County donates land for training center Plans by the Portage County Business Council Foundation, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Mid-State Technical College and Portage County government to create a business education and training center attached to the Business Council office in the Portage County Business Park are picking up steam. The Portage County Board of Supervisors approved donating 1.6 acres of county-owned land in the Business Park to the project when it met Tuesday, May 15. The land is valued at $104,500. The Business Council Foundation, UW-SP and MSTC have each committed $250,000 to the $750,000 project. The Business Council Foundation is responsible for covering any county out-of-pocket expenses associated with the transaction, such as surveying costs, recording fees and title searches. The center will provide education, training and technical services to Portage County Business Park tenants and Wisconsin businesses through on-site instruction and various distance learning methods. Officials expect the facility will become an important marketing factor for the Business Park in terms of retaining businesses and attracting new businesses by providing training necessary to create and maintain quality jobs in central Wisconsin. * * * WOLF LAKE ACQUISITION: The County Board approved resolutions supporting the county Park Commission's applications for Department of Natural Resources Lake Management Protection Grant Program and recreation aid funds to use for a possible purchase of 200 acres of land adjacent to Wolf Lake County Park. The county's purchase offer is contingent upon receiving state funding and the county's cost share being no more than $159,100. The purchase price can also not exceed the appraised property value. Supervisors also approved resolutions supporting grant applications for projects at Lake Emily County Park and the Tomorrow River State Trail. * * * REAPPORTIONMENT PLAN: Now that the 2000 Census is done, it is reapportionment time. Supervisors approved a tentative supervisory district reapportionment plan. The County Board will remain at 29 supervisors, but some of the district boundaries will shift to accommodate different rates of population growth in the county. Municipalities will have 60 days to create the necessary wards to support the plan and the county will then have 60 days to submit the plan to the state, said County Clerk Roger Wrycza. Until municipalities draw the ward boundaries, it is unknown if any current supervisors will end up in the same district, Wrycza said. The new districts will take effect following the 2002 spring elections. * * * NONMETALLIC MINING ORDINANCE: Recently enacted state laws require counties to create nonmetallic mining reclamation ordinances. Supervisors adopted the county's version Tuesday. Reclamation permits will be needed to extract any nonmetallic mineral on or after Aug. 1 and annual fees will be required. Existing operations that apply between June 1 and July 31 will receive an automatic permit, but will need to submit a reclamation plan by Sept. 1, 2004. The ordinance applies to any site larger than one acre. Nonmetallic minerals include stone, sand, gravel, asbestos, beryl, diamond, clay, coal, feldspar, peat, talc and topsoil. It doesn't include removal from the earth of any products that contain incidental amounts of nonmetallic minerals, such as commercial sod, agricultural crops, ornamental or garden plants, forest products, Christmas trees or plant nursery stock. * * * REZONING REQUESTS: Supervisors approved a rezoning request by Karen Ann and Michael Hoffman to rezone 1.15 acres of land in the town of Carson along Highway M from C4, Highway Commercial District, to A4, General Agricultural District. No development is currently proposed for the property. The down zoning would provide a better fit with the surrounding uses than the current Highway Commercial District, according to the Planning and Zoning Department. By a 23-6 vote, supervisors approved a rezoning request by Robert and Ellen Coulthurst to rezone 4.8 acres of land in the town of Carson on Martin Island Drive from R5, Waterfront Residence Zoning District, to A4, General Agricultural Zoning District. The zoning change would allow less housing, but bigger outbuildings, to be built on the property, said Planning and Zoning Director Charles Kell. The owners intend to construct a storage building with 14-foot sidewalls to store their recreational vehicles. Supervisors Richard Purcell, Ron Borski, Bud Flood, James Gifford, William Peterson and Robert Woehr voted against the request. The request seems to be spot zoning, which the county has a policy against, said Purcell. * * * WIRELESS PRESENTATION: Supervisors heard a presentation by Pat Briley of Vertical Partners. The Minneapolis, Minn., company markets government-owned properties for the siting of wireless towers. A proactive approach to wireless infrastructure can minimize the number of towers built in a community and create new revenue sources, Briley said. Over a 15-year period, a 100,000-population community with antennas on eight co-located public facilities (water towers, stadium lights, etc.) and seven towers on public properties could get $4.4 million in rental revenue, she said. Most of the county-owned property outside of the urban area is parkland. Parks are zoned conservancy and the county's telecommunications ordinance prohibits wireless towers on conservancy-zoned property.