Agri PACE Program Targeted By Repealers

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BILL WOULD KILL PACE, CONVERSION FEES

Those are stark words, but they’re true. A bill (LRB-1135/2) being circulated for co-sponsors by state Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, and state Rep. Andre Jacque, R-Bellevue, seeks to eliminate both the Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement program and the conversion fee for having land rezoned out of a farmland preservation zoning district.
Both are key sections of the Working Lands Initiative passed by the Legislature in 2009. They were championed by the late Rod Nilsestuen, who was secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

We are monitoring this bill and plan to mount robust opposition. What can you do right now?

Contact your legislators and tell them NOT to sign on as sponsors to LRB-1135/2.

Inform them that a broad coalition of rural interests plans to fight this effort to dismantle farmland protection in Wisconsin.

A few facts:

PACE is a voluntary program and a key tool in efforts to protect strategically targeted Wisconsin farmland. It is currently funded by state bonding.

Conversion fees are intended to help fund the program in the future. Most of the opposition to the conversion fee comes from developers and Realtors, not farmers or farm groups. Conversion fees are not new. There has always been a fee associated with rezoning land out of exclusive ag zoning.

Conversion to other uses has taken a huge toll on Wisconsin’s best farmland. The state ranks 10th in the nation in prime farmland converted to other uses between 1982-07 (288,000 acres) and 4th in the nation from the years 2002-07. In the years 1982-2007, Wisconsin lost 520,500 acres of agricultural land converted to other uses. (USDA NRCS Natural Resources Inventory)

PACE programs are effective tools to help protect prime farmland, and studies show that they in no way inhibit development in states where they are in place. (American Farmland Trust)
For more information:

Bill Berry, American Farmland Trust/Protecting Wisconsin’s Farm and Forest Lands

Forwarded by: Rock Environmental Network, Inc.

Preserve Farmland With Responsible Annexation

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The few Janesville city council meetings I attended over the years regarding annexation of existing farmland for development had extremely low public attendance, to my disappointment. Developers and landowners requesting annexation would talk up the bogus benefits of the expanding tax base – and the Janesville administration would come to the podium and follow suit that the developers plan for the parcel fits the administration and council pre-approved “Comprehensive Growth” plan. Any short rebuttal would revolve around a comment that without annexation, the owners of the parcel would develop anyways, but that it would be much better for the city to have some control because of it’s close proximity to the city, yatta, yatta, yatta - Cha-ching. It was rubber stamped every time.

Under those circumstances, farmers could get twice the value for their land if they sell to developers, but would they still attract those kind of buyers if they knew Janesville wouldn’t rubber stamp the annexation with sewer and water? That I believe is the real question and the problem. In recent years, I don’t know if any annexation requests have ever been denied by the Janesville City Council.

There are several ways to discourage this gravy train to sprawl. One way is to exclude all Ag land from the comprehensive plan. But that would require political cojones. Another way the city can check it and encourage the preservation of farmland here would require just as much vision and bravura from city leaders. Janesville would have to consider and approve a moratorium on annexations. Only then might owners and developers think twice about building a development on septic and private well, and without other city services. Right now, they take one look at Janesville’s existing “Comprehensive Growth Plan” and factor in the Janesville’s reputation as an annexation rubber stamp to immediately begin pounding in “For Sale” signs. Without Janesville’s annexation, the decision to blacktop farmland would remain where it belongs, in the hands of the pre-annexation township or county.

It still might not stop the loss of farmland nor will it infringe on the owners rights, but at least Janesville would no longer be complicit in the destruction of some of the finest farmland and topsoil on Earth. In my view, the problems with respect to the farmland, developers or property rights won't involve Janesville’s influence or growth plan in this matter – if they refused to annex. Without excluding Ag land, the solution to guarantee Janesville’s sustainability in the future must include annexation restraint with or without the comprehensive growth plan.

This posting is the independent perspective of this blogs’ author and is not written in cooperation with the Rock Environmental Network (REN). However, I enthusiastically support their cause and concerns.

The Rock Environmental Network is urging Janesville residents to attend Janesville's Sustainability Committee meeting next Tuesday night to discuss the City's Comprehensive Plan. For more information, click here.

Unsustainable Budget Hole Filled With 'Green' Money

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Following is an excerpt from Thursday's Janesville Gazette concerning the $1.8M windfall that will be paid to the County for allowing a high-voltage transmission line to cross the county in 2009. The money, according to the State of Wisconsin, is supposed to be used exclusively for Parks and Conservation Projects. Instead, the money is being earmarked for county operating expenses.

JG Excerpt:
JANESVILLE — The Rock County Finance Committee this morning denied the parks committee's request for a full-time community coordinator position and to use a one-time, $1.8 million payment exclusively for parks and conservation projects.

Rock Environmental Network Response:

The $1.8 million dollar payment is a bonus. A win. A lottery ticket. A payment to the County for allowing power lines to cross our land.

It is money that the County wasn't counting on to balance the budget, pay for day to day operating costs, or copy machines.

The State of Wisconsin says that the $1.8 million payment is exclusively for parks and conservation projects.

The article states that Rock County has applied and been approved to spend about 2/3 of the money, or around $1.2 million - on operating costs, leaving 600,000.00 to the Parks Dept to be used instead of property tax dollars to fund the parks and conservation departments in 2009.

So basically, Parks and Conservation are getting nothing extra. Tax dollars that would have been spent on Parks & Conservation will be diverted to the general fund - so the 600K is money P&C would have gotten anyway.

Farmland preservation projects, Clean Air programs, Clean up our Waterway, Conservation projects. There are a million ways that this money could be used to make our County a better place to live - without worrying about new copy machines. (We are supposed to be going paperless anyway - so forward thinking is required)

The money doesn't belong in the general fund. It belongs to the Citizens of Rock County.

Please read the article carefully, and take action.

If you haven't already done so, please email the Rock County Board of Supervisors at webmaster@co.rock.wi.us or contact the County Administrator, Craig Knutson at 757-5510 to voice your opinion. It is critical that you make contact before Wednesday, November 12th. -- REN

Important Rock County Parks Meeting

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For all Trail and Parks Fans and those concerned about our environment.

When: Wednesday, Nov.5th, 2008 beginning at 6:00 PM
Where: Rock County Courthouse

From: Rock Environmental Network

We are trying to fill the courthouse with supporters of the green movement within Rock County, so please, bring everyone you know. Make signs and come early if you can! Read more here.