Environment, Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee - Regular Meeting

calling to order the June 11th Environment, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Committee meeting. Laura, would you mind calling the roll? Supervisor Downing?

Is here.

Supervisor Fries?

Here.

Supervisor Blasewicz?

Here.

Supervisor Brantmeier? Here. And Chair Marron?

Here.

All right, we've got quorum.

Thanks, Laura. Okay, so on item B, consideration of minutes, I'll entertain a motion on this.

So moved.

All right, thanks, Supervisor Blazewicz. Any questions or discussions? Sorry, there was the word discussions on this. All right, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Any opposed or... All right, so that passes. Item C, fund transfers, none. Item D, referrals. We have Resolution 2026, Res. 053, authorizing land acquisition for Bad Fish Creek Natural Resource Area.

Laura, can you give us a rundown on this? Sure, this is a proposal to purchase just under 200 acres actually coincidentally in Supervisor Marin's district. So we're excited to bring this before you for consideration because 1 of our goals with the Dane County park system is to provide. both a variety of recreational and natural resource preservation opportunities, and also to make sure that those opportunities are available all over the county. So quite often you see proposals, it turns out often in Supervisor Downing's district, And so staff work hard to also make sure that we're protecting land in the eastern half of the county. And so this is a project we've been working on for quite some time. It's in the town of Rutland. Again, it's part of the larger Bad Fish Creek Natural Resource Area project boundary. It is a combination of wetland and farmland along Bass Lake. So it's a really great opportunity to provide public access to a water body that does not currently have water access. And then also to restore the adjoining property um over time to enhance the wetland functions and then to eventually take some of the summer all of the cropland out of production to restore it to some type of native cover so the property was listed for sale on the open market. I know the town is supportive of the purchase. Many of the neighbors have reached out to tell us that they are excited about it. And if approved for purchase, we would manage this as part of the Dane County Park System as a public wildlife area, which is also how the adjoining state property to the south is currently available for public use.

Thanks, Laura. I apologize. I think I was supposed to make a motion to discuss this before we started discussing it. Do I hear a motion on this item? So moved. Thank you. All right. Any questions or concerns? Any discussion points from anyone?

Supervisor Brandmeier, go ahead. Thank you, Chair. This is more just curiosity since I'm kind of new to this. These proposals come up, does the county kind of actively look for these things and saw that this land was for sale and said, oh my God, this would be a great addition to our park system? And that was the first question. And then down the line, do you consider... Would there be significant costs to make it open to the public? And I mean, I know there is to turn it into a switch from farmland to, say, prairies or something like that. But is there a timeline or anything like that?

So to the first question, opportunities like this are identified a number of ways. We've been working on this one for a couple of years, and I can't remember so many people have reached out to us about this property because it was listed by a realtor. I think constituents reached out to Supervisor Marin and asked if we were working on it. I was even getting questions from your predecessor, Supervisor Brantmeier, because he had received questions from constituents asking about it. So when something is publicly listed for sale, You know that's that's one way like we just see the listing and or someone notifies us like hey did you did you all see that this is for sale sometimes landowners approach the county sometimes we do kind of what we say cold call them so we'll just send a landowner a letter or try to get a hold of their contact information. Quite often. people find us because they develop relationships with our staff through other programs. So maybe one of Amy's staff in land conservation is working with a farmer and then that farmer shares that, you know, oh, maybe they're getting older or want to retire and don't know what to do with the farm. And then Amy's staff will connect that farmer to park staff to talk about potential acquisition. So the opportunities come a variety of ways. There's not like a one size fits all. And then once we start actively working on something, We take all of the projects to the park commission and they look at the proposals in closed session and in a lot more detail. So they have generally several meetings for each acquisition to think about, okay, the price, the location, how does this fit into the park system? So that work has all happened before the resolution is introduced and before the inner committee. In terms of cost to develop, as I noted, it will be managed as a Dane County Wildlife Area and our operational costs for wildlife and natural resource areas are relatively low. We very intentionally and specifically communicate to the public through the Parks and Open Space Plan, through our website, through signage that will eventually be installed at the property that the purpose of the property is for natural resource protection and enhancement and that they will not you know you're not going to find paved parking lots you're not going to find a boat launch we're not going to have a campground here we're not going to have an off-leash dog park we're not going to develop a disc golf course so we're not going to have the facilities that really ramp up the cost for us You are correct that over time there will be an expense associated with the restoration itself. And so we have several staff in our parks division that is constantly working on securing grants, partnering with the DNR, using our own prairies as a seed bank for restorations like this. And so we, while there's absolutely a cost, I think we've over time found a good way to offset the county's expenditure again with the state or private federal grants and through having other prairies provide the seed sources for these restorations. And That in turn creates water quality benefits, which has been a priority for the county over the past decades. And I think one of the big drivers in justifying that expense, when you see that these wetlands will be buffered and enhanced, and then the water quality at Bass Lake will also therefore be protected and improved.

And it seems like a reasonable price for the amount of acreage and now access for the public is a bonus as well.

Yeah, it is. I think it's overall a good proposal. We're really excited that Bass Lake will have, again, public access for the first time. You could probably walk up if you see that little stream coming off the south. Technically, if you keep your feet in the creek, you can walk through that to get to the lake, but there's not any practical way for the public access. to utilize that water body now. It is a non-motorized lake. So again, it's not gonna be a significant boat launch, but I think it'll be really popular for kayaking, canoeing, maybe paddle boarding if people want to use it in those ways.

Okay, thank you.

Supervisor Downing.

Well, thank you. Yeah, I have a few questions about the lake and the house. Let's start with the lake. Yeah, I'm impressed that there can be public access. How large is this lake?

Oh, good question. I don't know. Let me look at the map. I would guess, but it's a pretty small lake to me. I'm just eyeballing it. It's probably about a hundred acres.

All right. And so public access, but without a boat launch means that they could what carry their canoe or kayak in and how far would they have to do that from wherever they're allowed to park?

Yeah, we're still working out those details. All right, so I rounded up a little. Thank you, Supervisor Barron. I'm glad I'm not totally humiliated with my estimation of 100 acres, if you saw the chart, 72 acres. So we will likely over time, and I can't commit to a timeline at this point, But we will likely provide a very rudimentary way for people to put their canoes in. So we're not saying that you have to, you know, if we have a parking lot... off of Old Stone Road that you're going to have to walk and then just kind of, you know, get through some brushy wet stuff and eventually get to the water. Our goal over time would to be to put a canoe kayak launch in, but it would be very basic, right? It's not going to be like the type of launch you would see at a Babcock County Park or a Lake Farm Park where we have 50 stalls and pavement and a paved landing. It would be something more along the lines of a modest kind of wooden platform structure to facilitate putting canoes and kayaks in.

Sounds good. My next question is what's to become of the house?

The house associated with the farm is not part of the acquisition.

Okay. I thought there was some wording in the resolution that talked about the farmhouse.

Yeah, the landowner is keeping it. It's to the east.

All right. And so are we acquiring any development rights?

We're acquiring one split with the purchase.

All right. Very good. Thank you.

Any other questions or discussions? Laura, I had just a couple. Lost it. Oops, sorry.

I just muted myself.

The amount, is that the total amount that the county would be responsible for? Does that include like closing costs and things like that? Will there be any additional fees on top of that?

The 2.1 million is just the purchase price. So the resolution gives us authority to also expend the miscellaneous costs. which are generally pretty modest, probably less than $10,000 for a transaction like this. So it would include, you know, title companies charge you just to hold a closing, some recording fees, the appraisal costs that we already invested in. So those are all of the, what we would call those miscellaneous costs, but the bulk of it is really that 2.1 purchase price.

Thank you. I was just curious about how that works. So that's helpful. Thank you. Anybody else have any questions or comments? Any more discussion? Okay, seeing none.

Well, Supervisor Brandmeier has her hand up.

Well, I can't see her. Sorry. I'll move over. There you are. All right. Supervisor Brandmeier, sorry about that.

Oh, no, that's okay. I'm like, wait, wait. But my question was, I see this about the grant funds from the Wildlife North American Wetland Conservation. So is that something that we already have in hand, up to $550,000 to offset the purchase price? Or is that something we're requesting? Or what's the status of that?

Yeah, actually, we do. we do have that in hand and so um we are working through like the final approvals to make sure that the feds will accept this property but we've already actually accepted this money previously so that will technically offset um our purchase price i'm sorry i didn't point that out

Okay, and then if it says the debt issued to support this will have a term of 20 years, but the money to purchase this, is that coming out of what's been budgeted for land acquisition for the 2026 year? Why is there a mention of debt?

Well, there's a mention of debt because there used to be a supervisor that asked us to put that in every resolution, and it's just a byproduct of... You've kind of fulfilled this request, and then it kind of never stops. So that's just something we still do. But you're right. So the county has budgeted the money, but because it's part of the capital budget, that means we issue debt, and it will take the county 20 years to pay off the debt associated with this capital budget line.

Okay. Thank you.

Thanks, Supervisor Brandmeier. Anybody else? I'm going to scroll over so I make sure I see everybody. I don't see any more questions or discussion points. All right, so we will go ahead and take a vote on this. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, abstain? All right, motion passes. Thank you. We have a short agenda tonight. Next is item E, items requiring committee action, none. Presentations, none. G, reports to committee, none. On to H, future meetings, items, and dates. July 9th or by the call of the chair will be our next meeting for ENER. Public comment on items not on the agenda. I don't think we had anybody registered. Jay, other businesses, law by law. All right. Item K, Supervisor Downing, here's your favorite one.

Sure, I'll move it.

All right. Moved by Downing. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All right. We are adjourned. We are opposed. We are adjourned.