RUTLAND BOARD MEETING

April 9, 2009

                                                                       

Chairman Dale Beske called the April Board Meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.  Present in addition to Chairman Beske were Supervisors Sperle, Lunde, Shapiro Hurley. Clerk George, Treasurer Sime and several members of the public. 

                       

1.      Appearance by Dane Co. Sheriff Dept. representative.  No representatives from the Sheriff’s Dept. were present.  The monthly stats report was reviewed.  Deputy Cindy Holmes had communicated that the department will be putting out the speed board again this year and they now have the ability to track and record speeds, time of day and day of week from the speed board.  This data will be turned into a document for the Board to see.

 

2.      Constable Report.  The Constable was not present.

 

3.      Appearance by Betty Thompson, Town Representative on Oregon Council on Aging.

Ms. Thompson advised the board of the information she had received at the last meeting of the Oregon Council on Aging.  She is also gathering information on usage of the other Senior Centers.  The Madison Senior Center has received a grant and they would like to partner with other area Senior Centers to advise area senior citizens of the various services available and the locations that will provide the services.  A committee as been formed and Ms. Thompson will serve on this committee.  The upcoming funding meeting for the Stoughton Senior Citizens was discussed.  Beske and Shapiro Hurley will try and attend the April 23^rd meeting.

 

4.      Appearance by Dan Nipple regarding fireworks permit at 4667 W. Rutland Rd for the 4^th of July.

Nipple advised the Board that he would like to shoot his fireworks on June 27^th, weather permitting.  The rain date(s) would be July 3^rd or July 4^th.  There were no persons present opposing Nipple’s permit.  Sperle moved, Shapiro Hurley seconded, to approve the fireworks permit for Dan Nipple as noted above; motion carried 4-0.

 

5.      Continuation of discussion and possible action on Racetrack use for police training.  The Board was advised that the Dane Co. Sheriff’s Department has decided to use the Columbus Racetrack for the high speed training.  Dave Grueneberg was present and advised that the University of Wisconsin police department has not gotten back to him regarding any training they might do using the racetrack.  Grueneberg presented the Clerk with the required certificate of insurance and was given the license for the 2009 season.

 

6.      Report from Planning Commission and any action necessary.

 

1)      Action on Conditional Use Permit 2096 for telecommunications tower.  The Planning Commission recommended the Town Board reapprove CUP 2096 as amended and adopted by Dane County.

      Shapiro Hurley moved to accept the Planning Commission recommendation to re-

      approve CUP 2096 as amended and adopted by Dane County to include the standard

      conditions for all cell towers; motion carried 4-0.  The clerk reported that the deed

      restrictions required for Petition 10005 have been recorded.  This will complete all action

      needed from the Town to allow the cell tower to be built.

 

2)      Inquiry by Joe Eugster regarding possible transfer of split to property owned by Eric Grover on the East side of Lake Kegonsa Road..  Joe has splits left on his farm on HWY 138, but does not have a good place to put them.  He would like to transfer one to Eric Grover to be used on Lake Kegonsa Road at the site where Eric has a pole shed.  This site was viewed by the Planning Commission about 3 years ago and approved as a building site, however Dane County requested that the split be used nearer to Casara Rd, which it was, leaving the pole shed with no residential building site.

 

The pole barn site is approximately 6 acres and includes the waterway which runs along the farm land.  This at the request of the person who is buying the farmland and would prefer not to pay for land that he can not plant in crops.  The East lot line would be about 30 feet behind the pole shed and angle over to Dybevik’s property line.  Discussion of the lot size and configuration followed:  If animals might be housed in the pole shed, the distance from the lot line needs to be at least 50 feet for an RH zoning.  The Town would prefer to keep residential lots as small as possible, preferably under 4 acres.  Eric said the waterway adds a couple acres and people who want to buy rural land and intend to have horses want at least 6 acres so they can rotate pasture and maybe grow some of their own hay.

 

Planning Commission members familiar with the quality of the land for farming agreed that Eugster’s land is some of the best in the town and that this transfer would be to land of lesser agricultural value.  (Sime, Lunde, Stokstad).  Location closer to Casara would be even better from the standpoint of preserving good farm land, but the question is of driveways and access to the road.  Bob Postel and Mike McClosky, who live on Casara and Lake Kegonsa Road respectively, questioned whether decisions about transfer of development rights are based on objective and defined criteria.  His concern is that this could result in clusters of large numbers of houses in places where the current residents had expected that the number of neighbors would not exceed the number of splits originally on the land surrounding them.

 

The Planning Commission gave Eugster and Grover an informal go-ahead to begin working with Dane County on this transfer.  The transfer would move a development right from high quality ag land to farm land of lesser quality; the existing pole barn and electrical wiring set up for a house further reduce it’s ability to be cropped to the full extent possible.  So, this transfer meets the intent of the Comprehensive Plan.  In addition, the Planning Commission previously approved this site as an acceptable location for a residential building.

 

3)      Driveway locations for the Grover property on East side of Lake Kegonsa Rd.  The field drive for the farm land and the house on the 4-acre RH lot on the east side of the road are proposed to be side by side at/on the crest of the hill for maximum visibility.  In order to have room for the farm equipment to turn in and out of the field access drive, it needs to be shifted to the north of the telephone pole which is also at the crest of the hill and cramps the positioning of the driveways.

 

The result is that the residential driveway on the east side of the road would be slightly offset from the residential drive on the west side of the road by approximately the width of the drive.  The Planning Commission approved this configuration of driveways with the understanding that the east side residential driveway will be as near to the south property line as possible to position it as directly opposite the west side drive as it can be. 

Board discussion noted that this is a one-for-one transfer (one site from Eugster’s land to one site on Grover’s property.)

 

7.      Deer Point Rd./Roby Rd./Hwy 51 Intersection – discussion and necessary action on stoplight vs. roundabout.  Beske reported the Town and the City of Stoughton have been trying to get DOT to install a stoplight at the intersection of Deer Point Rd./Hwy 51/Roby Rd. for about 6 years.  Initially, it was thought this would occur in 2013 at a cost of $120,000 to $150,000.  At a recent meeting with DOT, Beske was informed that this project had not been designed and therefore was not in the queue yet.  It would appear that the earliest this could now happen is 2014.  There is a possibility the project could be moved up if local financial support was obtained.  No details have been received as to how much improvement could be bought for how much of a contribution.  Given the new estimated costs, a percentage contribution would be expensive.  DOT has now presented two preliminary designs for the intersection; one uses a roundabout and the other uses traffic signals.  Now that DOT has done the preliminary designs, the project includes repaving and widening sections of Hwy 51 leading up to the intersection; as a result, the estimated cost has ballooned to $600,000 for a roundabout or $1.0 to $1.1 million for traffic signals.

• Public Comment.  Laura and Peter Bruno and Greg and Dawn Shaw were present.  The Shaw’s own land on the southwest corner of the intersection and were in favor of a stoplight.  Shaw also wondered how much land would be lost from his property if the roundabout was used.  It would appear that more land would be taken for right of way on the southwest (Shaw’s) and northeast corners (PDQ) than would be needed on the northwest corner (Stoughton Lumber) and the southeast corner.  They also noted that a lot of people do not obey the stop signs.  The City of Stoughton is apparently now in favor of a roundabout where initially they were in favor of a stoplight. Shaw noted that if the estimated completion time frame was close between the two options, he would favor the stoplight.
• Board discussion and necessary action.  Sperle moved, Shapiro Hurley seconded, to reaffirm the Board’s previous support of installation of a stoplight as soon as possible; motion carried 4-0.  The Board support of a stoplight was based on safety issues including the difficulty that would be encountered by semi’s trying to turn into Stoughton Lumber and the desire to slow down traffic.

 

8.      Loan application including Resolution to borrow money for partial payment of the dump truck from the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.  Chairman Beske read the application aloud.  Shapiro Hurley moved, Lunde seconded, to approve Resolution 2009-04-01 to borrow $50,000 for 3 years at 3.5% interest for partial payment of new dump truck, and to levy on all taxable property within the Town of Rutland a direct annual tax for the purpose of paying interest and principal on the loan as they become due; motion carried 4-0 (roll call vote).  Beske moved, Lunde seconded, to authorize the chairman and the clerk to execute and deliver to the Commission certificates of indebtedness for any sum of money that may be loaned to the Town pursuant to this resolution; motion carried 4-0.  The only indebtedness that the Town has is the principal balance remaining on the land purchase contract for the land being obtained from the McCallum Living Trust.  The necessary signatures and information to complete the loan application were executed.

 

9.      Consent Agenda:

• Minutes.
• Treasurer’s Report.

• Vouchers and Checks.

Sperle moved, Shapiro Hurley seconded to approve the consent agenda; motion carried 4-0.

 

10.  Correspondence and necessary action.

• The Board received the report of Major Class Comparison for 2008.  A copy of the report and a letter will be sent to Gardiner Appraisal inquiring if it possible to get the level of assessment for the sum of Class 5 (undeveloped), 5M (ag forest), 6 (productive forest lands) and 7 (other) into compliance without a complete reassessment.

 

11.  Roads.

• 2009 Road Work. 

§         The Town will need to request bids for crack filling again this year as the firm used last year is no longer in business.

§         Bidding documents for the Oak Ridge Rd. project will be put together for the May Board meeting.

§         Several town roads are in need of repair that is a result of the winter weather conditions.

·         The Board reviewed information received regarding the WisDOT USH 14/STH 138 Interchange project - proposed bike/pedestrian paths and park and ride .  No sample maintenance agreements were received.  The board took no action on this matter and the general consensus was that the town was not interested in entering into a joint maintenance agreement with the Village of Oregon to maintain any bike/pedestrian paths or a park and ride area because of limited resources.

 

12.  Reports of meetings attended by the Board as necessary.

• Update on Hwy 51 meetings.  Discussion on possible Hwy 51 jurisdictional transfer possibility.  No further information on jurisdictional transfers has been received.

• Discussion and update on Water Drainage at Hwy 14/92 issues.  A meeting has been scheduled for April 16^th, but no agenda has been received.

13.    Adjournment.  The April 2009 Board meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m. on motion and second by

        Shapiro Hurley and Lunde; motion carried 4-0.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Dawn George, Clerk