Regional Housing Strategy wins WI Chapter of the American Planning Association Award | | |
Dane County Planning and Development was recognized by the American Planning Association, Wisconsin Chapter, with the 2025 Best Planning Practice Award for A Road Map to Solving Dane County's Housing Crisis, 2024-2028.
One juror proclaimed this “bottom-up regional strategic planning is the new gold standard to address the housing crisis!”
The Regional Housing Strategy is an unprecedented, private-public collaborative action plan that reflects the urgency of the housing crisis and the dedication and forward-thinking of County leadership, residents, and business leaders.
The Regional Housing Strategy Advisory Committee consisted of 17 municipalities, mayors, residents, employers, elected officials, banks, social workers, realtors, builders, local government staff, non-profit housing sector, and 26 Regional Housing Strategy sponsors.
The Regional Housing Executive Committee expressed gratitude to Dane County and Madison leadership, and all others who participated in this effort and continue to address this generational housing need, including the terrific consulting partners SB Friedman Advisors and All Together Studio. And a special thanks to Kurt Paulsen, UW-Madison Landscape architecture and planning.
The Department owes this success to the enduring commitment of Senior Planner Olivia Parry and her team. Congratulations Olivia on this well-deserved recognition.
| | Dane County Establishes Advisory Committee on Data Centers | | |
Dane County recently established the Advisory Committee on Data Centers (ACDC) in response to growing interest and concern over large-scale “hyperscale” data center development. These facilities support the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital commerce. This technology and its storage space is housed in massive buildings hundreds of thousands of square feet in size and clustered in “campuses” spanning hundreds of acres. These centers require extraordinary amounts of electricity and, in some cases, water and/or chemicals for cooling, back-up generators, and other resources.
The committee will serve as an impartial fact-finding and policy-advising body that examines economic, environmental, and community impacts associated with data center proposals within Dane County. The committee’s work is intended to equip local governments, stakeholders, and the County Board with reliable information and analysis to support thoughtful, evidence-based decision-making about this intense land use.
The committee’s charge includes researching and reporting across these issue areas specified in the authorizing resolution:
- Energy use and emissions, such as impacts on local utilities, ratepayers, and county climate goals.
- Electrical transmission and distribution infrastructure, such as substations, transmission lines, and other facilities needed to support data centers, and the associated land use implications.
- Water usage and impacts to surface and groundwater resources.
- External impacts, such as noise, lighting, and aesthetics.
- Implications for local public safety services.
- Economic and fiscal effects, including tax base growth and employment opportunities.
- Compatibility with other longstanding land use goals and objectives outlined in adopted comprehensive plans, such as farmland preservation and natural resource protection.
- Facility expansion, lifespan, and decommissioning.
- Impacts on relations among towns, cities, and villages.
- Best practices in land use policies and zoning regulations.
- Other relevant issues that arise in the course of its work.
The 13-member committee will be comprised of representatives from the county board, towns, cities, and villages; environmental, energy, and technology infrastructure experts; agricultural interests; and at-large members with relevant background or professional experience.
The ACDC will begin meeting in January and will hold at least two public hearings and deliver a report with findings and recommendations within 12 months of the first meeting. A committee website is under development and will be available in the coming weeks.
Image below: Architect, Corgan, rendering for approved data center in Port Washington, WI.
| | | From Director Todd Violante: 2026 Budget Report | | |
The Dane County budget follows a standard, annual calendar cycle of January 1st thru December 31st. The 2026 process began late May, when the County Executive provided preparation directions to county departments. The process concluded mid-November with County Board and County Executive approval.
The County faced a challenging $31 million deficit for 2026. Executive Agard charged departments with meeting a four percent (4%) operating budget reduction. In Planning and Development, this equated to $140,344. The sum total of these decreases only addressed a portion of the deficit, warranting additional cuts and a hiring freeze.
Ultimately upon adoption, the net result for the Planning & Development Department was elimination of a UW Project Assistantship program, as well as a vacant, permanent full-time Regional Housing Strategy Project Assistant position. A caveat was also placed on a separate, 3-year temporary RHS Project Assistant position requiring the department to seek external funding for ten percent (10%) of the position’s cost.
While reductions of any kind are impactful and affect the potential output of the department, we will examine priorities and achieve efficiencies wherever possible. I am confident the Planning and Development Department will continue to strive to provide the best possible services to the people of Dane County with the resources we are granted.
| | BROADBAND: WI BEAD Proposal Receives Federal Funding | | |
Governor Tony Evers and the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) announced the latest major milestone in efforts to expand high-speed internet statewide.
On December 2nd, 2025, the federal government approved Wisconsin’s Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) final proposal, unlocking more than $1 billion in broadband investments across Wisconsin. The BEAD Program will expand access to high-speed internet to more than 175,000 homes and businesses in Wisconsin.
Since last quarter’s broadband article, the BEAD proposal was submitted for to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for federal approval. Now, with this NTIA approval, environmental review and final engineering of projects can begin. Infrastructure construction is expected to commence in 2026.
In Dane County, the approved BEAD plans will significantly boost connectivity. In total, approximately 2,884 locations were approved for funding to deploy fiber; of which 2,797 locations were awarded to Bertram Communications, 86 were awarded to Brightspeed, and 1 was awarded to MHTC.
A detailed map of these awards can be found online at the PSC’s website.
Please contact Planning and Development Department’s Broadband Coordinator, Jaron McCallum, via email at McCallum.Jaron@danecounty.gov or phone at 608-206-6316 with questions.
| | Dane County Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) Pilot | |
Earlier this year, Dane County Planning & Development and Land & Water Resources departments announced a new pilot agricultural easement program. The goals of the program are to preserve farmland and to protect water quality through the voluntary purchase of conservation easements.
The pilot program aims to meet the goals and policies of Dane County’s Farmland Preservation Plan and Land & Water Resource Management Plan and strengthen the County’s leadership in conservation and sustainable land use. These easements will also play a key role in the County’s ongoing commitment to improving and maintaining water quality by ensuring that protected lands meet nutrient management and erosion control standards.
Financial assistance offered local governments and qualified non-profits for 25% of the acquisition cost of an easement, not to exceed $300,000 in total. Applications were due in mid-December. Staff will be ranking these projects and awarding funds early 2026.
If this pilot program successful, funds may be extended into future years. For questions about the ACEP grant, please contact Ben Kollenbroich at kollenbroich.benjamin@danecounty.gov or 608-266-9108.
| | Looking for more information about ongoing planning projects, concepts and processes, or new resources and information in Dane County? | | |
Dane County Planning & Development
210 Martin Luther King BLVD, Room #116
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 266-4266
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