A 200-acre development proposed for Mazomanie is back before the county’s regional planning commission tonight, posing the first challenge to the commission’s ability to rein in urban sprawl.

The development, the largest in the history of the village of 1,600, became the first project rejected by the recently reconstituted Capital Area Regional Planning Commission in August.

The commission makes recommendations to the state Department of Natural Resources about city and village sewer extensions. In two years, it has approved 18 extensions, which enable urban growth.

In March, the DNR rebutted the commission’s denial recommendation for Mazomanie, saying it didn’t base its decision on water-quality related issues.

The commission objected to the proposal because it did not encourage compact mixed-use neighborhoods near the county’s urban center, wrote Todd Ambs, division of water administrator. "However, these issues are not a basis for denial of an amendment to a water quality management plan."

The DNR asked the commission to reconsider its recommendation. The proposal is before the commission tonight for another public hearing.

In past public hearings, the issue has drawn a sharp divide between supporters in the village, who want a grocery store to replace the one that burned down in 1986, and environmentalists and town residents who see the development encroaching on the rural character of northwest Dane County.

The proposal, by developer Janice Faga, would include 466 residential units, including 297 single-family homes, 56 duplex units, half of which would be for older adults, 20 multi-family townhouse units and a senior living facility with 93 units.

The site, at the northwest corner of highways 14 and 78, would also include a two-acre park, 11.5 acres of commercial space, including the grocery store, and 36 acres of trails, wetlands and environmental corridors.

The development is adjacent to three creeks in the Black Earth Creek watershed, which could be negatively affected by the volume of water that runs off the developed property, said CARPC deputy director Kamran Mesbah.

Mesbah said his staff is recommending the commission not take action on the proposal until the village presents a plan to minimize the impact of the water.

"It’s a complicated problem and we are not able to wave it away," Mesbah said.

If you go

What: Capital Area Regional Planning Commission public hearing on 200-acre Mazomanie development.

When: Tonight at 7.

Where: City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room 201.