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February25, 2014 <br />Members, Dane County Zoning and Land Resources Committee <br />Room 106A, City -County Building.: <br />210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. <br />Madison, WI 53703 <br />Joseph Parisi <br />Dane- County Executive <br />City County Building, Room 421. <br />210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd: <br />Madison, WI 53703 <br />Michael Best & Friedrich LLP ' <br />Attomeys at Law <br />One South Pinckney Stree <br />Suite 700 <br />Madison, Wi 53703 <br />P.O. Box 1806 C <br />Madison, W153701-1806 <br />Phone 608.257.3501 <br />Fax 608.283.2275 <br />William.F. White <br />Direct 608.283.2246 <br />Email wrwhite@michaelbest.com <br />'Re: Ordinance Amendment 26 <br />Dear Members of the.ZLR Committee and County Executive Parisi: . <br />We represent the -Daner County Association of Aggregate Producers (" DCAAP"), a trade <br />association formed in the early 1990s for the purpose of responding to regulatory initiatives <br />proposed by Dane County.- To that end, -DCAAP has attempted and, we think, successfully <br />positioned the industry to insure that the regulatory efforts properly account for. environmental, <br />-regulatory, and economic development considerations, all of which are involved in aggregate <br />production. <br />Dane County is blessed with a supply of aggregate materials which has allowed it to prosper, <br />and grow in an environmentally sensitive fashion. Sometimes, immediate, neighbors do not like <br />mineral extraction activities. Recently, certain public officials have attempted to take away <br />rights that are otherwise part of mineral extraction operations under the "Diminishing.Assets" <br />rule. The Diminishing, Assets rule was formulated by the Wisconsin Courts in response to <br />efforts to regulate through zoning preexisting lawful uses. Consequently, should any <br />governmental entity attempt to regulate mineral extraction .by land use restrictions, a preexisting <br />lawful but nonconforming land use will be held to be valid. by the courts. Nonconforming mineral <br />extraction operations are permitted to grow within their original boundaries, even though the - <br />asset has been diminished through mining. <br />Notwithstanding the inability'to-regulate land use through zoning for lawful nonconforming uses, <br />there are a wide variety of governmental regulatory controls over all of mineral extraction <br />processes: <br />First and foremost, reclamation plans under Wis. Admin. Code, § NR 135 must be in <br />place prior to the commencement of any mineral extraction operation whether it be <br />through zoning or by nonconforming .use. The, plans must be fully funded. <br />Second, the federal Mining and Safety Health Administration regulates worker and <br />equipment safety on site; <br />michaelbestaom <br />