Did you know? Madison may be the state’s fastest-growing metropolitan area, but Dane County also currently boasts the largest agricultural economy in Wisconsin.

Balancing the demands of urban and rural development requires careful planning—which is why we’re undertaking a comprehensive rewrite and recertification of the Dane County Farmland Preservation Plan, to make 1,200 Dane County Farmers eligible for over $1.4 million in Wisconsin Farmland Preservation income tax credits.

Fourteen municipalities in Dane County engage in affordable or workforce housing efforts, but we still face an extreme housing shortage, and it’s getting worse. Currently, there are 13,050 renter households and 3,490 homeowners who earn 50% of the area median income (AMI) or below and are paying more than 50% of their monthly income on housing. 

The Dane County Regional Housing Strategy (RHS) will address these challenges and work together to help expedite the development and preservation of affordable and workforce housing. Join us for our first meeting on September 28, 2022, at the Alliant Energy Center!

TDR, or “Transfer of Development Rights”, is a land use tool that communities can use to protect farmland, enabling development rights to be moved from one parcel of land to another. Landowners interested in preserving their productive farmland can transfer, or “send”, development rights available under comprehensive planning policies to non-farmland “receiving” areas.

Many Dane County towns now have TDR programs in place as part of their agricultural preservation strategy. Click on the link below for additional information.