The Dane County Board of Supervisors voted Thursday night to approve buying land from the City of Madison for potential use as a sustainability campus and landfill.
MADISON, Wis. — The Dane County Board of Supervisors voted Thursday night to approve buying half of the Yahara Hills golf course for potential use as a sustainability campus and landfill.
The 27-4 vote in favor of the purchase comes a little over a week after the Madison Common Council approved selling the land, but it did not come without push back from those living in the area.
Several people including Mike Pfohl, with the coalition Neighbors for a Better Landfill, pleaded with board supervisors to at least postpone the decision.
He said there is a need for more community engagement and research to be done on the impacts the site would have, especially on a nearby school.
“We just are asking for some more due diligence, to make that we know what this impact is going to be,” Pfohl said. “This is a 50 year commitment, isn’t it worth pausing this vote and ensuring that we get this right?”
However county leaders informed by the director of the County’s Department of Waste and Renewables John Welch effectively argued purchasing the land did not mean more research couldn’t still be done.
“This is not the end of the process, this is not the end of public engagement,” Welch said. “This actually allows us to continue that work, which will actually help us to answer those questions that do remain still.”
Welch also said in order for the project to progress the land’s viability would need to be determined through the DNR’s permitting process which the county could only initiate as the land owners.
If the land is determined to be unviable or if the county is unsuccessful in negotiating other local agreements the project will not move forward; then the City of Madison could purchase the land back from the county.
Construction on the Landfill could begin as early as 2028.
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