INTRODUCTION TO CONSERVANCY REVISIONS

During the five+ years of Comprehensive Planning discussion in the Towns across Portage County (2001 to 2006), it came to light that the current Conservancy Zoning District may not be functioning as well as it could.  There were two basic lines of thought: the existing Conservancy District contained a lot of uses that weren't exactly "conservancy" (most of the Special Exceptions section), and there were natural resources that weren't being properly addressed or protected (mainly forested areas).  The Rural Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee thought enough about this issue that it was included in the Implementation Action Plan of the Portage County Comprehensive Plan, adopted by the County Board in 2006: "Include a 'two-tiered' approach to Conservancy zoning, with different levels of restrictions" (item 1a in Section 9.2 Comprehensive Plan Implementation, page 237 of the Portage County Comprehensive Plan).

The foundation for this proposed new zoning approach was also established in the Town land use mapping discussions, where two levels of natural area land use categories were identified (Natural Areas-Protected and Natural Areas-Limited).  These land use categories were intended to have a 1-to-1 translation to zoning; to do so, a second “conservancy” type district would be required.

The first step taken to address this issue was to form a citizens committee.  The Two-Tier Conservancy Zoning Citizens Committee was the ad-hoc committee formed by the Portage County Planning and Zoning Committee. Its function was to discuss the topic, draft text that members felt addressed the two types of Conservancy zoning, and make a recommendation to the Planning and Zoning Committee.  All Town Clerks received a memo to be passed along to Town Boards and Plan Commissions asking for volunteers to sit on the new Committee.  The Committee formed very late in 2007, and met almost monthly through February 2009. The list of Committee members and unofficial notes from the meetings are also posted.  Please be informed that these are notes of discussions taken for an ad-hoc committee and not "official" minutes. To that end, they are as accurate as they can be and do represent the general events of the Committee.

A recommendation to the Planning and Zoning Committee was made February 4, 2009. Through additional analysis of the recommended text, Planning and Zoning staff determined that it could not be efficiently implemented, as written.  Based on information gathered throughout 2009 (regarding the effects of the proposal on County Park functions, etc. that were not previously part of the discussion), staff made a number of revisions. The result is the version of both revisions to the existing Conservancy Zoning District and the creation of a new Rural Limited District that was released at the July 26, 2010 Portage County Town’s Association meeting held at the Stockton Town Hall.

You will notice the Conservancy District (Con) is rather strict.  This District includes the floodway portion of the 100 year floodplain, as shown on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps; wetlands, based on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Wisconsin Wetland Inventory map; hydric soils, based on NRCS data; as well as Federal, State, County, and municipal areas set aside for natural open spaces.  These areas represent present locations where building a permanent structure is very difficult.

The definition of the second district, presently named Rural Limited District, has been more problematic.  The District itself is intended to allow some development, but not intense uses. During the course of their discussions, the Committee wrestled with how to approach rural areas that are not true “conservancy” areas, and not productive agricultural areas.  These locations are primarily forested, or open scrub land not under agricultural production.  They may have marginal finger fields (agricultural fields of odd shape or size that produce marginal crops at best). The Citizen's Committee brought it together the best they could, and decided to pass it forward for potential tweaking and clarifying.

The mechanism that will allow Rural Limited to be useful is provided in section D.  During the individual Town comprehensive planning process, all but 3 Towns adopted what they felt was a proper development density for Natural Areas-Limited (see Chapter 8 - Land Use of those documents).  Section D of Rural Limited gives Towns the flexibility to effectively use the District to their own best advantage.  If no development density has been set by the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, the default minimum lot size will be 10 acres.

There will be a Public Information Meeting held on Wednesday August 11, 2010 at 5:00 pm in Conference Room 5, Portage County Annex Building, 1462 Strongs Avenue in Stevens Point.  All concerned citizens are encourage to attend and provide feedback on the draft Districts.  Town Plan Commissions and Boards are also encouraged to formally discuss this issue at their August meetings, and forward any comments to the Portage County Planning and Zoning Department. The County Planning and Zoning Committee will be holding a Public Hearing on the draft Districts in the fall, with Portage County Board action hopefully prior to year’s end.

As you read the drafts, please keep in mind that proposed new text is underlined, and text recommended for removal is stricken through. If you have any questions regarding the proposed language or revisions for either Zoning District, please contact Tracy Pelky, Chris Mrdutt or Chuck Lucht at 715-346-1334.

 

Proposed Conservancy Ordinance Amendments
Proposed Rural Limited Ordinance