IN MY OPINION
By Kathleen M. Falk
Dane County Executive
Because of Dane Countys high growth, we have to choose what our county should be like. One choice is worse than now its Odana Road times 10. The alternative is an improvement. Its a working countryside where farmers make a good living and villages and cities where most of us can live more conveniently and affordably.
People from every part of Dane County have told me that we are in a race to that better choice. In their and my opinion, its time to quicken our pace to keep our cities, farms and villages great places to live.
Farms and Neighborhoods: Keeping Both Strong, is my best effort to intensify our efforts to preserve farming and to improve our villages and cities. My visions for the future are to create new economic opportunities for Dane County farmers and to keep Dane County a great place to live by preventing sprawl. To reach these goals, we must:
1. Keep enough land for farmers to farm. We now lose about 5,000 acres of farmland a year. Farmers need fertile land in large areas where farming is the key activity. Farmers have to be able to run their equipment, store and spread manure, harvest early and late, without conflicts with non-farming neighbors.
2. Assist farmers improve profitability. Farming cant continue if farmers are going broke. Our farm economy is not wholly subject to federal laws and international markets. Dane County, local farmers, and local businesspeople can improve our local farm economy.
3. Have strong cities and villages. We cannot preserve farmland unless most people want to live in cities and villages with a range of good housing, good jobs, great neighborhoods, and convenient travel, schools and shopping.
Farms and Neighborhoods is built on those three principles. Some of the key recommendations in that 39 page report are:
1. Create the Dane County Agriculture Enterprise Development Center. This Center will be a partnership with Dane County, the private sector, and the state to offer business planning and financial assistance to Dane County farmers for modernizing their operations, processing their crops or commodities, and marketing their products.
2. Work with towns to protect big areas of land for farming and provide more efficient, conservation-oriented development where necessary. To reach that goal, we should cut potential scattered rural development by 50%. Different towns have already taken different steps to preserve farmland as examples, York has made its density standard stricter and Dunn is purchasing development rights. We have learned from these and other Dane County towns. By revising town and county plans with public input, careful zoning, and creating agricultural easements, we can protect enough land to have lots of farms thriving through the 21st century.
3. Work with cities and villages to make them better. We can make them better by helping local governments and developers implement good redevelopment, with market studies and an Urban Expeditor position.
I have worked hard to make Farms and Neighborhoods flexible, fair and comprehensive. It is flexible with options for local governments and developers to meet practical countywide goals. It is comprehensive in that it tries to address the issues affecting our farming. It is fair because it calls for just about everyone to make changes and receive benefits. Farmers will be able to improve their business and have secure areas to farm. Towns, villages, and cities will have profitable, better growth than they have now. Developers will have assistance in taking on projects that improve the livability that fuels their business.
Nothing Ive outlined in the report is easy but nothing is impossible. We have the smart citizens, the political will and the time right now to act. Weve done hard things together: reform a welfare system; passing a major parks referendum; improving vital services to kids and seniors. We can do this together too.
-Kathleen Falk
Dane County Executive