Zoning status hindering sale of farm

La Crosse Tribune, Feb 03, 2005 by Bloom, Betsy

TOWN OF ONALASKA, Wis. - If housing isn't allowed, the Severson farm just east of Holmen could become a hog operation, said a real estate agent marketing the property.

Jon Schuster of Rainbow Auction and Realty said Wednesday he showed the 480-acre farm on Hwy. D to an Oklahoma man who is considering putting two large hog barns on the property.

Schuster said he and the farm's owners, brothers Larry and Tim Severson, would prefer to see houses rather than hogs on the farm, which is virtually surrounded by spacious homes built within the past decade.

But after speaking to the town of Onalaska's Planning Commission last week Schuster said the hog operation might be the most profitable way to sell the farm under its current agricultural zoning.

"What develops out of this, I have no clue," Schuster said. "But we're looking at all avenues."

At the commission's Jan. 27 meeting, Schuster outlined a plan for building 100 houses over 400 acres on the farm, if the town was willing to rezone it from exclusive agricultural to agricultural A.

Residential lots must be 35 acres or more in exclusive agricultural zoning, but can be as little as two acres in ag A land.

The town could reap almost $600,000 in property taxes annually from the development, compared with the $9,500 a year now paid on the farm, Schuster said.

Before the meeting, he said a doctor had made a $1.3 million offer to buy the farm if the rezoning ing was approved.

But Steve Kujak, commission chairman, advised Schuster he'd need Holmen's blessing on the project or rezoning wouldn't be enough.

Part of the farm is within 1.5 miles of Holmen, so under state law the village has "extraterritorial jurisdiction" on development plans. That means even if the town says yes to rezoning, Holmen could say no.

Holmen Village Administrator Catherine Schmit said Wednesday she

and John Chapman, village president, had earlier told Schuster that

Holmen's comprehensive plan, approved in December after almost

two years of work, calls for the Severson farm to remain "strictly ag

and bluffland."

"We would certainly be opposed to development," Schmit said.

But she said a hog operation - though not a pleasant prospect - would be permissible under the village's plan.

Kujak, too, confirmed the use would comply with the land's zoning, though he added that a host of other regulations might apply depending on the number of animals.

While Schuster acknowledged he placed the call to the potential Oklahoma buyer, who was not identified, he denied it was a maneuver to make the housing plan more palatable.

"They're pushing me into a corner," Schuster said. "This is not a threat - what's our alternatives?"

Plans to convert the Severson farm to housing have been raised in the past, but have stalled over the zoning. The current town board, while never actually voting on a rezoning request, has been cool to the idea of allowing what is rated as prime cropland to become residential lots.

Schuster and the Seversons have repeatedly pointed out the farm is bracketed by new subdivisions, such as Sun Valley just across Hwy. D or the adjacent Westwood Hills, that once were exclusive ag land but switched to ag-A by an earlier town board.

"There is a way to make this farm work and make everybody happy," Schuster told the commission.