Proposal would restrict development in areas containing 'hydric soil'

WI State Journal

...Some 117,000 acres in Dane County are designated hydric soil — about one in every seven acres

...In Dane County’s towns, there are 1,803 buildings on hydric soil, or 3.3 percent of all 65,228 buildings. Another 1,221 buildings are built in floodplains. In the cities and villages, excluding Madison

...The proposal wouldn’t apply to cities and villages ...

...Phil Salkin, government affairs director for the Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin, said he had concerns about the proposal because not all hydric soil areas will necessarily flood — much of the Isthmus contains hydric soil, he noted. The proposal, he said, would empower the county’s zoning committee to make land use decisions without a scientific standard.