Town of Rib Mountain Discusses Incorporation from a Township into a Village

Wednesday, January 25th, 2023 -- 9:00 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) The Town of Rib Mountain hosted representatives from the Wisconsin Department of Administration on Tuesday to discuss their proposed incorporation from a township into a Village.

Dawn Vick chairs the state's incorporation review board, she says they have very specific data that they are looking to check off. For example, there are certain population density requirements that must be met. "So population density requirements depending on the urbaness or ruralness of the area. There's going to be compactness and other requirements that need to b met."

Vick says her board is looking for metrics regarding developable land. "What does that look like with the amount of land that is not developed and the amount of land that is available for development." Vick says these cases are actually more common than you might think. "I would say it's once or twice a year. I believe last year we did two."

Vick says communities often turn to incorporation as a way of protecting their borders, because towns can be subject to annexation by adjoining cities. "It depends on where you're located. If you're in danger of having parts of that town annexed by other areas, then towns look at incorporation to protect themselves."

Tuesday's hearing was for information gathering purposes only, a final decision from the DOA will come this spring, and if approved a public referendum on the issue must also be held for town residents before any change is final.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.