Jaron McCallum is the new Broadband Coordinator heading up efforts to bring reliable, affordable internet access to Dane County residents. His work includes working with local communities, internet service providers, and others to pursue grant opportunities to help expand access to unserved areas of the County. He joined the team in August 2023. Jaron previously worked in the Broadband Office at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission for eight years. Jaron also worked for TDS Telecom. Jaron holds a Bachelor’s from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Cartography/Geographic Information Systems, Geography, and Environmental Studies. | |  |
Bridgit Van Belleghem, AICP joined the team in March as a Senior Planner. Prior to this role, Bridgit helped start-up teams launch their innovations and continued her work in climate change planning consulting. She was a planner at the Marin County (California) Community Development Agency and the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission (Madison, Wisconsin) in long range planning and community engagement. Bridgit holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental Biology and Management from the University of California, Davis, a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and certificates in facilitation, equity, and project management. | | |
New Technology Aids in Community Access to Mapped Data and Analysis | |
Last year, Planning staff began exploring ArcGIS Online in an effort to make mapping publicly accessible as an active planning project is in progress. This allows for increased involvement and a different type of feedback using tools that were previously only available to staff. For example, ArcGIS Online is being used in the Town of Cross Plains, Town of Oregon and the Town of Primrose comprehensive plan update processes.
The interactive platform has opened another avenue for feedback with access to draft documents and property based data, and Town and County staff. Staff is also exploring the Community Analyst extension to create reports and population profiles such as this example linked here. Continued analysis of census data could also aid ongoing projects like the Broadband Task Force and the Regional Housing Strategy.
Staff aims to advance these tech tools to assist and provide value to local decision-makers, landowners, and residents in a user-friendly format for planning projects.
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Regional Housing Strategy: Five-Year Strategic Action Plan to Address the Housing Crisis | |
Event: Thursday, May 2, 6pm at the Alliant Energy Center
The Regional Housing Advisory Committee is endeavoring on the Dane County Regional Housing Strategy (RHS), a five-year strategic action plan to address the region-wide housing crisis. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes, Dane County Supervisor Patrick Miles, Village of Windsor President Bob Wipperfurth, Dane County Cities and Villages Association representatives, and other VIPs will kick off the effort.
Everyone including residents, non-profits, the private sector, and local governments will need to come together, and take the next steps together to solve Dane County’s acute housing shortage and affordability crisis. The top RHS housing priorities are:
- Increase the number of affordable/workforce housing units,
- Increase the number of overall housing units of all types,
- Provide housing resources and protections for the most vulnerable,
- Work to preserve and rehabilitate existing housing, and
- Provide more pathways to homeownership.
Regional Housing Strategy action items and recommendations, key report results, and examples of new 2024 RHS housing activities already underway will be shared!
Please join the discussion on next steps and learn how to get involved starting at 6pm May 2, at the Alliant Energy Center. Refreshments and music provided!
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Planning Assistants Take on County Projects | |
The Planning Assistant program invites graduate students to work alongside staff to help address short-term planning projects named in the Dane County Comprehensive Plan. In 2024, three Planning Assistants from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s are aiding with two projects:
Cultural Markers Program
In 2024, the Dane County Board approved funding to establish a historic marker program focused on events, places, and people important to communities under-represented in the traditional historic record. The Planning Division will develop a process for people to nominate locations and content for new historic markers. Planning Assistants working on this project include:
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Aaron Levine, a second-year graduate student, returns to the Planning Division after assisting with 2023 amendments to the Cultural Resources Element of the Dane County Comprehensive Plan. Aaron hails from the Dallas, Texas metro area. Aaron has worked as the Large Ensembles Coordinator for the Mead Witter School of Music and served on the Madison Bikes board.
- Duha Jamal, a first-year graduate student, worked on school, housing, and sewage treatment plant construction projects as a professional architect/engineer in Baghdad, Iran. Duha also volunteered with the International Organization for Migration in Indonesia, and as a refugee resettlement Program Assistant for Jewish Social Services in Madison.
Model Town Plan Language and Interactive Maps
The Dane County Comprehensive Plan calls on the Planning Division to create a source book of best practices for rural planning in Dane County and to develop online, interactive tools to assist towns in planning for their future.
- Dellaneira “Neira” Syifaa’Dewiarti, a first-year graduate student, comes from Bandung, Indonesia, where she worked for the Indonesia Ministry of Public Works and Housing. Neira participated in the master planning process for Indonesia’s new capital city, developed flood response plans for Medan City, and worked with local governments in Sumatra and Kalimantan to establish integrated settlement areas.
Please join us in welcoming Aaron, Duha, and Neira!
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Announcements
- Regional Housing Strategy kick-off, May 2, 2024, 6pm at the Alliant Energy Center.
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Check out the NEW webpage dedicated to broadband expansion efforts in Dane County here: https://broadband.countyofdane.com/.
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The Board of Supervisors adopted an updated Cultural Resources Element as part of the Dane County Comprehensive Plan last fall.
- Planning and Development has processed 12,055 zoning map amendments since 1938.
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Looking for more information about ongoing planning projects, concepts and processes, or new resources and information in Dane County? | |
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Dane County Planning & Development
210 Martin Luther King BLVD, Room #116
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 266-4266
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