Falk to Host Final Attain Dane Listening Session in Madison June 1

May 31, 2005
Lesley Sillaman, Office of the County Executive (608) 267-8823
County Executive

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk today announced the final community-wide Attain Dane listening session will be held Wednesday, June 1 at the Exposition Hall at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison at 7:00pm. A 30-day public input period will follow this seventh, and final, session and will end July 1, 2005. (Falk will also be discussing Attain Dane with MAGNET -Madison Area Growth Network - next week.) The session’s purpose is to involve citizens and local governments in creating a map for Dane County. Previous sessions have been held in the Towns of Sun Prairie and Christiana, the Villages of Cross Plains, Oregon, DeForest and the Cities of Verona and Madison. “Now is the time for all of us to decide where we want to grow and what we want to protect,” said Falk. At each working session, Falk will display maps that clearly show the combined growth that will take place under the planning done separately by each municipality in that region. This combined growth will consume much more land than most people expect, Falk said. “Under the status quo we lose what we love. We lose our farms, community character, natural resources and wonderful lakes, while traffic jams increase,” said Falk. Mapping is the next step in the county executive’s Attain Dane major land use plan initiative to prevent sprawl from diminishing the quality of life for citizens in Dane County. Major points of Attain Dane! include: · At mapping working sessions, citizens and local government leaders will tell Falk their priorities for preservation and development in their region. After the six working sessions, Falk will then create a county-wide map identifying areas to protect and areas where development could occur. · Using the private market system to compensate farmers for the value of their land (called a transfer of development rights). · A system of tax base sharing and intergovernmental agreements will be implemented, to share the benefits of development and to reduce competition for development among municipalities. “A bold initiative is needed, or we will simply plan ourselves to sprawl to death,” said Falk. Dane County added more people than any other county in the state during the past 10 years. The county added 60,000 people over the last decade—that’s the equivalent of adding a Mount Horeb every year, or three Sun Prairies every 10 years. An overview of Falk’s Attain Dane land use plan can be found at http://wwwco.dane.wi.us/exec/exechome.htm. # # #