Guide to Community Planning in Wisconsin by Brian W. Ohm

Chapter 1:  Introduction to Community Planning
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2.1.2  Explore the Possibility of Cooperative Planning

Land use planning in Wisconsin should include some efforts at inter-governmental cooperation. There are thousands of local governments in Wisconsin--72 counties, 189 cities, 395 villages and 1266 towns, 426 school districts and hundreds of special districts for soil and water conservation, sanitary or sewage treatment, lake management, and housing and community development. Most local governments in Wisconsin are extremely small, both in terms of population and land area. Two-thirds of all villages and towns in Wisconsin had populations of less than 1000 in 1990--including 12 which had populations of less than 100.(5)  When communities are that small, individual local governments have a difficult time coming up with the resources to support a comprehensive planning process.

Even if it were possible for all local governments in Wisconsin to prepare their own plans, whether such plans would improve land use or growth management is questionable. Local governments need to cooperate with one another to produce plans that are more consistent and compatible with one another.

The fact that a large proportion of new development is happening on the urban and rural fringe has greatly increased the potential for inter-governmental conflict over land use and development. When development occurs along the boundaries of communities, the effects of development are inevitably felt in adjoining communities. Moreover, when development occurs on the fringe of communities, it is often not wholly under the control of any single local government unit. Inter-governmental conflict can be aggravated by a lack of communication in these situations.

A more neighborly and probably more effective approach is for incorporated municipalities (cities and villages) and adjoining towns to cooperate with one another in land use planning. Varying degrees of inter-governmental cooperation in land use planning are possible. A town and village or city might agree to undertake parallel planning processes--to share information, findings and proposed recommendations with each other, and to solicit comments from one another prior to taking any formal actions.

At the other end of the spectrum, a town and village or city might hire the same planning consultant, and/or combine "land in-between." The implementation of such a jointly prepared plan could be assured by signing an intergovernmental agreement defining a 10-year and/or 20-year growth boundary for the urban area.

The idea of jointly hiring a consultant to prepare a plan or compatible plans for two or more adjoining communities runs counter to normal practice, and may require additional effort. To succeed, communities will need to rise above parochial concerns and interests, and consider the interests and concerns of neighboring communities.

The advantage of a cooperative planning process is that it may enable adjoining local governments to avoid costly litigation arising from land use disputes. Cooperative land use planning may also cost less than if each local government were to hire its own consultant to prepare its own separate plan. Joint planning can achieve economies because once the consultant is in the area (to collect information, coordinate meetings, etc.), it costs relatively little to serve another nearby community as well. Moreover, the data collected for one community may be equally informative to an adjacent community because the growth and market pressures affecting adjacent communities are often quite similar.

Cooperative planning makes particularly good sense in cases where an incorporated village or city is completely surrounded by a single town. Cooperative planning can also make sense for groups of towns.

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(5)  Susan C. Paddock, "The Changing World of Wisconsin Local Government," in Wisconsin Blue Book 1997-1998 (Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau).