Comprehensive Planning
According to s. 66.1001, beginning on January 1, 2010, if a town, village, city, county or regional planning commission engages in official mapping, subdivision regulation, or zoning, those actions must be consistent with the community comprehensive plan. The Wisconsin Comprehensive Planning Law (s. 66.1001) does not mandate how a local community should grow, rather it requires public participation at the local level in deciding how a community wants to look and be in the future.
What is a comprehensive plan?
Comprehensive plans come in all shapes, sizes, and varieties. Their purpose is to provide communities with information and policies that will guide future planning and community decisions. Comprehensive plans incorporate a twenty-year vision and provide a rational basis for local land use decisions. Because communities vary greatly, the uniqueness of individual comprehensive plans reflects community-specific and locally driven planning processes.
In Wisconsin, the law defines the contents of a local comprehensive plan specified in nine elements. While a local government may choose to include additional elements, a comprehensive plan must include AT LEAST all the following nine elements"
The law provides flexibility to local governments in addressing statutory requirements. Most communities choose to connect specific objectives, policies, and programs from throughout their comprehensive plan to responsible parties and timeframes in the implementation element, so that their hard work does not collect dust on the shelf. A central aspect of implementation is exercising land use regulation authorities. As mentioned above, according to s. 66.1001, beginning on January 1, 2010, if a town, village, city, county, or regional planning commission engages in official mapping, subdivision regulation, or zoning, those actions must be consistent with that community's comprehensive plan.
For more information about Comprehensive Planning, please visit the State of Wisconsin - Department of Administration's web page at:
http://www.doa.state.wi.us/section.asp?linkid=128&locid=9