As we discussed a couple months ago, regional plan commissions are important and unelected entities that have a major role in the growth of cities and villages. They make the recommendations to the Wisconsin DNR as to whether a community can extend its sewer and water services to new growth areas. The original Dane Regional Plan Commission was a controversial body that was dissolved by the actions of a majority of the Dane County communities, as it was viewed to be overly intrusive on local communities and opposed to growth. A new regional plan commission was formed in 2007 because the DNR wanted a local body to make the recommendations as to whether a community could expand its urban service area. The resulting commission has 13 members: 4 appointed by the Mayor of Madison, 3 by the Dane County Association of Villages and Cities, 3 by the Dane County Towns Association and 3 by the County Executive.

The new commission then wrote a draft of its goals, objectives and procedures as to how urban service area amendments would be considered and passed or rejected. The document appeared to far exceed the reach of the commission, allowing it authority over many areas that should be the prerogative of local government. It also gave the commission a broad range of reasons to reject or amend an urban service area petition. Most of these had little to do with water quality, supposedly the primary responsibility of a regional plan commission.

In January, 2008, hundreds of people turned out for a public hearing on the proposed policy document. The overwhelming number opposed it, including the Mayor of Madison, the Dane County Association of Villages and Cities, the Dane County Towns Association, many individual communities, RASCW, the builders and many others.

Therefore, it was a shock when in February, the commission passed the document. This demonstrated the problem with unelected bodies; representatives of Madison, and one each from the Villages and Cities and the Towns voted for the document although their Associations rejected it.

Since then, we have worked with other concerned parties to make our concerns known. The Dane County Association of Villages and Cities and the Towns Association have already replaced members who voted for the policy document. We are waiting for the City of Madison to make its decision on two more appointments that have come due.

The new appointments were critical in securing passage, in May of important urban service area expansions in the communities of Belleville and Oregon. These were mostly for new residential construction. We'll have to keep watch to see if the new Commission stays on track with their defined mission.