By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Municipal officials across the state ventured to Whitewater recently to hear an expert speak about such issues as land use designations, preparing for the future and staying in compliance of state laws.
The Whitewater Plan and Architectural Review Commission hosted the workshop July 18. Attendees included elected officials and staffers in cities, villages and towns throughout Wisconsin.
Rebecca Roberts of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Center for Land Use Education facilitated the two-hour presentation.
Early in her discussion with municipal officials, Roberts asked participants to ponder three questions: What is special about your community? What is changing or concerning? What would you like to change?
During a brief, rapid-fire shout-out from the crowd, several speakers within Whitewater noted the city’s arts scene and, of course, the university as unique assets. Wish-list items included more single-family housing.
Other attendees in the audience noted some of their unique issues, including Foxconn for communities in Racine County and, for most townships across the state, the still-prevalent abundance of farmland.
Regardless of the community — from cities with thousands of residents to towns with sparser populations — Roberts said she believes attendees should deeply ponder the trio of questions when charting a roadmap for the future.
“It’s about taking that 10,000-foot view of your community,” Roberts said. “That’s what planning is all about. Every plan should be unique to your community.”
Big-picture, future-looking exercises have been commonplace in municipalities across Wisconsin — and for good reason.
Roberts reminded attendees that state statute requires municipalities to have a comprehensive plan on file and review it at least once every decade.
In some instances, the reviews are complete overhauls with assistance from outside consultants; in other occurrences, the reviews result in small-scale tweaks.
Whatever the specific circumstance calls for, Roberts said big-picture planning should incorporate as many people in the community as possible — including, but not limited to, elected officials.
Feedback from appointed municipal groups, such as boards and committees, is important, she said, as are comments from the general public.
“Planning is not only a document you create,” Roberts said. “It’s a process.”
Roberts also shared with attendees the nuts and bolts of solidifying a comprehensive plan, which includes adopting an ordinance as an act of recognizing its creation.
“That gives it some legal teeth,” Roberts said, though she noted other considerations, including the actual cost of bringing to fruition the plans is another, more complex matter.
Roberts’ presentation also touched on a number of granular issues, including the importance of using comprehensive land-use plans and state statutes or municipal ordinances to back up why specific applications are approved or denied.
“You should not be prejudging applications,” Roberts said. “You should not have strong bias.”
