According to the Community Development Director, Ellen Denzer, in March of 2013, this plan primarily affects towns that have adopted county zoning. This would include all towns in the county with the exception of Cady, Forest, and Hudson. Here is an email message from Ellen Denzer:
We sent out a letter to all towns that the county is working on new farmland preservation zoning districts as required by the county farmland preservation plan. We offered to meet with any interested towns to give them an update on what we are doing and why and asking for their input. Cady could skip the meeting if they want because they aren’t in county zoning or because they plan to have their own zoning but they can also meet with us to understand what is going on and have enough information to decide if a farmland preservation zoning district is needed in a town zoning ordinance. If they want their residents to be eligible for the farmland preservation income tax credits they will want more information about options.Conservation Easements and Farmland Preservation Tax Credits sound like nice incentives to entice land owners into doing what they usually want to do anyway, preserve their farmland. However, what these incentives do is surrender property rights to the government, who then are given a great deal of power to regulate how that farm land is used.
Here is a video from Kirsten Lombard from the Wisconsin 9/12 Project that does an excellent job of explaining the "carrot-and-stick" approach to these types of government programs.
Here are some FAQs on the St. Croix County Farmland Preservation Plan along with a countywide map.
