Gov. Scott McCallum dissolved the Dane Country Regional Planning Commission last week after approving the commission’s extension in the state’s budget deficit repair bill.
The original commission, which oversaw issues such as land use and water quality, will be replaced with a new one — the Governor’s Special Commission on Regional Planning in South Central Wisconsin.
A spokesman for McCallum said the decision was based in part on concerns, voiced by leaders from small towns and communities, that the Dane County Regional Planning Commission was unfairly dominated by urban areas.
Thirty-five communities in Dane County had asked that the commission be dissolved.
Mark Bugher, UW Research Park Director and former secretary of the Department of Administration, will chair the new commission.
Committee members will include county board chairs from Dane, Dodge, Columbia, Sauk, Rock and Jefferson counties and a municipal representative from each county.
Six counties will not be part of the regional planning commission.
“We must now focus our efforts on creating a regional planning commission that serves the entire south-central Wisconsin area,” McCallum said in a release. “I will continue to work with local leaders in these counties as well as Dane County Towns Association to achieve more efficient government and encourage sustainable economic development.”
But some say water-quality planning and flood protection will be hurt by the governor’s decision.
In a letter to the governor, Sen. Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, said he was disappointed with the governor’s decision to disband the commission.
Chvala called the decision bewildering in light of the commission’s extension to Oct. 1, 2004, that had been part of the state’s budget plan.
“I am especially disappointed that your administration made a personal commitment to me that you would sign an extension of the DCRPC sunset provision as part of the budget adjustment bill,” Chvala said in his letter.
But Kathleen Falk, Dane County executive and gubernatorial hopeful, called the move unlawful and vowed to ensure the committee’s promised and planned extension.
“Only three weeks ago, the governor formally approved a two-year extension of the RPC to allow Dane County, the 61 cities, villages and towns within Dane County and surrounding counties to develop new planning organizations to help the region grow better, ” Falk said.
“The governor should rescind his illegal order and return to the course of action he and the Legislature agreed to,” she continued.
Falk added that besides being illegal, McCallum’s decision would ultimately hurt Dane County.
One of the main duties of the commission was to evaluate proposed commercial and residential projects.
Without the committee to review potential land use and act on behalf of the cities and towns in the county, there could be a large impact on local projects and land use.
“It offers the only countywide review of projects that can affect big areas of our county,” Falk said. “The governor obliterates that planning. While he proposed to replace it with a DNR review, that too seems illegal. The governor proposes to replace planning with chaos.”
In a letter to Kevin Kesterson, chair of the Dane County Board of Supervisors, Falk said dissolving the commission would place a financial strain on Dane County and suggested merging the RPC and county planning staff as one possible solution.
The governor’s office said the actions taken are legal.
