MINUTES

TOWN OF VERMONT PLAN COMMISSION MEETING

JUNE 28, 2004

The meeting was called to order by the Chair, Bill Hanson, at 7:30 p.m. The Secretary of the Commission, Marian Swoboda, certified that the meeting notice had been posted at the Black Earth State Bank, Amcore Bank in Mt. Horeb, on the town web site and on the front door of the Town Hall; also published in the News Sickle-Arrow and Mt. Horeb Mail newspapers.

David Stanfield having been appointed to a two-year term on the Plan Commission was sworn in by the Town Clerk Marian Swoboda.

Members present: Bill Hanson, Marc Robertson, Barbara Grenlie, Donald McKay, Marian Swoboda, David Stanfield, Steve Frame (alternate) Absent: Jim Elleson

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Motion was made by Steve Frame seconded by Donald McKay and carried to approve the May 10 commission meeting minutes with a change to be made in the last paragraph on the first page to clarify that the variance recommended to the board on the Haroldson driveway referred to the 4' shoulder width rather than the 12' roadbed.

GRANT APPLICATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL "SMART GROWTH' COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

Aaron Otto a planner at the Village of Black Earth as well as an associate with Vierbicher Associates, Inc., and drafter of the proposed County multi-jurisdictional grant attended the meeting to answer questions. The idea originated with the Black Earth Village Board. The Town of Black Earth and the Village of Mazomanie had agreed to join the grant drafting effort. Each will pay $500.00 for the service. The Town of Vermont would also contribute $500 if the decision is made to be apart of the process.

The deadline for filing the grant is October 31. The application would go through a review process in November and December with the grant awards approval process taking place in January 2005. The grant agreements procedure would follow in February through April. The project would be executed in May. At the end of the process the municipalities involved in the grant would receive an individual planning document for review and adoption which addresses the requirements as specified under Wisconsin's Comprehensive Planning Legislation. If the grant application was approved the Town of Vermont would receive about $10,000 toward the cost of drafting the comprehensive plan.

Questioned as to whether or not the Town of Vermont would be bound to proceed beyond the drafting of the grant if they chose not to go forward, Mr. Otto answered no. In fact he said any municipality could withdraw at any stage in the process even as far as turning down the grant once awarded.

Motion was made by David Stanfield seconded by Bill Hanson and carried to recommend to the board that the Town of Vermont join in the development of the grant application to "see what it looks like".

TRANSFER OF POTENTIAL BUILDING SITES

After noting that the Town of Cottage Grove allows for the sale and purchase of building rights within their town it was decided to postpone discussion to a later time.

REVIEW OF THE LAND USE FEE SCHEDULE

In order to keep pace with increased costs of serving applicants seeking land use changes, the Commission Secretary proposed increasing the site visit fee from $325 to $350. The fee covers the site visit along with meeting and administrative costs of processing an application. Each meeting or site visit carries a fixed cost of $210 covering per diem charges. Thus the second site visit (same application) would increase from $160 to $210. A fixed charge of $325 would be assessed for special meetings called at the request of a petitioner

Motion was made by David Stanfield seconded by Steve Frame and carried to recommend to the board approval of the proposed changes.

DEVELOPMENT OF POLICY ON CALLING SPECIAL MEETINGS

The commission secretary was requested to draft a policy on the calling of special meetings at the request of land use petitioners.

ADJOURNMENT

Upon motion made by Steve Frame seconded by Barbara Grenlie and carried the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.

Marian Swoboda, Commission Secretary