HomeMy WebLinkAbout02 Approved 02-01-2024 CSZD Minutes
COMMITTEE MEETING
February 1, 2024
9:00 a.m.
Room #264, Grant County Board Room, Administration Building
Lancaster, Wisconsin
The Grant County Conservation, Sanitation & Zoning Committee meeting was called to order on February 1,
2024, at 9:00 a.m. by Gary Northouse, the Conservation, Sanitation, Zoning Committee Chairman in Room #264,
County Board Room of the Administration Building.
Board members present in the County Board room #264: Porter Wagner, Gary Northouse, Pat Schroeder, Brian
Lucey, Joe Mumm, Larry Jerrett. Adam Day was on Zoom. Others present in the County Board room; Erik
Heagle, Annette Lolwing, Robert Keeney, Shane Drinkwater, Gary & Joyce Burkholder, Travis Jensen, Karen
Jensen, Greg Cerven. Zoom: eheagle, Grant County Board Room, Robert Keeney, Shane Drinkwater, Tonya
White, Wepkings, jbergles, Jeff Kindrai and Mike Adams.
Certification of Open Meeting Law
Annette Lolwing sent the agenda to the County Clerk’s office to post in the Administration Building, Courthouse,
and on the county website. An agenda was also posted in front of the Ag Service Center Building. An agenda was
also sent to Bob Middendorf, WGLR. Media notices were sent to the County Clerk’s office, Herald Independent,
Platteville Journal, Muscoda Progressive, Boscobel Dial, Fennimore Times, and Bob Middendorf.
Approval of February 1, 2024, Agenda
Motion by Pat Schroeder, seconded by Porter Wagner to approve the agenda. Motion carried.
Approval of the January 4, 2024, Minutes
Motion by Joe Mumm, seconded by Brian Lucey to approve the January 4, 2024, minutes. Motion carried.
Review & Accept the Bills
Motion by Pat Schroeder, seconded by Adam Day to accept the January bills. Motion carried.
Public Hearing for Rezones
Chairman Northouse opened the Public Hearing
RZ24-01 Gary & Joyce Burkholder, Lima Twp., are requesting to change the zoning classification on PIN:030-
00457-0010, 030-00664-0000, 030-00700-0010, 030-00701-0000, 030-00706-0010, and 030-00707-0000 of
+/- 83.227 ac. from A-1 and A-2 to FP to be able to collect the Farmland Preservation Tax Credit.
In Favor: Lima Twp. approved on December 13, 2023. Gary & Joyce Burkholder. Larry Butson, via mail.
In Opposition: None
In Interest: None
Committee Discussion: None
Chairman Northouse closed the Public Hearing.
Motion by Pat Schroeder to recommend approval of the rezone request for Gary & Joyce Burkholder to the full
County Board, seconded by Porter Wagner. Motion carried.
Chairman Northouse opened the Public Hearing
RZ24-02 Karen Jensen, Paris Twp., is requesting to change the zoning classification on PIN:046-01026-0000 of
+/- 1.0 ac. from FP to A2 to allow for the use of a non-farm residence.
In Favor: Paris Twp., approved on November 21, 2023. Karen Jensen and Travis Jensen.
In Opposition: None
In Interest: None
Committee Discussion: None
Motion by Porter Wagner that the items are concurrent with all the conditions on the Farmland Preservation
Worksheet and to recommend approval of the rezone to the full County Board, seconded by Brian Lucey. Motion
carried. See Attachment A Worksheet.
Zoning/Sanitation Report
Erik reported that the zoning and sanitation staff are working on the Orders for Corrections. There are
approximately 50 to 60 OFCs for Sanitation, and approximately 20 OFCs for Zoning.
Sanitation – There were 6 sanitation permits issued in January, 2023, in 2024 there are 4 so far. Jim has
approximately 15 sanitary permits that he is waiting for permit applications that need to be reviewed and approve.
There are approximately 5 or 6 zoning permits waiting for sanitary permits to come in before they can approve
those zoning permits.
Zoning permits in January last year (2023) we were sitting at 15, in 2024 to date we have 7 zoning permits.
WDACP Deer Damage Claims: Greg Cerven
Greg Cerven reported that 4 landowners had applied for the Wildlife Damage Program. The appraised loss of
crops for those 4 landowners was $42,377.11 the claim payments that they received was a total of $24,919.07.
All 4 landowners have met the wildlife damage requirements to be approved at this time. Motion by Pat
Schroeder, seconded by Adam Day to approve the 4 claims. Motion carried.
Approval to Hire a New Soil & Water Conservation Technician
Erik mentioned that John Sewell’s last day with Grant County is on February 1st. Motion by Joe Mumm,
seconded by Porter Wagner to officially approve the hiring of a new Soil and Water Conservation Technician.
Motion carried.
Farmland Preservation Program
Erik has reported that they had a Farmland Preservation update class that was held on January 16th and 17th, 12
attended the class. Out of those 12 landowners, there were 10 who updated their NMP. Anyone that has taken the
Farmer Written NMP through the Conservation Department, need to take this class once every 4 years to keep
certified. If they do not take the class to stay certified our office will not accept the Farmer Written NMP
checklist. Everyone needs to do continuing compliance along with those who have collected cost share money for
projects. In Mid-February letters will be going out to everyone on the 2024 spot check list. The goal is to get
everyone’s NMP turned into our Department by June 1st.
County Cost Sharing: Beginning Balance $42,507.83/Ending Balance $38,757.83
Erik presented a cost share request for 4 waste facility closures for Gary and Deb Dresen, Cassville Twp.,
$3,750.00. Motion by Adam Day, seconded by Brian Lucey to approve Gary and Deb’s request. Motion carried.
2024 DATCP Cost Sharing: Beginning Balance/Ending Balance $71,200.00
Erik reported that the Wayne and Anita Carns, Smelser Twp., has made a request to cancel their streambank
protection plan, $5,017.60.
Louis Kieler stopped by the office and he and Erik discussed the well decommissioning situation. We still have
not had any correspondence with the plumber whether he filed the paperwork with the WI DNR. Erik suggested
to give Louis Kieler one more month to get his 2 well decommissioning approvals to us. Motion by Pat
Schroeder, seconded b y Porter Wagner to give Louis Kieler one more month, to March 1st, to provide the office
the approved WI DNR form. Motion carried.
Storage Permit Approval:
Erik has 4 waste storage facility closures, for Gary and Deb Dresens, that he has approved permits for. These are
all under the hog building facilities. Motion by Joe Mumm, seconded by Brian Lucey to concur with Erik’s
permit approvals. Motion carried.
CSZD Administrator Report
Meetings
- January 16, 2024 – County Board
- January 25, 2024 – Southern Area Association - Dodgeville
Information
- The 2 court hearings that were last month – the judge dismissed the Whitetail BOA appeal, waiting to hear
what is next if anything, the 2nd case, the judge gave the individual till the end of November to get new
system installed, then the individual decided to file for a jury trial in May instead.
- Jim took his soils test on December 20th, he passed the first part of the soils exam. He is scheduled to
retake the part 2 of the test on April 4, 2024.
- Erik mentioned that he has received 1 application for both the zoning technician and the soil and water
technician position.
- The city of Boscobel has been working on building a Trail. Erik and the City of Boscobel have been
working with TEAM Engineering. They are receiving grant funding through WISDOT. Project isn’t
projected to start until 2026/2027. Erik stated that they would like to get all the permits in hand for the grant
funding for the trails. If Erik would issue the permit right now it would only be good for 1 year, and you can
renew it once. Once those permits expire, they would need to start all over again. Erik would like to go
ahead and get the permit issued to them, get it on the books with a deadline date for 1 year. After 1 year they
would continually need to file for an extension. City of Boscobel needs the permits in hand so they can
process the grant funding for the construction. This permit would not be approved by anyone other than
Erik in the CSZD. Permit will not be approved by the County Board. Committee is not opposed to issuing
the permits, they just don’t want to be drawn into some type of a matching fund commitment. Erik does not
want to issue any permits until he sees the construction plans.
- Soil Judging – conflicts with state FFA, may push back till fall.
- Working on FP Zoning recertification, no public hearing needed. Hoping to complete and send to DATCP
in the next week or 2.
- DATCP certified our FP Map Amendment on January 23, 2024. FP plan is good until 2033.
- DATCP annual report is completed. Currently working on our DATCP annual work plan.
- We received price quotes on new survey equipment. Equipment is running less than $60,000.
- We haven’t decided when to do our annual report this year. We will be doing the annual report a little later.
- There are a possibility of 4 BOA meeting’s coming up. 1 on February 20th, and 2 for sure in March.
- There were 2 posters that placed in the Southern Area poster contest. Grant County had a 3rd place in the
K-1 grade division, (Sophia Lee) and a 1st place in the 2-3 grade division (Dylan Zenz). Dylan Zenz will
move on to the state competition. State competition will be held at the Land & Water Conference in March.
- Erik will be out of the office from February 22 – March 10. Working 2 days in between there. Going to
Alaska and to the Land + Water Conference.
Continuous Improvement
Continued trainings for engineering certifications, POWTS, and computer trainings.
NRCS Report: Mike Adams
No report.
FSA Report: Emily Schildgen
Emily reported that the FSA office is well underway with Agriculture Risk Coverage/Price Loss Coverage
(ARC/PLC) sign up for 2024. The staff have been calling producers about completing the sign up. The deadline
for that sign up is March 15, 2024.
FSA is trying something new during the ARC/PLC sign up to text those who enrolled in personalized texting
with them last summer. This allows producers to reach out to the office at a time that is more convenient for them
versus us calling and catching them in the middle of something. If someone didn’t sign up for texting last
summer during crop reporting and is interested in doing that, just ask during ARC/PLC sign up and they can get
them the form to sign up for that. It seems to have worked well, but if someone got a text message and has
feedback, they would like to hear it so they can either continue to use that process and/or modify the process that
was used as we get into spring crop reporting this year.
The next meeting is scheduled for March 5, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. in the County Board room. Motion by
Pat Schroeder, seconded by Adam Day. Motion carried.
Motion by Joe Mumm, seconded by Brian Lucey to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried.
Respectfully Submitted by Annette Lolwing for Porter Wagner