Making Your Plan Happen: Your Implementation Element

The Wisconsin statutes describe the "Implementation" element as a compilation of programs and specific actions to be completed in a stated sequence, including proposed changes to any applicable zoning ordinances, official maps, or subdivision ordinances, to implement the objectives, policies, plans, and programs contained in the other plan elements. The element shall describe how each of the elements of the comprehensive plan will be integrated and made consistent with the other elements of the comprehensive plan, and shall include a mechanism to measure progress toward achieving all aspects of the comprehensive plan.

This page provides access to resources related to the "Implementation" element. You will find links to policies and strategies, model ordinances, tools for measuring your success, and other implementation resources.

Land Use Controls in Wisconsin [PDF exit DNR] - Staff at the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau prepared an informational bulletin that discusses land use controls in Wisconsin, highlighting the balance between the individual´s property rights and the government´s concern for the common good. The bulletin reviews methods of control and the historic division of authority between state and local governments.

Local Policies & Strategies

The following documents outline policies and strategies that can be used to help implement a community´s adopted comprehensive plan.

Getting to Smart Growth: 100 Policies for Implementation [PDF exit DNR], Developed by the International City/County Management Association for the Smart Growth Network.
Getting to Smart Growth II: 100 More Policies for Implementation [PDF exit DNR], Developed by the International City/County Management Association for the Smart Growth Network.
Local Tools for Smart Growth: Practical Strategies and Techniques to Improve Our Communities [PDF exit DNR], Developed by the National Association of Counties and the Joint Center for Sustainable Communities for the Smart Growth Network.
Strategies for Successful Infill Development [exit DNR], Developed by the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Northeast Midwest Institute.

Model Ordinances

Model Ordinances to Protect Local Resources [exit DNR]. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency´s Office of Water has compiled a variety of model resource protection ordinances from around the country.
Model Ordinances for Sustainable Development [exit DNR]. Minnesota Planning was recently required to prepare model ordinances to guide sustainable development. From Policy to Reality: Model Ordinances for Sustainable Development is the result of these efforts. The guide includes model ordinances addressing citizen participation, growth management, managing community resources, neighborhood design, infrastructure, resource-efficient buildings, and economic development.
Conservation Design Resource Manual: Language and Guidelines for Updating Local Ordinances [PDF exit DNR]. Developed by the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission and Chicago Wilderness, this resource manual is written for use by local governments interested in modifying local comprehensive plans, zoning and subdivision ordinances, and other ordinances to accommodate conservation designs. It identifies and discusses four conservation design principles and 13 practices. For each practice, model ordinance language is offered. Local governments can adapt this language to update their own local ordinances. Communities new to conservation design can begin with cautious modifications, while more experienced communities can more fully implement the ordinance revisions, which ultimately will lead to more comprehensive change.
Overcoming Obstacles to Smart Growth through Code Reform [PDF exit DNR]. The Local Government Commission´s Smart Growth Zoning Codes: A Resource Guide is intended to help local officials improve community livability through code reform. It is meant for jurisdictions that already have developed a broad vision for making their communities more livable. This Executive Summary overviews the resource and provides ordering information.

Other Ordinance Resources

League of Wisconsin Municipalities [exit DNR] The League of Wisconsin Municipalities Web site includes links to several communities´ Codes of Ordinances.
Municipal Code Corporation [exit DNR] Municipal Code Corporation publishes Codes of Ordinances for local governments, both original codification and updates. Contained on this Web site are Codes for more than 1,100 local governments in searchable online databases and information about other services and products including planning templates.
Wisconsin Law: Codes and Ordinances [exit DNR] The Wisconsin State Law Library´s Web site provides links to many local ordinances from throughout Wisconsin. Linked ordinances cover a wide range of topics including animal waste, burning, composting, floodplains, non-metallic mining, parks, subdivisions, shorelands, wireless communications, and various types of zoning.

Measuring Success

Measuring Community Success and Sustainability [exit DNR] This interactive workbook describes how communities can learn how to measure the local or regional impacts of economic and community development processes that enhance rural community sustainability. The principal purpose is to help communities learn how to measure the concrete results of rural community development and conservation efforts. The workbook provides guidance to communities, nonprofit organizations and agency personnel who want to get a better idea of the possible ways to gather information that details progress toward community-established outcomes.

Other Implementation Resources

Community Tool Box [exit DNR] The University of Kansas Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development and AHEC/Community Partners in Amherst, Massachusetts have developed a "Community Tool Box" Web site. The core of the Tool Box is a series of how-to sections that use simple, friendly language to explain how to do the different tasks necessary for community health and development. There are sections on leadership, strategic planning, community assessment, advocacy, grant writing, and evaluation to give just a few examples. Each section includes a description of the task, advantages of doing it, step-by-step guidelines, examples, checklists of points to review, and training materials.
Community Rules [exit DNR] The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has proposed a set of "new rules" that builds community by supporting humanly scaled politics and economics. The rules call for decisions made by those who will feel the impact of those decisions, communities accepting responsibility for the welfare of their members and for the next generation, and households and communities possessing or owning sufficient productive capacity to generate real wealth. These principles of "new localism" call upon people to begin viewing communities and regions not only as places of residence, recreation, and retail but as places that nurture active and informed citizens with the skills and productive capacity to generate real wealth and the authority to govern their own lives. More information is available on the institute´s Web site.

Local Resources

Various communities and community groups have prepared guidebooks to aid landowners and developers in understanding their local land use regulations and procedures. Such guidebooks can greatly aid communities in implementing their adopted comprehensive plans.

Last Revised: Friday May 30 2008