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COMPOSITE REPORT-Page 2 Application No. 6987 DANE COUNTY PLANNING DIVISION STAFF COMMENTS I. BACKGROUND A. The applicant is requesting a rezone of 17.6 acres out of the wetland overlay district to accommodate a runway expansion for the Dane County Regional Airport. Runways are not an allowable use in the wetland overlay district. The underlying zoning districts (A-1 and C- 2)would not change. B. The subject property is in the Town of Burke, immediately north of the City of Madison. Most of the airport is within the City. C. On June 24, 1997, the ZNR Committee granted the applicant approval of a conditional use permit to achieve zoning compliance for the existing airport properties (750 acres in the Town) and allow construction of a new runway. That approval was granted subject to six conditions. One was that "the applicant must receive County approval to rezone out of wetland overlay district all wetlands filled as part of this project." D. The applicant has also received several federal and state permits for runway expansion. The federal government approved the Environmental Impact Statement for the property in June 1996. Other permits pertinent to this request are described below. II. ANALYSIS A. The applicant has begun preliminary grading associated with construction of a 7,000 square foot runway extending northeast from the terminal. The runway will improve safety and reduce noise impacts on adjacent populated areas. B. The proposed runway would extend across areas which are mapped as wetland on DNR Wisconsin Wetland Inventory Maps. These wetlands have been somewhat degraded over the 50+years this property has been used for aeronautical purposes. Working with DNR staff the applicant's consultant Mead and Hunt conducted a field survey as part of the environmental impact statement process to refine wetland boundaries. Those boundaries are reflected in Exhibit A, and actually represent a somewhat larger area than shown on DNR maps. Filling required for the runway would eliminate 17.6 acres of wetland. C. The proposed filling of wetlands required Army Corps of Engineers approval of a Section 404 permit. On June 4, 1997, that permit was granted subject to numerous conditions which staff has on file. Key conditions are summarized as follows: 1. Mitigation of 4.8 acres of degraded floodplain directly west of the filled area must be part of the project (see Exhibit A). This mitigation must occur concurrent with runway expansion, and will be subject to annual monitoring for at least five years. 2. Mitigation of the remaining 12.8 acres must occur off-site at a 1.5:1 ratio, for a total of 19.2 acres mitigated off-site. The selected off-site mitigation area is within the Town of Dane within the Lodi Marsh Area. (Note: This area was selected in consultation with the Dane County Parks Department, and advances County resource protection goals.