is allowed to add a supplemental fee onto the state fee. Any money collected must be used for agriculture related uses.

The state is allowing a “Window of Opportunity” for Towns to take advantage of reviewing and amending the zoning ordinances without having to pay the conversion fee. No idea how long this window will remain open.

The next steps will be proposals to the Town Board. They have to decide which provider to accept to help lead the Planning Commission in this endeavor. The Planning Commission should familiarize themselves with this new law.

The next Planning Commission Meeting will be at 7:00 pm, Monday, August 16th.

A motion to adjourn was made by Ken Vander Heiden. Second by Marvin Fox. The meeting closed at 8:45pm.


Jackie Calaway
Planning Commission