MINUTES

TOWN OF VERMONT PLAN COMMISSION

JANUARY 31, 2005

The meeting was called to order by the Chair, Bill Hanson, at 7:30 p.m. The Secretary certified the meeting notice had been posted at the Black Earth State Bank, Amcore Bank in Mt. Horeb, at the Town Hall and on the Town Web Site. Also published in the News Sickle Arrow and the Mt. Horeb Mail newspapers.

Members present: Bill Hanson, Marian Swoboda, Donald McKay, Marc Robertson. Absent: Jim Elleson, Barbara Grenlie and David Stanfield. Steven Frame sat in place of David Stanfield.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Motion was made by Donald McKay seconded by Marc Robertson and carried to approve the December 20, 2004 meeting minutes.

PUBLIC INPUT

Kate Wipperman appeared before the Commission on behalf of The Natural Heritage Land Trust, a non-profit group working with landowners, town and village officials, and area residents to protect natural areas, farms, and wildlife habitat in the Dane County area. She said the Trust would be holding meetings on March 30th at the American Legion Hall in Cross Plains and on March 31 at the Black Earth town hall in Black Earth to talk about what areas they would like to see protected along with explaining how a conservation easement allows the land to stay in private ownership under permanent protection.

DISCUSSION WITH WILLI LEHREN

Willi Lehren a Vermont property owner living at 3480 County Highway F appeared before the Commission to present his plans for building a cold storage facility on his property to store the cheese he makes under the company name, Bleu Mont Dairy. He said his cheesemaking techniques are patterned on European customs using raw milk. Also that he was in England last April to learn about their curing techniques and how they handled their waste water. He said the facility would need to be washed every time a batch of cheese left the building.

He distributed copies of the proposed building measuring 60' x 35' containing a storage room, three curing rooms, a cutting & wrapping room and a small office. He said he makes the cheese at cheese factories located elsewhere. He showed a sample cheese block molded in a round form weighing several pounds. He also plans to cut and package the cheese at the proposed location. He said he was trying to obtain a grant to cover a part of the cost.

The Commission could see no immediate objections to the construction of the building but was concerned with the water runoff when cleaning the facility. Mr. Lehren said he was investigating the possibility of putting in a holding tank saving the water for later use. He was told he would need a conditional use permit from the town but, because the county has jurisdiction over septic systems and waste water, he would need to check out his plans with the county first.

COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING

The discussion on comprehensive planning centered mainly on focus group discussions. The registration list from the January 18 public meeting on comprehensive planning was used to identify potential facilitators and recorders along with their area of interest. The following dates and areas of discussion were agreed upon: March 8 (housing); March 17 (transportation); March 22 (economic development); March 30 (utilities); April 6 (agriculture); April 14 (intergovernment cooperation); April 26 (land use). Bill Hanson said he would contact the people who were suggested to see if they would be available on the above dates. Marian Swoboda agreed to contact Bill Rizzo, the facilitators at the January meeting to find out if he would be available to train the facilitators and recorders. The Public Participation and Review Plan and Bill Rizzo's summary of the January 18 meeting on comprehensive planning were placed on hold along with Marc Robertson's summary of Mr. Rizzo's summary.

ADJOURNMENT

The Chair adjourned the meeting at 9:30 p.m.

Marian Swoboda, Commission Secretary