This website contains information about the efforts of residents of Rutland, Wisconsin (WI) to stop a gravel pit expansion in its rural residential community. The quarry permit was ultimately granted by Dane County Zoning despite overwhelming public opposition and the application’s failure to meet the required standards, so we have dedicated this website to documentation of the substantial evidence that was gathered and assembled. We are sharing this as a resource for other communities who may be facing the same issue.
Here is the timeline of our process:
Fall 2020: The owners of a small (approx. 9 acres) nonconforming gravel pit on Center Road in the Town of Rutland, WI applied for a Conditional Use Permit to quarry the adjacent 38-acre farm field they had recently purchased. The smaller pit had been largely inactive for many years, during which many residential homes had been built or bought in the area. Most residents were not aware of the pit until the owners bought and reopened it in 2017 and were not supportive of the new site becoming a much larger quarry. A public hearing was held, with overwhelming resident opposition, and ultimately the Town Board voted that the application did not meet the standards required by Dane County.
Spring 2022: The owners reapplied for the CUP and included the old non-conforming site. This was meant to appease the objections of neighbors to the noise, hours, truck traffic, environmental concerns, property values, etc., but the application was not substantially different than the first one. The majority of residents in the area remained opposed and assembled a large amount of substantial evidence in response to Wisconsin’s Act 67, which required a higher burden of proof from both the applicant and objectors.
April 2022: A required public hearing was held by Rutland’s Town Board and Planning Commission. Again, the majority of residents were opposed and had, in the intervening months, used consultants, studies, and data to put together substantial evidence showing failure to meet the Standards. After lawsuit threats from the applicant’s attorney, several Board Supervisors recused themselves and therefore the decision was passed on to Dane County Zoning.
May 2022: Dane County Zoning held another hearing at which the substantial evidence from residents was presented, both in person and in writing. (These reports will be available soon on this website.) The ZLR Committee seemed unfamiliar with the submitted material and relied heavily on the Zoning staff report, which disregarded the residents’ objections and evidence, did not include conditions requested by residents and board members, and did include several erroneous statements. The town’s own representative on this committee abstained from voting. The ZLR Committee voted to approve the CUP. Citizens appealed the decision to the Dane County Board of Adjustments (BOA) who rescinded the permit based on a technical inconsistency in the application. Subsequently the applicant reapplied for a second time.
January 2023: Dane County ZLR held another hearing and again approved the permit. Citizens formed an Unaffiliated Association (UA) and re-appealed the decision to BOA who this time, rejected the appeal and sustained the permit. The residents’ UA decided not to take the appeal to Circuit Court, because the cost of doing so would have been out of reach for residents but not for the corporate lobbying organization for aggregate producers.
Lobbyists continue to advocate on behalf of non-metallic mining by urging legislators to eliminate restrictions at the local level which takes authority away from residents and which places more power in the hands of miners. Please feel free to review the documentation of our efforts and reach out if this is useful in efforts of your own community.
Continue checking this site for more information as it becomes available.
