-----Original Message----- From: Katy Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 8:05 AM Subject: Bikers, Runners, Hikers and Triathletes!!! HELP US stop the destruction on the IRONMAN route and ICE AGE TRAIL URGENT - Please distribute to your contact lists!!! (sorry if you receive multiple copies - I wasn't sure of best contact emails) To: Bikers, Bikies, Ironmen and Ironwomen... Hikers, Runners, and anyone else! Come to www.TownOfCrossPlains.info We NEED YOUR HELP!!! Some of you bikers and triathletes know us as the "water people," on Timber Lane (in the Town of Cross Plains). For the two summers we have lived here, we've put out water, and sometimes other goodies, for the bikers and runners who survive the climb up Old Sauk Pass and Timber Lane. We've done this because (back when we had 'real lives') we did some recreational biking, and we certainly have been amazed by the dedication of you all as you're grinding up that hill day after day, regardless of the weather and road conditions (a.k.a., that blankin' pea gravel). I have to confess, too, that I have loved watching the evolution throughout the seasons. In spring, there's a lot of grunting and groaning, there are quite a few bike-walkers, and there have been heaps of heaving bodies at the top of the hill by our water hose (just recovering, mind you...). By fall, you are zipping up the hill, yacking to each other all the way up, talking about the view, the approaching descent to Mid-Town Road, and the impending Ironman. Many of you stop to fill your water bottles, or to hose down on the really hot days, but there's still plenty of energy and spark. We've waited out on Timber Lane for the last biker on Ironman day - and both times, my partner and I were the only ones out there to walk up the hill with that last biker, giving a pep talk (and being completely amazed that their bodies are even still moving forward). NOW WE NEED YOUR HELP!!! The land across the road from us is some of the most beautiful land in Dane County. It has been designated by National Park Service and DNR to be included in the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve. For years, NPS, DNR and Dane County have been trying to purchase the land, but since they are limited by law as to how much they can offer (it is taxpayers' money they're spending, after all), they have, so far, been unable to acquire the property. Two years ago, a developer bought the land, and she has been working ever since to put anything from 66 to well over 100 houses along Timber Lane. Not only will that destroy any possibility that we will have that Reserve that will preserve some of the most precious geologic treasures in the State, but it will add countless cars and other vehicles onto the roads out here - the roads on which we all seem to have to battle for position. Engineers and planners estimate ten vehicle trips per day per residence in a subdivision. At a minimum, this puts 660 more vehicle trips each day on Timber Lane and Cleveland Road, neither one of which is suitable for such heavy traffic. One of the developer's proposals even includes multi-family housing at the north end of the property - how many cars will that add to the roads? Regardless of which of her concepts she ends up with, the spectacular view from the top of the Timber Lane will be obliterated by houses, and this will be 'the new look' of a mile of the Ironman course and the Ice Age Trail. WHAT YOU CAN DO!!! Some of you are going to the CARPC meeting tonight - LOOK FOR US THERE! We'll have some orange half-sheet fliers and petitions. Come to our website, www.TownOfCrossPlains.info and print up the petition. Gather as many signatures as you can and get those petitions back to me asap (address at the site). SPEAK UP at the CARPC meeting (see related comments below), and COME TO THE PUBLIC HEARING AT 7:30 ON JANUARY 30, 2008 AT THE TOWN OF CROSS PLAINS COMMUNITY CENTER. 3734 Cty Hwy P in Pine Bluff. You do not have to be a Town resident to sign the petition or to speak at the public hearing. Even if you just come to the hearing to sign in as, "opposed," and then leave, your opinion will be counted! We need to have an overwhelming turnout at this public hearing, in order to convince the Board that they simply cannot allow the Land Use Plan to be thrown out. If this all plays out as intended by two of the three Town Board members, there will be lawsuits that may result in the loss of any County impact over the Town land use issues, and then all bets will be off - the developers will have free rein. Sorry to have rambled on, but PLEASE circulate this email as widely and as quickly as you can - my partner and I have been working on this for over a year, the last four months have been virtually full-time, with absolutely no compensation - and this is a very personal issue for us. Please help us - we NEED YOU! Thank you so much, happy biking and hiking, and think Spring! Katy Reeder and Jim Mueller (below is the email that Jim sent to 1000 Friends) Janice Faga, DBA Hawthorn & Stone Development, Inc. has applied to have 337 acres of land in the Town of Cross Plains changed in designation from "Agricultural Preservation" to "Unsewered Development." On January 30th the Town of Cross Plains Plan Commission will hold a second Public Hearing on Janice Faga's proposal to throw off the 1 house per 35 acre density rule and develop 337 acres of ag land and oak woods. This land is primarily in the Black Earth Creeek Watershed, it is designated as part of the Cross Plains Unit of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve project area, and is in the Ice Age Trail Corridor. Please see www.TownOfCrossPlains.info for details. CARPC Commission member Harold Krantz is the Chair of the Cross Plains Town Board. He voted to force the Plan Commission to give the developer the second hearing even though the Commission's predecessor (3-person Plan Committee), as well as the Town Board, had unanimously recommended denial the first time Hawthorn & Stone had applied for this development. Krantz has also directed the Plan Commission to consider opting out of County Zoning and has ordered the Commission to recommend changes to the Farmland Preservation Plan. Such changes would set the stage for a legal challenge to County control over zoning, land division and land use and planning. See "The Obscure and the Obvious" on the website for a fuller explanation of how two of the three Town Board members are likely using this developer as the test case for their theories, in an attempt to break away from any County oversight - and perhaps even from Town oversight over individual landowners. Their repeated consideration of this development proposal provides clear enough evidence that such crucial land use decisions should not be left solely in the hands of a three-member Town Board. Please encourage your members to question Harold Krantz at the Thursday CARPC hearing, to visit www.TownOfCrossPlains.info , to download petitions (from the website) and gather signatures, and most importantly come to the Public Hearing at 7:30 on January 30th at the Town of Cross Plains Community Center at 3734 Cty Hwy P in Pine Bluff and speak (or at least register, even if you don't want to speak) in opposition to the remapping of this land for unsewered development. Thank you for your consideration. Jim Mueller and Katy Reeder 4064 Timber Lane Cross Plains WI 53528 608.831.1610 Phone 608.833.9525 Fax www.TownOfCrossPlains.info
_______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
