This forum will interest some of you.
michael F R
Four Lakes Group Sierra Club Presents:
The ABCs of Land Use
by Chuck Erickson, John Hendrick, and Al Matano
Wednesday, September 17 at 7:00 pm
Edgewood College DiRicci Hall Room 313
Chuck, John, and Al will present some of the "ABC's" of land use planning in Dane County. Included will be a primer on the relative roles and powers of town, village, city, and county government. We'll learn about the just-initiated comprehensive planning process and the relationship between transportation and land use.
SIERRA CLUB FORUM TO ADDRESS URBAN SPRAWL
September 5, 2003
MADISON, WI, September 5, 2003 - "We want to promote land development for people, not just for roads and cars." That, says Dane County Board of Supervisors member Chuck Erickson, is the motivation behind a September forum exploring the issue of urban sprawl and what can be done to prevent it. Organized by the local Four Lakes Group of the Sierra Club, the forum, entitled, "The ABCs of land use planning in Dane County," will be held at 7 PM on September 17 at Edgewood College in Madison. It is free and open to the public. "Land use and transportation are two of the biggest issues facing the county right now, especially given the population surge we've seen in recent years," says Erickson, a member of the Four Lakes Sierra Club's executive committee. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Dane County Regional Planning Commission, the county's population is expected to reach nearly 490,000 people by the year 2020, an increase of more than 30 percent since 1990.
As land is developed to accommodate more and more people, "We have to ask ourselves, do we want to look like Los Angeles or Atlanta, where everything is so spread out that the only choice is to drive everywhere?" says Erickson. "Or do we also want convenient bus service and the option to walk to a retail shop from home?" To prevent sprawling, uncontrolled growth in the future, appropriate measures must be taken now. However, land use and transportation planning in Dane County tend to be complex, says the forum's main organizer Al Matano, and people often don't understand what they can do to influence these processes. To address this, says Matano, who is also a Dane County Board of Supervisors member and a local Sierra Club leader, the forum's three sections will describe what sprawl is and why it occurs; the roles of various municipal and regional government entities in land use planning; as well as solutions and initiatives for retarding sprawl. Along with Erickson and Matano, John Hendrick, another member of the Dane County Board of Supervisors, will also participate. Both Matano and Erickson hope a wide cross section of the public will choose to attend the forum. To facilitate participation by a diversity of people, it may also be held at two other Madison venues later this fall. "Anyone who is concerned about how the county is changing, and what it will look like in five to 10 years should attend," says Erickson. "Land use is an issue that has a very large impact on our quality of life."
For more information about the forum, contact Al Matano at (608) 238-3045.
Lacinda Athen Chair, Webmaster Four Lakes Group Sierra Club www.4lakes.org / [EMAIL PROTECTED] / #663-3513
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