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Park & Open Space

The Regional Park and Open Space Plan includes recommendations for open space preservation and outdoor recreation in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Regional Park and Open Space Plan

The Commission adopted the Regional Park and Open Space Plan in 1977. The plan recommends preserving environmentally significant open space lands and providing sites and facilities for major resource-oriented outdoor recreation activities throughout the Region. Over time, the plan has been amended on a county-by-county basis, with Commission staff assisting in most county plan updates. The Commission adopts these county plan updates as amendments to the Regional Park and Open Space Plan.

Read Regional Park and Open Space Plan

 

Open Space Preservation 

The first basic plan element is open space preservation. This element consists of recommendations for preserving primary environmental corridors throughout the Region. More on environmental corridors may be found here.

 

Outdoor Recreation

The second basic plan element is outdoor recreation, which consists of:

  1. Resource-oriented outdoor recreation plan: provides recommendations for the number and location of large parks, recreation corridors to accommodate trail-oriented activities, and water-access facilities to enable the recreational use of waterways
  2. Urban outdoor recreation plan: provides recommendations for the number and distribution of local parks and outdoor recreational facilities required in urban areas of the Region

 

line art of a building with a large tree next to the building

Local Planning

The Commission also assists local governments in the Region in preparing community park and open space plans. More information on this activity may be found here.