Environment, Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee - Regular Meeting

5.51, we'll call the Environment, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Committee for August 20th to order.

Laura, will you call the roll? Supervisor Brandmeier? Here. Supervisor Downing?

Is here.

Supervisor Freese?

Here.

Supervisor Blazowich?

Here.

Chair Marin?

Here. All right. Excellent. Thank you. First on the agenda, item B, consideration of minutes. Are there any changes or discussion for the minutes from our July 23rd meeting? Thank you. Moved by Blazemitz. If there's no changes or discussions, all in favor of approving the minutes from last meeting, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, none. All right, approved. Seat fund transfers, we have none. D referrals. We have 2026 res 74. I'll entertain a motion for that. Supervisor Blazewitz. Laura, can you give us a rundown on this?

Yeah, this is a continuation of a contract that the county has had with the Yahara Watershed Improvement Network for several years running. I think this is our third or fourth iteration of a contract. So Amy and her staff implement this contract. Uh, Yahara Wins is a network of municipalities that all hold, um, different permit requirements with the Wisconsin DNR to remove phosphorus and suspended solids from their portion of the watershed. And that includes not only municipalities, but also the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District. They are probably the most significant partner in the WINS network. followed probably next by City of Madison. And so these entities all have these phosphorus and TSS permit reduction requirements. They have decided to collaborate together to pool their funding to pursue these reductions together using the adaptive management model. And to get the work done, they contract with various entities. to plan, design, implement, verify the conservation practices that get them the phosphorus and TSS reductions that they need. And so Dane County is one of their largest service providers. So they pay the county to, again, design and implement these practices. That work is done by Amy and her staff. And then an exchange the county keeps track of pretty complicated accounting like different modeling and records that are needed for each practice and we submit that information. to WINS and then WINS uses that information to show the DNR that they are working towards permit compliance. So at this point, this contract is a pretty significant part of the land and water budget. This new iteration of the contract will bring in over $600,000 to the county that we use both to implement the practices and also to offset our staff and equipment costs. So we both rely on that revenue, but also we are an extremely good deal for the WINS partners. So for 600 to 700,000 that we'll receive from them in payments, We typically deliver anywhere from $1 to $3 million worth of practices back to the collaboration. And so the county, all of the county cost share dollars that you see through the Land Conservation Committee, all of those projects which are funded through the county's capital budget, if they're in the Yahara watershed, they count towards the wind. contributions. Amy and her staff do a really nice job securing federal grants that are also used for this type of work. Sometimes we also receive private foundation grants or grants from the National Conservation District Association. So all of those funding sources are pooled together and benefit the WINS collaborative. So it definitely works. It's definitely helping the county go farther with our conservation goals to have this revenue. But I do also like to remind the board that we are also helping all of the communities and the sewage district meet their required permit conditions by voluntarily putting county money and designating federal or other dollars that come to us towards this collaboration. So the specific proposal in front of you is for a three-year contract for this partnership to continue.

Right. Thank you. It is like that water testing that I did for the O'Hara winds. Is that part of this budget as well? You know, cause it's all like, you know, there's volunteers, but there's equipment, you know, like, you know, Yeah.

So the work you're doing is probably falls under the rock river coalition and they, they are also a vendor under wind. So winds pays the County. wins historically has paid rock river coalition and i think they still do that's how it works yeah they pay yahara pride farms um they pay biological farmer friends which actually comes through the county so depending on like how specific and how much you like to focus on semantics you could say they pay the county but we have a special pot of money just for biological farmer friends and so they have a number of entities that they contract with to get their work done.

Anybody else have questions? I have a question. So the contract that we're talking about now, what was the previous contract? Was that also three years?

That also was three years. We've moved through to a three-year model. The partnership started with a couple of pilot projects contracts that were like one to two years, and that would have been like 2010, 2012. And then sometime around, I want to say 2015, we did our first five-year contract. But as budgets have become more difficult and as this initiative has matured, We feel that it protects the county's interest to do these three-year contracts as opposed to fighting off five years at a time. Of course, the contract does have language that either entity could remove itself from the contract without any penalties if we provide enough notice. But right now, three years seems to be the best balance of both long enough that we can plan ahead and we have some stability, but not so long that we feel that we've overcommitted or locked ourselves into a situation when, you know, wild things start to happen like the pandemic or, you know, the federal government has more or less stopped funding a lot of these things. And so this is the balance we've struck. Okay. Okay.

Any other questions online? Supervisor Downing, did you have any questions? Okay. All right, well, I guess moving on then, all those in favor of Resolution 74-2026, Res. 74, say aye. Aye. Aye. All right, so that carries. on to 2026 res 117 authorizing a memorandum of agreement between dane county and the wisconsin department of natural resources for the glacial drumlin trail connector entertain a motion uh laura can you give us a rundown on this

Yeah, this is a proposal that will allow the county to continue to plan design and ultimately construct just a segment of the missing link. So if you're familiar with the regional and or statewide bicycle transportation plan, the number one identified gap and need is between Cottage Grove and City of Madison. So you can take the Hank Aaron Trail into the Glacial Drumlin Trail, like if you're starting in Milwaukee and you're heading west towards Dane County, and then you get to Cottage Grove and the trail ends. And there's been a plan for decades that that trail should continue all the way into the city of Madison, where it would then connect to the Capital City State Trail. And from the Capital City State Trail, now you're connected to the Military Ridge State Trail, the Cannonball Trail, a whole other network of bike trails and paths. This gap has been a frustration to everyone, elected leaders, constituents, the public, avid cyclists. And so collectively, the county, the city of Madison, the towns, the bike fed, a lot of people have been working for years to try to close that gap. This particular segment represents the first bit of progress that we've been able to achieve in literally 20 years. Unfortunately, it's not closing the whole gap. So it is going to pick up at the interstate where the capital city trail will we'll get to based on some work that the city of Madison is currently doing. If you ever leave our building and go out Bondrin Road, you can actually see flagging for where the city is going to come through on their end with the Capital City Trail. And then from the interstate out to Buckeye Road, otherwise known as County Highway AB, this contract helps the county build that next 1 and 1 half miles. but we still have probably another three miles or so to go before we get all the way to Cottage Grove. And some of that one and a half miles includes land that is either owned or eased by the Wisconsin DNR. Just based on the state of the Wisconsin DNR in terms of their budgets and their staff capacity, they have not been able to actively work on this project for at least 10 years. We do collaborate with them, but they don't have any ability to actively work on it. And so this MOU is the DNR saying to Dane County, yes, Dane County, you can use the land and the easements we have in this section to design and build and then maintain that section of the bike trail.

Was that the major holdup to it? No, this is just administrative work. So what's the resistance to it in the past?

Landowners aren't willing to sell.

Oh, because they need some of it.

So we don't have the DNR at one point thought that they had an entire corridor purchase that would get us all the way to Cottage Grove or the village of Cottage Grove. As we've tried to work within that corridor, it became obvious that the land that's available is not adequate. So it's not wide enough. There's wetlands, there's drumlands. And so the county has attempted to We either directly or indirectly have approached all of the landowners that would need to grant permission for us to work on those adjoining lands. And a few of the key people have not been willing to grant permission. The county generally has historically never condemned for bike trails. And a few years ago, state law changed that precluded. Even if we changed our strategy and said, actually, bike trails are important enough, we are going to start condemning. We are now banned in the state from condemning for bicycle trails. So we are relying on the willingness of private property owners to sell or donate land outright or easements for bike trail projects.

Are there easements secured for the remaining, like, three miles or whatever that would be left? That's still something that's .

I mean, on paper, yes. But in practice, no, because they're not adequate. So the easements that the state has, again, they're not wide enough. They go through wetlands. They didn't get construction access. the building, you know, pieces of what we need are in that remaining three miles, but not all of the pieces.

Yeah, there are different roads that you could take.

Yeah, there's a combination. You can ride on Buckeye AB a little bit.

And they, depending on the road and depending on what kind of biker you are, like some of them are sure, no problem. Others are, well, like,

You know, maybe Supervisor Freeze would ride on it, but my 11-year-old wouldn't. You know, so there are different, you know, like you could in theory, you could take Cottage Grove Road all the way. But at some points that's like 45, 55 miles an hour and the bike shoulder is pretty narrow. But there are different town roads in the area that people can kind of hop on. It's just not as direct.

Any other questions? All right, thanks, Laura. All right, so for 2026, Res 117, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? All right, so that passes. On to 2026, Res 118, Dane County Conservation Fund Grant awarded to Clean Lakes Alliance and the Committee to Preserve Lot 3, Sunnyside. Laura, can you give us a rundown on this one?

Sure. This is a proposal to provide a conservation fund grant award to the Lot 3 Committee, which is a group of Local residents that have been fundraising to protect the property that's shown on the screen before you. Because they are not a full nonprofit, Clean Lakes Alliance is sponsoring them as their fiscal agent. So that's a nice partnership. We are always, to my surprise, in Supervisor Marin's district here.

Because it always feels, when you have such a big district, I sometimes lose track of, like, some districts are small and some...

Some include a lot of acreage. So we are on the north side of Lake Kaganza, right next to Lake Kaganza State Park. You can see the Lower Yohara River Trail is on the north part of the map, just that white line on that northeast corner. The property outlined in red is currently for sale. A lot of the Residents in the neighborhood really feel strongly that it should be protected. They have concerns about runoff and water quality to the lake. Of course, they also, I'm sure, have other concerns about just development in their neighborhood, but there are some legitimate concerns. concerns about water quality. And of course, one of the general principles of land protection for the public is whenever possible, we like to build off of already protected spaces. That's both good. One, it creates a larger space for people to recreate in. And that's a different kind of experience as opposed to, oh, your neighborhood pocket park. And while that's important, like it's also nice to have bigger places where you can take longer hikes or not see other development. It's easier for staff to maintain continuous pieces. It's also better for habitat to have larger blocks. of protected lands. And so for those reasons and the relationship to Lake Kaganza and water quality, it was eligible for a conservation fund grant. And so the groups presented to the Park Commission and submitted a grant application to the county. That application was well received by the Park Commission and they recommended moving ahead with the proposed grant award that's before you. So the group would purchase just under eight acres, The county would provide a grant of roughly $472,000. The group has done an amazing job fundraising the other 50% of project costs. And their plan is to buy the property and then donate it to the Wisconsin DNR to be managed as part of Lake Kaganza State Park. And as a condition of the county grant funding, we place a conservation easement that's recorded against the deed to make sure that the DNR or any future landowners have to keep it open for public use as a park.

Has the state agreed to incorporate it into the park?

Yeah, surprising. Well... They're in the process. So the staff at the DNR have all given it a green light and it's on, I believe it's on the September Natural Resources Board agenda for formal acceptance. Generally in our experience, if something gets posted on the NRB agenda, it's most likely going to get approved. The state has become increasingly unwilling to take on land donations. Their criteria have tightened up over the years, but this is close enough to Lake Haganza State Park that the DNR staff recommendation was that it was consistent with their master plan and it would make sense for them to own and manage it.

And they own the other piece.

Yeah, everything agrees. You know where they're at with the fundraising?

Yeah, I just saw them yesterday, and they're pretty much there.

It's amazing.

It is amazing. I mean, it's just a group of people that's raised nearly half a million dollars.

Yeah.

Yeah. And what really amazed me, I heard yesterday that the town of Dunn is contributing $60,000. And they're not even in the town of Dunn. They're in the town of Pleasant Springs. So one, for a town in Dane County to contribute to an acquisition is becoming less common. And certainly I've never seen a town contribute to a neighboring township.

Yeah, yeah. Pretty incredible. I think they've just done such a great job.

Township probably uses that park as well. So it would be an asset to them.

Yeah.

But so often towns will say like, oh, we have no money.

We can't work outside of our boundary.

Amazing. All right. Any questions?

Downing with one.

Go ahead, Supervisor Downing.

Laura, my usual question. In looking at the subject map, I see a big empty field, and I'm wondering, are we acquiring development rights to justify almost $60,000 an acre?

We are. This has been appraised. And what's unique about this property is that this is not part of A1 exclusive zoning. And so the zoning for this would allow for commercial, more intense density. There's a lot of development options that the comprehensive plan and zoning would allow on this property.

Very good. Thank you.

Thanks. Anybody else have any questions? All right. All those in favor of 2020. I need a motion. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I had a motion. Can I have a motion for approval? So moved. Moved by Supervisor Brandmeier, seconded by Supervisor Blazewitz.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? All right, with that, it carries. Thank you. Item E, items requiring committee action, there is none. We have no presentations, no reports to committee. Future meeting items and dates, we are meeting September 3rd, correct?

All right.

Do we have anybody for public comment? Okay, having none, Jay, such other business is allowed by law. Any other business? All right, then with that, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

Move by freeze.

All right, moved by freeze. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

We are adjourned, thank you.