Cross Plains Votes Monday on Bluff Protections: What's at Stake

The Cross Plains Village Board meets Monday, June 8th to vote on proposed changes to the village's hillside protection ordinance — changes prompted by the Marchstone development's Phase 2 plans for homes and a golf course east of the middle school. If is a good meeting for interested citizens to attend.

The meeting is scheduled for Village Hall, but turnout is expected to be high. Check the village website before you go — it may be moved to the fire station. Cross Plains agenda page

The Cross Plains Plan Commission met on June 1st to hold a public hearing on the proposed amendments. Multiple residents spoke in opposition, raising concerns about erosion, flooding, Black Earth Creek water quality, and the pace of the process. Andy Morton spoke on behalf of BECWA, urging the commission to maintain current protections. The commission then worked through three separate proposed ordinance changes, each voted on individually as recommendations to the Village Board.

Hilltop Edge buffer: The commission voted to recommend reducing the Hilltop Edge buffer — the protected zone measured back from the top of a bluff — from 150 feet to 100 feet. This would allow structures and land disturbance closer to bluff edges than current rules permit, though still farther than the developer had originally requested.

Hillside disturbance exceptions: The commission voted to recommend expanding the list of activities allowed on hillsides and hilltops that would otherwise be prohibited. The approved exceptions include construction of public stormwater facilities, recreational amenities such as trails and overlooks (subject to approval by the Parks and Recreation director), private roads and accessways, and golf course features — with bathrooms removed from that list during discussion.

Tree clearing rules: The commission voted to recommend changes to what tree removal does not count toward the village's existing 30% woodland clearing limit. The most significant change would exempt poor and fair-quality trees, a category including species like black walnut, black cherry, and hackberry. This single exemption effectively more than doubles the amount of clearing allowed under the 30% cap. Other recommended exemptions include invasive or nuisance species (such as buckthorn and honeysuckle) and trees removed for utility corridors, easements, access routes, and walking trails. Recognizing that this is a long list of exemptions, the commission also added an overall ceiling of 40% total tree removal regardless of how many apply. Taken together, these changes would allow substantially more trees to be cleared on a given site than current rules permit.

All three recommendations now go to the Village Board for a final vote Monday night. The plan commission did not discuss potential environmental/erosion implications of reducing the hilltop erosion buffer zone, nor did the developer provide any scientific research evidence to address erosion concerns.

It's also worth noting that if adopted, these ordinance changes would apply village-wide — not just to Marchstone. The Village of Cross Plains also exercises extraterritorial jurisdiction over subdivision plats within roughly 1.5 miles of its borders, so the hillside rules can matter beyond village limits as well. Neighboring municipalities handle hillside land differently, but many share the same underlying goal of keeping development off sensitive slopes and ridgelines. In the Town of Cross Plains, for example, most new residential development is limited to one home per 35 acres. The mechanism is different, but the result is similar: the hills stay largely unbuilt. Cross Plains village's Hillside Overlay Ordinance is a more targeted and specific tool for achieving that same outcome within village limits. Weakening it means relying on less protection than neighboring communities have built into their own rules.

Here are the changes that the Village board will review on Monday related to the hillside ordnance and development:

Packet for June 8th meeting - Just the Marchstone part.pdf

Download PDF • 270KB

(This is just a portion of the whole 103 page packet, which includes written comments and other subjects.)

PDF of the above map:

Map from June 8th packet page size 06.pdf

Download PDF • 2.44MB