Guide to Community Planning in Wisconsin by Brian W. Ohm	Chapter 2:  Types of Plans & Overview of Implementation Tools
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Cities, villages, and towns that have adopted village powers, may prepare a master plan.(1)  The Wisconsin statutes governing the master plan, adopted by the Legislature in 1941, are based upon a model law entitled the Standard City Planning Enabling Act published by the United States Department of Commerce in 1928.

The statutes authorize municipalities to create by ordinance a plan commission which is responsible for developing and adopting the master plan.(2)  The plan commission is largely a mixed blend of municipal officials and citizens.(3)  Plan commissions are authorized to employ experts and staff to aid in the work of the plan commission.(4)

The master plan is a compilation of maps, charts and descriptive materials intended to guide the future physical development of the community. The master plan shows the plan commission's recommendations for such things as:

the general location, character and extent of streets, highways, freeways, street grades, roadways, walks, bridges, viaducts, parking areas, tunnels, public places and areas, parks, parkways, playgrounds, sites for public buildings and structures, airports, pierhead and bulkhead lines, waterways, routes for railroads and buses, historic districts, and the general location and extent of sewers, water conduits and other public utilities whether privately or publicly owned, the acceptance, widening, narrowing, extension, relocation, removal, vacation, abandonment or change of buildings, properties, utilities, routes or terminals, the general location, character and extent of community centers and neighborhood units, the general character, extent and layout of the replanning of blighted districts and slum areas, and a comprehensive zoning plan. (5)

Master plans may cover the entire geographic jurisdiction of cities, villages, and towns with village powers. Portions of the plan may only cover specific areas of a community, such as a central business district. The Wisconsin statutes also provide that master plans may include any areas outside of a municipality’s boundaries which in the plan commission’s judgment "bear relation to the development of the municipality provided, however, that in any county where a regional planning department has been established, areas outside the boundaries of a municipality may not be included in the master plan without the consent of the county board of supervisors."(6)

If a county maintains and operates parks, parkways, playgrounds, bathing beaches and other recreational facilities within the limits of a community, that community cannot include those facilities in the master plan without the approval of the county board of supervisors.(8)

The plan commission adopts the plan by resolution. The resolution must refer to the various text and maps which accompany the master plan. A majority vote is needed. The plan commission must then certify the plan to the governing body of the community (the city council, village board, town board).(9)  The statutes do not require that the governing body formally adopt the master plan. However, in many communities the governing body will adopt the plan to provide greater political support for it.

The statutes authorize a plan commission to adopt the master plan as a whole or in parts over time.(10)  This often results in communities preparing plans for just a few aspects of community development. The various parts or elements of a master plan are sometimes considered functional plans. These functional plans may be called a land use plan, a parks and open space plan, or a transportation plan. The statutes require that the parts "correspond generally" with the other parts of the plan.(11)  It is important that communities try to coordinate these various functional plans to identify the relationships between the various plans and to ensure the eventual development of a complete master plan.

The zoning enabling law for cities, villages, and towns with village powers states that zoning regulations "shall be made in accordance with a comprehensive plan."(12)  The Wisconsin Supreme Court has interpreted this requirement to mean that the comprehensive zoning ordinance is the comprehensive plan. According to the Court, the statutes do not require the preparation of a separate document called a "comprehensive plan" prior to the enactment of a zoning ordinance.(13)  However, the courts have recognized that when a separate plan exists it can provide the basis for certain governmental actions, such as denying a rezoning.(14)

The statutes provide that "[t]he purpose and effect of the adoption and certifying of the master plan or part thereof shall be solely to aid the city plan commission and the council in the performance of their duties."(15)  Under the statutes, a master plan is therefore only intended to be advisory and not a legally binding document.

However, a recent decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court adds some legal teeth to master plans. In Lake City Corp. v. City of Mequon,(16)  the court held that a municipality may rely solely on a master plan as the basis for rejecting a subdivision plat even if the section of the master plan relied on by the municipality conflicts with the provisions of the zoning ordinance as applied to a particular property. The Lake City case clarified a provision in Wisconsin’s statutes for subdividing land which authorized local communities to condition the approval of preliminary or final subdivision plats upon compliance with a local master plan.(17)  The Lake City case elevates the importance of master plans for achieving a community’s objectives. The case also provides a reason to have the elected governing bodies of local communities adopt the master plan to show their approval of the work of the appointed plan commissions.

An additional note about towns. . . Towns located in counties which have not adopted a county zoning ordinance have limited planning powers which they can exercise without the adoption of village powers through a town zoning committee.(18) While the town zoning committee has no express general land use planning powers, the committee does have the authority to do the necessary planning to prepare a report from which the town board may adopt a zoning ordinance.(19)

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(1) The authority granted to cities to prepare master plans is found in sections 62.23(2) and (3) of the Wisconsin Statutes. Under section 61.35 of the Wisconsin Statutes, which references sec. 62.23, villages  planning powers are the same as those granted to cities. Through a needlessly complex double reference, towns with village powers have similar planning powers to cities. Section 60.10(2)(c) of the Wisconsin Statutes provides that by a majority vote of electors at a town meeting, any Wisconsin town may take on some of the powers of a village. Under section 60.62(1) of the Wisconsin Statutes, a town board may adopt zoning ordinances using village authority under section 61.35 which references section 62.23. Presumably the reference to section 62.23 in its entirety gives towns with village powers the authority to adopt master plans.
(2) Wis. Stat. §§ 62.23(1) and 62.23(2).
(3) The statutes state that the plan commission may consist of the mayor, who is to be the presiding officer, the city engineer, the president of the park board, an alderperson, and three citizens. If the city does not have an engineer or park board, an additional citizen member must be appointed so the plan commission has seven members. The statutes, however, allow municipalities to modify the membership of the plan commission by ordinance to meet the unique needs of individual communities. Wis. Stat. § 62.23(1).

Towns with a population of less than 2,500, exercising zoning under village powers, can create a plan commission of five members consisting of the town chairperson, who is the presiding officer of the plan commission, the town engineer, the president of the park board, another member of the town board and one citizen. Additional citizen members need to be appointed if the town does not have an engineer or park board. Wis. Stat. § 60.62(4).
(4) Wis. Stat. § 62.23(1)(e). If a city chooses not to create a plan commission, it may create a board of park commissioners to prepare a master plan for the city and to carry out other planning functions. Wis. Stat. § 27.08(4). It is unlikely that villages and towns with village powers have the powers to use a park board for the preparation of a master plan.
(5) Wis. Stat. § 62.23(2).
(6) Wis. Stat. § 62.23(2).
(7) Wis. Stat. § 27.08(4).
(8) Wis. Stat. § 62.23(6)(I).
(9) Wis. Stat. § 62.23(3)(b).
(10) Wis. Stat. § 62.23(3)(b).
(11) Wis. Stat. § 62.23(3)(b).
(12) Wis. Stat. § 62.23(7)(c).
(13) Bell v. City of Elkhorn, 122 Wis.2d 558, 364 N.W.2d 144 (1985).
(14) See, e.g., Peterson v. Dane County, 136 Wis.2d 501, 402 N.W.2d 376 (Ct. App. 1987).
(15) Wis. Stat. § 62.23(3)(b).
(16) 207 Wis.2d 156, 558 N.W.2d 100 (1997).
(17) Wis. Stat. § 236.13(1)(c).
(18) Wis. Stat. sec. 60.61(4).
(19) Wis. Stat. §§ 60.61(2) and (4).

Wisconsin Statutes