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Thursday, May 2, 2019 • Vol. 137, No. 41 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25
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Courier Hub The
City of Stoughton
The bees have landed ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
Aspiring local beekeepers, take note: Next Friday, May 3, the city will officially allow backyard beekeeping. The Common Council unanimously passed a beekeeping ordinance at its meeting Tuesday, April 23. The idea had been working its way through committees since 2016. It allows residents to keep up to two colonies on parcels up to half an acre in size, and up to six colonies on land larger than one acre. Alders also voted to remove the licensing requirement for keeping chickens. At least initially, beekeepers won’t need to pay a fee or acquire a license, but alders asked
city attorney Matt Dregne to prepare a registration process for beekeepers and chicken-owners moving forward. Planning director Rodn ey S c h e e l ex p l a i n e d enforcing the chicken-licensing ordinance involved approving plans for chicken coops, doing site visits to ensure they’re in compliance and working with coop keepers to move them toward compliance if not, possibly through citations. Scheel estimated it took his office about 80 hours per year to enforce it, and reminded council his office has requested additional staff. “We are more than happy to do these types of activities, but we are thin,” Scheel said. “It’s problematic for us to balance all the demands.” Mayor Tim Swadley added the $15 yearly fee
Turn to Bees/Page 5
Council asked for TIF guidance OKs proceeding without Hwy. 138 connection ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
The first regular meeting of the new Common Council featured an old topic: tax-increment financing for Kettle Park West. The council didn’t agree on any TIF money for Fo r wa r d D eve l o p m e n t Group, and there wasn’t a TIF request on the table. But city staff, including attorney Matt Dregne and planning director Rodney Scheel, were looking for direction from the council as to its attitude for using taxpayer financing for the residential phase of KPW. TIF is a public financing tool that pools increased
taxes of various underlying jurisdictions to spur development. FDG has yet to submit a TIF request for improving the roads leading to the site, which Dregne said would “almost certainly be” a condition for approving the development. FDG has submitted a final plat for the first 18 homes – the so-called “North Addition” – and the council directed that it would allow that to proceed without requiring Oak Opening Drive to connect southward to Hwy. 138 at the other end of the development. But the council did not deliver the direction Dregne was looking for, whether TIF money is a non-starter for the project. Since construction is
Turn to TIF/Page 5
Courier Hub
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
From left, John Montgomery, director of IT and media services, helps City Clerk Holly Licht set up her office computer on Friday, April 26. City staff moved into McFarland State Bank’s former downtown location this week from the Opera House after the bank donated it to the city last year.
Moving day
City Hall moves after a century in iconic building ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
After 118 years, City Hall has moved. The city’s last day of sharing space with the Opera House was Thursday, April 25, and on Friday, city staff were busy unpacking boxes at their new offices in the former McFarland State Bank building, 207 S. Forrest St.
Mayor Tim Swadley told the Hub he hopes the move will benefit residents who need services and the Opera House, which now has room to expand its offerings. While he said he “certainly respect(s) the history of the building,” the mayor said the city “will be able to provide a more positive experience for our constituents when they come to City Hall” and “increase efficiencies” for staff.
Ald. Greg Jenson (Dist. 3), a Stoughton native whose family came to the city three years after City Hall opened in 1901, said “It’s an end of an era and the beginning of a new one.” “There’s part of me that likes the move,” Jenson said. “Another part of me that, just because of history and all that, it seems kind of wrong.” Jenson said time will tell whether the move is the right one, but the
Turn to City Hall/Page 8
Town of Dunn
80 acres added in focus on conservation EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
The Town of Dunn is “knocking on the door” of permanently protecting 4,000 acres of land from development. On March 29, it added a small part of that plan, ensuring a combined 80 acres of farmland won’t be
developed with help from c o n s e r va t i o n n o n p r o fi t Groundswell Conservancy. Ben Kollenbroich, Town of Dunn planning and land conservation director, said two 40-acre parcels, located on the north side of Hwy. B between Mahoney and Keenan Roads, will continue to be used as grazing dairy farmland.
“It’s basically right in the center of the town and adds to the (surrounding) corridor of already protected land (there),” Kollenbroich told the Hub. Another combined 184 acres is being negotiated, Kollenbroich said. Tow n o f D u n n c h a i r Ed Minihan told the Hub that’s the Town of Dunn’s
long-term plan is to encourage and ensure farming will continue to be profitable there. “We have an abundance of natural areas and we have a lot of good farmland,” Minihan said. “Why not encourage that as a
Turn to Conservation/ Page 16
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Chicken licenses scrapped as too costly