Fiscal Note
The proposed ordinance has no fiscal impact.
Title
2nd SUBSTITUTE Creating Sections 28.100 and amending Sections 28.151 and 28.211 of the Madison General Ordinances to add Nonmetallic Mineral Extraction District (ME) as a Special District.
Body
DRAFTER'S ANALYSIS: The City of Madison zoning code does not permit mining in the city. Yet, the City currently contains mines that operate as legal nonconforming uses because they were operating legally when they were annexed into the City. These mines may continue operating as nonconforming uses until the mine’s resources are exhausted or the operator decides to transition the mine to a different use.
Additionally, most mine operators own additional property, often adjacent to the nonconforming mine, that they cannot mine because it was not part of the original legal nonconforming use. Some of these operators have approached the City about the ability to mine these additional properties.
Thus, the City currently contains active mines over which it has no zoning regulations, and mine operators own additional property they cannot mine because the city zoning code does not permit it.
Wis. Stat. § 62.23(7)(am) grants cities the power to regulate mining through zoning. This ordinance recognizes that the City contains active nonconforming quarries and that the City benefits from the close proximity of quarry resources for local road and other construction projects. The ordinance also recognizes that quarrying operations near the city present potential health and welfare concerns to neighboring property owners and that these concerns may be attenuated through a cohesive set of quarrying regulations enforceable by the City through zoning. Accordingly, this ordinance creates a new Special District under the zoning code called the nonmetallic mineral extraction district (ME).
Under this ordinance, mining operators may apply to rezone their property to combine any legal nonconforming use with other adja...
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