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COURT
GIVES TOWNS
AUTHORITY - AND
RESPONSIBILITY
Atty. Mark Hazelbaker
The DCTA is working with Dane County to develop a model ordinance
establishing road standards in the wake of a Court of Appeals
decision which invalidates county ordinances imposing road standards
on towns. In the absence of a town ordinance, towns will have
no authority to require developers to meet minimum road standards
needed to protect the town and the public.
The Court of Appeals' decision came in the case of Rogers
Development, Inc. vs. Rock County Planning and Development Committee
and County of Rock. The case concerned a Rock
County ordinance which imposed road standards on town subdivisions.
The ordinance limited the length of cul-de-sac roads and the length
of blocks and set standards for the location of roads. The
Court of Appeals held that counties do not have the authority to
condition approval of subdivisions in towns on the nature of the
roads laid out in the town. The Court wrote in paragraph 19 of
the decision:
We conclude that land division regulations relating to the size of
cul-de-sacs, the length of street blocks, and the location of town
roads constitute public improvement requirements. Because sec.
236.13(2)(a), Stats., grants only to a "town or municipality" within
which the plat lies the authority to require public improvements as
a condition of plat approval, and a county is not a municipality for
purposes of ch. 236, we conclude that the County may not regulate
the size of cul-de-sacs, the length of street blocks and the
location of town roads when the plat is located within a town, as it
is here.
Based upon the Rogers decision, DCTA contacted Dane
County Zoning and Natural Resources Chairman Lyman Anderson to point
out that the Rogers renders unenforceable many of the
County's current development standards. Upon review of the
decision, Dane County Corporation Counsel Marcia MacKenzie agreed
that several County ordinances
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