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Comprehensive Planning

The Commission has been helping counties and communities prepare and update comprehensive plans since Wisconsin passed the “Smart Growth” law in 1999.

Comprehensive Plans

In 1999, Wisconsin enacted legislation that expanded the scope and significance of comprehensive planning in the State. The legislation, sometimes referred to as the State’s "Smart Growth" law, provides a framework for developing and updating comprehensive plans by regional planning commissions and county, city, village, and town units of government. The law is set forth in Section 66.1001 of the Wisconsin Statutes.

The Commission has prepared the following information to assist county and local governments with comprehensive planning:

Plan Updates

Several communities are considering or have begun updating their comprehensive plans to meet the Statutory requirement that comprehensive plans be updated at least every 10 years (Section 66.1001(2)(i) of the Statutes). Several plan updates have recently been completed or are underway by the Commission, including:

Although the Commission lacks the resources to prepare comprehensive plan updates for all the nearly 150 local governments in the Region, we can still be of assistance to any community preparing a plan update. Staff will provide available data to communities on request, and will also provide comments on draft plans, plan elements, or other plan materials on request. We also maintain a list of planning consultants that may be available to assist individual communities with plan updates.

 

Although the State’s comprehensive planning law requires a 10-year update, there is no guidance on the scope or content of plan updates. Each local government should determine the scope of its local plan update. The following are some possible options:

  1. Review and reaffirm the existing plan, or the originally adopted plan with amendments that have been made periodically since the plan was adopted
  2. Minor updates, corrections, or refinements to the plan
  3. A more substantial update, but short of a full update to the plan
  4. A full update of the plan

 

A community’s existing comprehensive plan may already include guidance on the timing and process for updating the plan and should be reviewed to help determine the scope of the plan update. A county or local government that has made periodic amendments to its plan may also want to consider, with its attorney, whether those periodic amendments could meet the plan update requirement of Section 66.1001(2)(i).

The Commission has prepared the following sample forms (i.e., public notices, resolutions, and ordinances) to assist with comprehensive plan updates. Where applicable, alternative or additional text a community may wish to consider are shown in [brackets and italics]. Also where applicable, where “Village” appears in italics, “City,” Town,” or “County” may be substituted; where “Village Board” or “Village Board of Supervisors” appears in italics, “City Common Council,” "Town Board," or "County Board" may be substituted; and where “Village President” appears in italics, “Mayor,” Town Chair,” or “County Board Chair” may be substituted. Explanatory information or comments noted in (parentheses and italics) are provided for clarification purposes only and may be removed prior to adoption or approval. Note that these samples have not been reviewed by an attorney and municipal attorney review is strongly recommended.

 

Plan Amendments

Many communities have amended or are considering amendments to their comprehensive plans. Comprehensive planning law requires the same procedures for adopting a comprehensive plan to be used when the plan is amended. These include:

  • Adoption of public participation procedures by the governing body
  • A public hearing on the proposed amendment with a 30-day public hearing notice
  • Adoption of a resolution by the Plan Commission approving and recommending adoption of the amendment by the governing body
  • Adoption of the amendment by an ordinance by the governing body
  • Distribution of the adopted amendment to adjacent communities and other interested parties

The Commission has developed the following sample amendment forms to assist in amending comprehensive plans. Where applicable, alternative or additional text/wording a community may wish to consider are shown in [brackets and italics]. Also where applicable, where “Village” appears in italics, “City,” Town,” or “County” may be substituted; where “Village Board” or “Village Board of Supervisors” appears in italics, “City Common Council,” "Town Board," or "County Board" may be substituted; and where “Village President” appears in italics, “Mayor,” Town Chair,” or “County Board Chair” may be substituted. Explanatory information or comments noted in (parentheses and italics) are provided for clarification purposes only and may be removed prior to adoption or approval. Note that these samples have not been reviewed by an attorney and municipal attorney review is strongly recommended.

 

Multi-Jurisdictional Comprehensive Planning Programs

Following enactment of the Wisconsin comprehensive planning law in 1999, the Commission offered to work with each of the Region’s seven counties to produce county comprehensive plan documents. Six counties conducted multi-jurisdictional planning programs to produce a county comprehensive plan and companion local plans for participating cities, towns, and villages.

Information on the county comprehensive planning programs is provided below. Note that many comprehensive plans have been amended and/or are being updated. Contact the county or local government directly if you require current comprehensive plan information.

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Kenosha County

The Commission and UW-Extension assisted Kenosha County and nine cities, towns, and villages in preparing a multi-jurisdictional comprehensive plan, which the Kenosha County Board adopted on April 20, 2010. The adopted plan is available here. More information is available on the Kenosha County website.

Ozaukee County

The Commission and UW-Extension assisted Ozaukee County and nearly all cities, towns, and villages in the County in a multi-jurisdictional planning program to develop a comprehensive plan for the County and each of the participating local governments. The Ozaukee County Board adopted the multi-jurisdictional comprehensive plan on April 2, 2008, and approved an amendment to incorporate local plans on May 6, 2009. The adopted plan, as amended, is available here. More information is available on the Ozaukee County website.

Racine County

The Commission and UW-Extension assisted Racine County and all 17 cities, towns, and villages in preparing a multi-jurisdictional comprehensive plan, which the Racine County Board adopted on October 13, 2009. The multi-jurisdictional plan document was adopted as the local comprehensive plan by 16 of the 17 participating communities and is available here. The City of Racine adopted its own comprehensive plan based on the multi-jurisdictional plan, which is available here. More information is available on the Racine County UW-Extension website.

Walworth County

The Commission assisted Walworth County and 13 towns in preparing a multi-jurisdictional comprehensive plan, which was adopted by the Walworth County Board on November 10, 2009. Each participating town adopted the multi-jurisdictional plan, available here, as the town comprehensive plan. The County Board adopted an update of the multi-jurisdictional plan on June 11, 2019. More information is available on the Walworth County website.

Washington County

The Commission and UW-Extension assisted Washington County, 10 towns, and one village in preparing a multi-jurisdictional comprehensive plan, available here, which the Washington County Board adopted on April 15, 2008. The Town of Germantown adopted the multi-jurisdictional plan document as the Town’s comprehensive plan, while the remaining towns and village adopted local comprehensive plans based on the multi-jurisdictional plan. The County Board adopted an updated multi-jurisdictional plan on April 10, 2019. More information is available on the Washington County website.

Waukesha County

The Commission and UW-Extension assisted Waukesha County and 29 cities, villages, and towns in preparing a comprehensive development plan, which the County Board adopted on February 24, 2009. More information is available on the Waukesha County website.

Plan Implementation Ordinances and Maps

To help local governments implement regional plan recommendations, the Commission helps county and local governments produce zoning, land division, and official mapping ordinances and related map materials. Please contact staff to request assistance or for more information. Planning guides, regulations, model zoning ordinances, and other useful information to aid local and county governments in their planning and zoning efforts can also be found here.

 

Redevelopment District Project Plan Updates

The Commission worked with the City of Cudahy to prepare two redevelopment district project plan updates, incorporating information from the City’s 2021 comprehensive plan update.