Media Story

Does agriculture have a role in this county? ‘
Development rights plan advances to County

By DAVE RANK - Daily News Staff
March 9, 2006

Proponents of a well-funded purchase of development rights (PDR) program to protect prime agricultural land from the spread of subdivisions will explain why it's needed in Washington County Tuesday.

The County Board's Planning, Conservation and Parks Commit-tee voted to accept the report developed by the Purchase of Development Rights Task Force and advanced it to the County Board, which meets Tuesday.

Also going to the full board is a resolution calling for the creation of a county PDR program to be funded annually by $800,000 in local sales tax money. Program advocates say that money could be used to leverage additional dollars from state and federal programs, conservation organizations and individual donors.

"Everyone is aware how this county is becoming urbanized more and more," said Daniel Stoffel, task force chairman.

"Agriculture has been an asset to this county. Our thinking is it should be an asset in the future," he said. "The real question is, does agriculture have a role in this county?"

Stoffel is a County Board supervisor from the town of Kewaskum.

Agriculture is a $630 million industry in Washington County, said Herb Wolf, assistant administrator for the county's Planning and Parks Department.

Saving prime agricultural land, which is designated based on the high quality of its soils, will help preserve the rural character of the county, said Mary Krumbiegel, a County Board supervisor from the town of Jackson. It will also help preserve the quality of local groundwater and maintain the availability of locally grown foods.

"The goal is not to snatch up lands in urban areas, the goal is to create agricultural enclaves, for lack of a better term," Stoffel said. "Is there value in having both urban areas and agricultural areas in Washington County? I submit to you there is."

Not everyone agreed. Donald Roskopf, a County Board supervisor from Germantown, cast the lone committee vote against supporting the report and resolution.

"How does it benefit me as a property owner who does not have agricultural land?" he asked.

Much of the report's findings are based on successful PDR program instituted in other states.

"You're trying to preserve some land so it's not all blacktop and houses," said Herb Tennies, committee member and a Country Board supervisor from West Bend. "You and I won't benefit from this now as much as our children and grandchildren will in the future. They're going to say thanks. That's what you'll see."

The 13-member task force was put together by the County Board's Planning, Conservation and Parks Committee in Septem-ber, and charged with developing a plan and identify funding for a PDR program.

So far, the county's Planning and Parks Department has allocated $100,000 of its 2006 $500,000 sales tax park development allotment for a pilot PDR program to buy development rights on farmland and other open spaces adjacent to county parks.

The task force is proposing a larger program is needed.

The task force was composed of County Board supervisors, farmers, citizens, representatives of conservation organizations and members of town boards.

Stoffel said he hopes to have County Board approval for a PDR program by September, so it can be included in the county's annual Capital Improvement Plan, which allocates sales tax fund uses in the 2007 budget.

At a Glance

In a resolution forwarded to the County Board, the Purchase of Development Rights Task Force asks that:

The County Board endorse creating a PDR program.

At least $800,000 in sales tax money be used annually to support the program (in 2004 the county earned $8.3 million and expects to receive around the same amount again when the 2005 sales tax books are finally closed later this month).

An ad hoc committee be formed to write an ordinance formally creating a PDR program, with the assistance of various county department staffs.

The Explainer

A purchase of development rights program is a voluntary farmland preservation tool that permanently preserves farmland and nature areas, preventing urban sprawl into designated prime agricultural properties.

Under such a program, willing landowners maintain ownership of their property but voluntarily sell easements that would keep land in agricultural use or, in the case of woodlands and wetlands, maintain them in their natural state.