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COMPOSITE REPORT - Page 2 APPLICATION NO. STAFF COMMENTS REGIONAL PLANNING CUP 1484. This proposed mineral extraction site raises many policy concerns in this agricultural area of the Town of Verona. The site is currently used as farmland, and is surrounded by farmland except for the rural residential subdivision adjacent to the north and east of the proposed site,plus 4 houses and a commercial garage to the south of Riverside Road. The Badger Mill Creek flows through the northwest part of the site near its confluence to the Sugar River to the south. The town/county Land Use Plan Map in the Town of Verona designates most of this site as an Agricultural Land Preservation Area. The area along Badger Mill Creek is designated as a Resource Protection Area on the Plan Map. 1. The relevant agricultural policy is: "Those land uses and activities that could conflict with the agricultural use or adversely affect the long-term investment in the land and improvements in areas designated for farmland preservation shall be discouraged." Staff Comment: The site is 100% farmland: 85%cropland and 15%pasture. The soils are very productive: 100% Class I & II soils in terms of productivity and all prime agricultural land as defined by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service. The site (117 acres) is proposed to be taken out of agricultural production; the minerals (sand and gravel) extracted and the reclamation plan delineates two large ponds, one to the east and one to the west of STH 69. We note that the non-farm residential policy in the Town of Verona allows for residences on " those areas with soils not classified as prime farmland...." Thus, if this were a residential development proposal there would be a policy conflict to approve any non-farm houses. There is no proposal for reclamation to agricultural land as there has been with several other large mineral extraction sites. 2. Resource protection objectives and policies are: "Objectives- To preserve the important natural landscape features and resources such as woodlands, wetlands,floodplains, streams, lakes and steep slopes and glacial features. To protect and upgrade the quality of both ground and surface waters in the town. Policies-Important wetlands and the undeveloped floodplains of the Sugar River and Badger Mill Creek should continue to be protected.