Dunn County committee reviews working draft of comprehensive plan, seeks comments before public hearing

Susan Baecki of the West Central Regional Plan Commission and county planner Tammy briefed the Planning, Resources and Development Committee on July 16 about the working draft of Dunn County’s comprehensive plan and the farmland preservation update.

Baecki said the plan process has run about 14 months and included county-wide surveys, mailed surveys to farmland owners, focus groups and township open houses. She described core themes emerging from outreach: a desire to preserve rural character, protect groundwater and surface water, address housing and workforce needs, and support economic development while balancing property rights.

The draft is structured to meet state statute’s required elements and pairs a concise main document (policy snapshots, desired outcomes and recommended actions) with appendices that contain supporting data and background. Baecki said the agricultural resources and farmland preservation chapter was developed with an ag focus group to meet Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) requirements.

Staff asked committee members to focus their review on policy elements—desired outcomes, policies and suggested actions—while also reviewing the working preferred future land use map (Map 11-2) and its land-use descriptions. Baecki described an implementation chart in the draft that will later assign suggested lead partners and timeframes to actions.

Tammy described practical review options for committee members (email, a short review form, phone calls or focus-group feedback) and said staff will post materials on the county website and use social media and mailed notices to reach townships. The presenters said they expect to return to the committee on August 6 to consider whether to set a public hearing (or to use August 20 as an alternate date) and reiterated that the public hearing must be noticed at least 30 days in advance under state statute.

Committee members were asked to provide comments in advance of the August meeting so the county can consolidate substantive policy feedback and decide whether to move the draft to a public hearing. Baecki said adoption is targeted for later in the year if the process stays on schedule.

Next steps: committee members should review the draft main document, the preferred future land use map and the agricultural/farmland preservation chapter and submit comments by the timeline provided; staff will coordinate outreach, post an interactive map on the county website and schedule the public hearing if the committee so instructs.