Fiscal Note
No City appropriation required.
Title
Indicating a Willingness for the City of Madison to Annex the April Hills Neighborhood from the Town of Blooming Grove upon Receipt of an Otherwise Valid Petition for the Annexation of the Territory.
Body
WHEREAS, pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 66.0307, Madison and the Town of Blooming Grove entered into a Cooperative Plan (the “Cooperative Plan”) related to boundary lines and other municipal issues among themselves, which was approved on October 3, 2006, by the State of Wisconsin Department of Administration. Under the Cooperative Plan, the Town of Blooming Grove will cease to exist on October 31, 2027 (“Final Attachment”) and all remaining Town territory will attach to the City; and,
WHEREAS, under the terms of the Cooperative Plan, certain Town territory, mostly residential subdivisions, was protected from attachment until Final Attachment, including the April Hills neighborhood, a roughly 80-acre residential subdivision located in the Town, just north of Siggelkow Road; and,
WHEREAS, April Hills was platted in the 1960s and largely developed over the following two decades, with development being on private well and septic. Today, the neighborhood is located between two City subdivisions, Siggel Grove on the west, which was created in 2001, and Secret Places at Siggelkow Preserve on the east, which was created in 2004. To the north, the neighborhood borders the Wingra quarry located in the Town of Blooming Grove and vacant land in the City. To the south, across Siggelkow Road, is the Village of McFarland’s Cedar Glade subdivision. The neighborhood and the adjacent quarry lands will be attached to the City on October 31, 2027; and,
WHEREAS, the City has included April Hills within its future land use planning for over twenty-five years, and is prepared to serve the territory with all municipal services once it is in the City. In addition, with the creation and development of the City of Madison subdivisions adjoining April Hills, the City has constructed future street connections, public sanitary sewer, water main and stormwater infrastructure to eventually connect with and serve the April Hills neighborhood following the attachment of the territory to the City. Given the already available City infrastructure, the City is best positioned to meet the current and future municipal needs of the neighborhood; and,
WHEREAS, residents of April Hills have published notice that they will be circulating a petition to annex the neighborhood to the Village of McFarland under Wis. Stat. § 66.0217(3)(a), direct annexation by one-half approval; and,
WHEREAS, as part of the annexation process, under Wis. Stat. § 66.0217(6)(a), the Wisconsin Department of Administration will have twenty days from its receipt of the notice to review the annexation petition and provide McFarland a notice that states whether in its opinion the annexation is in the public interest or is against the “public interest”, which term is defined in § 66.0217(6)(c) to mean:
“1. Whether the governmental services, including zoning, to be supplied to the territory could clearly be better supplied by the town or by some other village or city whose boundaries are contiguous to the territory proposed for annexation which files with the circuit court a certified copy of a resolution adopted by a two-thirds vote of the elected members of the governing body indicating a willingness to annex the territory upon receiving an otherwise valid petition for the annexation of the territory.
2. The shape of the proposed annexation and the homogeneity of the territory with the annexing village or city and any other contiguous village or city.”
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that, consistent with the last twenty-five years of planning and development by the City, the Common Council of the City of Madison hereby indicate a willingness to annex the April Hills neighborhood upon receiving an otherwise valid petition for the annexation of the territory; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that, pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 66.0217(6)(c)1, the Department of Administration should consider whether governmental services, including zoning, could clearly be better supplied to the April Hills neighborhood by the City of Madison rather than the Village of McFarland.