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Smart Growth:
Wisconsin's Planning Law

Wisconsin's 1999-2001 State Budget makes significant changes to Wisconsin's planning laws. Frequently, people refer to these changes as Wisconsin's "smart growth" legislation. Wisconsin law, however, does not define “Smart Growth.” Rather, the law focuses community attention on the development and implementation of local comprehensive plans.

Specifically, the law defines what a "comprehensive plan" is, outlines procedures for adopting plans, and requires that certain actions, beginning in 2010, be consistent with an adopted plan. The legislation creates a comprehensive planning grants program and stresses the importance of citizen involvement, community visioning, and other types of public participation in the planning and plan adoption processes.

This page introduces Wisconsin's comprehensive planning program and provides access to resources to help citizens and communities with their local planning efforts.

 

Your Community’s Plan and Natural Resources

An inventory of your community’s natural resources and environment features makes a good starting point for your plan (you need to know what you’ve got before deciding the future direction of your community). Once you identify and map natural features, the rest of the elements can more easily be addressed since the community will have a better sense of where development is most logical and where it would not be appropriate (e.g., in wetlands, around sensitive wildlife habitats, etc.). The “Need Help Planning?” and “Making Your Plan Happen” parts of this web site provide links to information the DNR has that may be useful to your planning efforts. Some of the information is in the form of maps, while some is contained in lists or reports. Other helpful information sources include other state, federal, county or local agencies.

Local Planning Goals

The Comprehensive Planning Law identifies the following 14 local goals for comprehensive planning:

  • Promotion of the redevelopment of lands with existing infrastructure and public services and the maintenance and rehabilitation of existing residential, commercial and industrial structures.
  • Encouragement of neighborhood designs that support a range of transportation choices.
  • Protection of natural areas, including wetlands, wildlife habitats, lakes, woodlands, open spaces and groundwater resources.
  • Protection of economically productive areas, including farmland and forests.
  • Encouragement of land uses, densities and regulations that promote efficient development patterns and relatively low municipal, state governmental and utility costs.
  • Preservation of cultural, historic and archaeological sites.
  • Encouragement of coordination and cooperation among nearby units of government.
  • Building of community identity by revitalizing main streets and enforcing design standards.
  • Providing an adequate supply of affordable housing for individuals of all income levels throughout each community.
  • Providing adequate infrastructure and public services and an adequate supply of developable land to meet existing and future market demand for residential, commercial and industrial uses.
  • Promoting the expansion or stabilization of the current economic base and the creation of a range of employment opportunities at the state, regional and local levels.
  • Balancing individual property rights with community interests and goals.
  • Planning and development of land uses that create or preserve varied and unique urban and rural communities.
  • Providing an integrated, efficient and economical transportation system that affords mobility, convenience and safety and that meets the needs of all citizens, including transit–dependent and disabled citizens.

The law does not prescribe how communities might achieve these goals. The law does encourage state agencies to design administrative rules to reflect a balance between the mission of the agency and the goals. The law also encourages state agencies to design planning requirements so that it is practical for local governments to incorporate other required plans into their local comprehensive plans.

Last Revised: Friday October 17 2008