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City, town 'hung up' on density
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MONROE - Four members of the Joint Extraterritorial Zoning Committee met last week to go through Monroe township's list of concerns about the ETZ details.

"We went through the questions they had, and we think we have answered most of them," committee chairman Nate Klassy said.

Monroe City Administrator Mark Vahlsing also attended and said he saw two major concerns still to be further discussed - the extension of the interim ordinance and the density requirements in the Agriculture Transition (AT) zone.

The extension of the city's interim ordinance is a contention that is not being settled because of conflicting attorney opinions.

City Attorney Rex Ewald has advised the city that the extension is legal, even though the original ordinance was expired before the extension was in effect. Town members of the comittee said legal advisors from the Wisconsin Towns Association say the extension is not valid.

Klassy said the difference probably will not get settled, "unless somebody goes to court."

Town Board President Ali Mayer said the meeting "didn't truthfully solve anything.

"The only thing we're hung up on now, really, is density," he said.

Vahlsing said the city needs "some way to control" density in the AT area. The highway district and urban fringe zone in the ETZ proposal now have the same density guidelines as the town.

The township would like to see the density requirement stay the same in the AT as its current limits, which require at least 1.6 to 2.5 acres to accommodate sewer systems.

The town has concerns about clustering housing; the city is worried more about subdivisions.

Without any new density requirements, Vahlsing said there is no reason for the city to enter into the ETZ ordinance.

Also, a letter from Robert Rufi was distributed at the meeting requesting that his property be removed from the ETZ ordinance. Rufi owns property in the Monore township, and has been a opponent of the ETZ meetings.

No action was taken. The committee will meet again at 6:30 p.m. April 9 at Monroe Town Hall.