Making Your Plan Happen
Implementing Your Land Use Element
The Wisconsin statutes describe the “Land Use” element as a compilation of objectives, policies, goals, maps, and programs to guide the future development and redevelopment of public and private property.
The element shall contain a listing of the amount, type, intensity, and net density of existing uses of land, such as agricultural, residential, commercial, industrial, and other public and private uses.
The element shall analyze trends in the supply, demand and price of land, opportunities for redevelopment, and existing and potential land–use conflicts.
This element must include maps that show current land uses and future land uses that indicate productive agricultural soils, natural limitations for building site development, floodplains, wetlands, and other environmentally sensitive lands. Maps must also show the boundaries of areas to which services of public utilities and community facilities will be provided in the future, consistent with the timetable described in the Utilities and Community Facilities element, and the general location of future land uses by net density or other classifications.
This page provides access to programs related to the “Land Use” element. You will find links to information about DNR programs, various computer tools, and related resources.
Please choose a topic from the drop-down list below for resources related to the "Land Use" element element of your comprehensive plan
Sewer Service Area Planning Sewer service area planning is a process designed to anticipate a community's future needs for wastewater treatment. This planning helps protect communities from adverse water quality impacts through development of cost-effective and environmentally sound 20-year sewerage system growth plans. If your community has undertaken sewer service area planning, you will want to make sure your “Land Use” element is consistent with your adopted sewer service area plan.
Floodplain Management The goal of Wisconsin's Floodplain Management Program is to protect people and their property from unwise floodplain development and to protect society from the costs associated with developed floodplains. Through floodplain zoning, state and local governments regulate how development can actually occur within floodplains. You will want to be sure your “Land Use” element reflects your community’s floodplain management program.
Shoreland Management Shoreland zoning protects water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, and natural beauty. To accomplish these goals, the statewide minimum standards for shoreland zoning control the intensity of development around water and create a buffer around water. You will want to be sure your “Land Use” element reflects your community’s shoreland management program.
Urban Forestry Assistance DNR's urban forestry program encourages and enables sound management of Wisconsin's urban forest ecosystems. Urban forestry staff assist community officials, green industry professionals, businesses, schools, non-profit organizations, the general public, and others who impact the resource to work together to expand, improve, and manage the urban forest. Assistance takes four basic forms: technical assistance, education and training, resource development, and public awareness.
Scientists and engineers have developed a number of computer tools to help take some of the guesswork out of planning and decision making. These tools can help your community implement its comprehensive plan. They can be used to create and manipulate different scenarios to provide a better understanding of environmental change through quantitative and visual outputs. They can also help bring science to your local process to aid both the public and public officials in understanding the finer details and true costs of proposed land use changes. Understanding the potential consequences, both short- and long-term, can save time, money, and frustration for the public and public officials.
CommunityViz [Exit DNR]
CommunityViz provides a set of integrated tools to provide planners and resource managers with information needed for informed decision making. CommunityViz uses ArcView software technology. The package includes: a “Scenario Constructor” that provides alternative-comparison capabilities, a “Policy Simulator” that uses modeling techniques to simulate likely impacts of planning proposals, and “SiteBuilder 3D” that enables you to build photo-realistic, three-dimensional, interactive models of land-use proposals.
Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L-THIA) [Exit DNR]
The Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L-THIA) model is a straightforward analysis tool that estimates changes in runoff, recharge, and nonpoint source pollution resulting from current and proposed land uses. L-THIA results provide insight into the relative hydrologic impacts of different land use scenarios. The results can be used to generate community awareness of potential long-term problems and to support physical planning aimed at minimizing disturbance of critical areas. It is a useful tool for helping evaluate the potential effects of land use change and to identify the best location of a particular land use so as to have minimum impact on an area’s natural environment.
What if? [Exit DNR]
What if? is a GIS-based system that you can use to explore alternative community development scenarios and project future land use patterns and associated population, housing, and employment trends. The program allows you to examine the likely impacts of alternative policies for controlling urban growth, preserving agricultural land, or expanding public infrastructure in easy-to-understand maps and tables. What if? is designed to be used by non-technical people in public forums, allowing communities to use currently available GIS information to support community-based dialogue and collaborative decision-making.
CITYgreen [Exit DNR]
CITYgreen is a GIS application for land-use planning and policy-making. The software conducts complex statistical analyses of ecosystem services and creates easy-to-understand maps and reports. CITYgreen calculates dollar benefits based on your specific site conditions, and analyzes storm water runoff, air quality, summer energy savings, carbon storage and avoidance, and tree growth. CITYgreen is targeted at a variety of audiences.
Last Revised: Friday October 17 2008
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