City Council

DRAFT MINUTES TOWN OF VERMONT PLAN COMMISSION MEETING 4017 County Hwy JJ, Black Earth, WI 53515 Monday August 18, 2025, 6:00 P.M. Call to order and posting certification Tim called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. The meeting was properly noticed: posted on the front door of the Town Hall, posted on the town website, and emailed to the online subscribers. Present: Tim Pierce, Diane Anderson, Dean Bossenbroek, Jim Elleson, Polly Kawalek, Doug Meier, Absent: Max Scoll Approval of agenda Jim moved and Polly seconded a motion to approve the agenda. Carried 6-0. Approval of July meeting minutes Polly moved and Doug seconded a motion to approve the July meeting minutes. Carried 6-0. Public input/general comments Mark Haukoos expressed interest in agenda #7, Financial Security and Guarantee for Town permitted projects. Richard Anderson, 4551 Pleasant Valley Road, Rezone application Richard Anderson wants to rezone four parcels of land at 4551 Pleasant Valley Road to RR-8 with a PDR assigned to each parcel. He will then donate the parcels over time to a foundation and use the funds for his conservancy development. • The Town was unaware of a land contract that predated January 1, 1985, and assumed certain PDRs were available on the property. • Dane County did a density study showing 3 PDRs to Anderson and one to O’Connell. • A land contract dated October 1, 1983, showed 28.064 acres sold to O’Connell. • O’Connell should have 1 PDR and Anderson should have 3 PDRs. • When a land contract is signed, the purchaser is considered the legal owner even if the deed has not been transferred. • In 85 O’Connell was paying the taxes on the property • County zoning does not like the Anderson proposal but will not oppose it. • A change in zoning does not take a property off the tax records. • If a PDR is donated to a conservancy, how do you make sure that it does not resurface? We discussed two options available to Anderson: o He could stake out a driveway and building envelope on each parcel. o We could put a deed restriction on the deed that says that building on the land is prohibited indefinitely.  • Deed restrictions would need to be cleared before building could take place. • The updated request is to rezone into three lots and two parcels. Richard would like to combine lot 4 with parcel B keeping the zoning as FP-35. He will get the survey redrawn to reflect the changes. Jim moved and Polly seconded a motion to recommend to the board to approve the rezoning of lots 1, 2, and 3 to RR-8 with the following deed restriction provided by Dane County: “No development shall take place on the properties until such time as the landowner obtains development approval from the Town of Vermont. The approvals include site development, driveway placement, and ridge-top protection compliance. No zoning permit or building permit shall be obtained until such time as town development approvals are granted. “Approved 5-1. Dean nay DCTA Conditional Use Permit Survey Should we support reducing the number of land uses listed as conditional uses in the County Zoning Code to get greater discretion and control over the land use. • Unsure, we need more information. • Could put problematic issues in a separate zoning category. • Zoning is a much stronger category and gives us more discretion. We support requiring that applicants submit the same application to both the Town and the County. End of DCTA discussion. Dean moved and Jim seconded a motion to move to ‘Maintenance Shed’ on the agenda. Motion carried 6-0. Discussion regarding Maintenance Shed and requirement for permitting This is the property on Windy Acres Road. Property owners received approval from the county to build a 600 sq ft machine shed for maintenance. Jim moved and Doug seconded a motion that the plan commission resolved that a field road permit is not required for the maintenance shed. Motion carried 6-0. Financial Security and Guarantee for Town permitted projects – Discussion regarding adding this requirement for future permits • According to Section 66.0425 of the State Statutes, the Town can require a bond of up to $10,000 until the driveway is done to our specifications. • The town electors can move to give the Town “village powers.” • According to section 86.07, if the work is not done to the Town’s satisfaction, fines can be imposed. The reason for this is that it is far easier to ensure that things are being built how they are supposed to be built, and it costs town money to go through the enforcement option. • For land divisions there is a completely different statute that applies. • Tim will do a little more research on what “village powers” give the Town.  Comprehensive Plan Review – working topic. This item will be discussed next month. Agenda items for the next meeting Comprehensive Plan Review Financial Security Next Meeting Date. September 29, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. Adjournment Doug moved and Dean seconded a motion to adjourn. Motion carried 6-0. Meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Diane Anderson, Planning Commission Secretary