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TOWN OF WINDSOR 4104 Mueller Road DeForest, Wisconsin 53532 May 12, 1987 RE: Elgin Porter Pit Silo Rezoning / ZONING PETITION #3868 Dear Agriculture/Zoning Committee Members: Last month, the Town of Windsor Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to approve the petition of Elgin Porter to have his pit silo rezoned to the A-B Agribusiness District, subject to Mr. Porter's full compliance with a comprehensive series of conditions required by the Town of Windsor. It has come to our attention that some questions have arisen among some members of your Committee regarding the Town Board's action. The detailed conditions we attached to the rezoning were provided to you earlier. To assist you in clarifying this matter further, we found the following facts to be especially pertinent in making our decision: (1) Comprehensive Town Review. We emphasize that officials of the Town recognized that this petition raised many issues of statewide significance. The Town Board gave every point raised serious consideration, held five public meetings on the issue, conducted an investigatory field trip to a pit silo facility in Jefferson County, and sought expert testimony from specialists on the technical issues presented. (2) Public Hearings. A total of five hearings and/or meetings were held: three by the Town Plan Commission, and two by the Town Board. All five meetings were exceptionally well-attended by homeowners and farmers alike, and all parties had numerous opportunities to voice their opinions. (3) Investigative Field Trip. Upon the request of Windsor Hill subdivision residents, the Town Board made an on-site inspection trip to the Bradt Farm pit silo in Jefferson County. Although we gained many valuable insights from this investigation, the Town Board did not find the Bradt Farm silo comparable to the Porter facility. The massive silo in Jefferson County is nearly nine times larger than the Porter silo and, unlike the Porter silo, had a recorded well contamination incident of great severity. (Note: Despite this history, the Bradt Farm silo does not use special monitoring wells.) (4) Expert Testimony. Because our primary goal was to base our decision not on speculation but on facts, the Board asked for expert testimony specifically on hydrology and groundwater contamination at our fifth meeting from a representative of the Dane County Regional Planning Commission and University of Wisconsin Professor Arthur Peterson, an acknowledged expert on the topic. Both experts testified, in no uncertain terms, that they felt that the Porter pit silo was not a significant contributor to area nitrate levels; that the area's terrain and hydrology made it probable that groundwater under the pit silo did not flow toward the Windsor Hill subdivision; and that the nitrate levels were probably attributable to standard fertilizer use on farms and lawns and failing septic systems in the Windsor Hill subdivision. The Board also reviewed data that showed that although the Windsor Hill