Guide to Community Planning in Wisconsin by Brian W. Ohm

Chapter 2:  Types of Plans & Overview of Implementation Tools
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1.2  County Development Plans
Terminology for Laws

The Wisconsin Legislature considers proposals for new laws called "bills."  If a bill passes the legislature and is signed by the governor, it is called an "act."  The acts are integrated with existing laws and published, or "codified," as statutes.

Sometimes the statutes provide general guidance to state administrative agencies, such as the Department of Natural Resources, to develop "administrative rules" which are more detailed regulations that help the administrative agencies implement the requirements of the statute.

Local governments pass laws to regulate how land is zoned and subdivided, among other things.  These local regulations are referred to as "ordinances."

In 1967, the Wisconsin Legislature provided counties with the specific authority to plan for the physical development of the county. The plan document prepared by the county is referred to in the Wisconsin statutes as the county development plan. The statutes provide that the "county zoning agency shall direct" the preparation of the plan.(20)  The county zoning agency is either a planning and zoning committee of the county board or a planning and zoning commission which is made up wholly or partially of people who are not members of the county board. The county board creates the county zoning agency.(21)

If a county with a county executive creates a planning and zoning commission, the county executive appoints the commission members subject to confirmation by the county board.(22)

The statutes indicate that the county development plan is intended to cover "the physical development of the unincorporated territory [towns] within the county" and areas within cities and villages "whose governing bodies by resolution agree to having their areas included in the county's development plan."(23)  Absent the agreement of a city or village to be included in the county development plan, the statutes require that the development plan "shall include the master plan, if any, of any city or village . . . and the official map, if any," of cities or villages in the county "without change."(24)  The mandate to include city and village master plans and official maps without change does not apply to master plans and official maps prepared by towns with village powers. The statutes do not provide any guidance as to how counties should incorporate master plans prepared by towns with village powers.

City or village master plans and official maps which include the unincorporated areas around the city or village "shall control in unincorporated territory in a county affected thereby, whether or not such action occurs prior to the adoption of a development plan."(25)   If there is a conflict between a city or village master plan and the county development plan, the master plan will control even if the master plan is adopted after the adoption of the county development plan.

In addition to the requirement to include the master plans and official maps of cities and villages, county development plans may include:

Comprehensive surveys, studies and analyses of the history, existing land use, population and population density, economy, soil characteristics, forest cover, wetland and floodplain conditions and other human and natural features of the county.(26)

Based on these surveys, studies and analyses:

[T]he plan may identify goals and objectives for the future physical development of the county with respect to: public and private use of land and other natural resources; highways including bridges, viaducts, parkways and other public ways; parks, playgrounds, hunting and fishing grounds, forests and other facilities of a recreational nature; public buildings and institutions including schools; sanitary and storm sewers, drainage and measures for disposal of refuse and waste; reducing and preventing stream and lake pollution; flood control; public and private utilities including water, light, heat, transportation, pipelines and other services; industrial and commercial sites; historic districts; and other factors which will improve the economic situation of the county.(27)

The county zoning agency may employ, or contract for, professional planning technicians and staff to assist in the preparation of the county development plan.(28)  The county development plan may be in the form of descriptive materials, reports, charts, diagrams, or maps.(29)

The county zoning agency must hold a public hearing on the development plan before approving it. After approving the development plan, the county zoning agency must submit the plan to the county board for approval and adoption. The plan must be adopted by resolution.(30)

The county development plan may be adopted as a whole or in parts, such as a county land use plan.(31)  Whether or not the county development plan is adopted as a whole or in parts, the Wisconsin statutes require that "[e]ach element of the development plan shall describe its relationship to other elements of the plan and to statements of goals, objectives, principles, policies or standards."(32)  It is therefore important that counties coordinate the various elements which may comprise the county development plan.

Once adopted, certified copies of the plan need to be sent to the clerks of all cities, villages, and towns affected by the plan.(33)  According to the statutes, the county development plan is intended to "serve as a guide for public and private actions and decisions to assure the development of public and private property in appropriate relationships."(34)  The zoning enabling law for counties does not provide that the actual zoning of land use should implement the county development plan. The county zoning enabling law predates the development plan enabling law. Nonetheless, the law requires that zoning ordinances must be reasonably based.(35)  A county development plan can help provide that basis.

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(20) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(3)(a).
(21) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(2)(a).
(22) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(2)(a)(2).
(23) Wis. Stat. §59.69(3)(a).
(24) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(3)(b)(1). The Wisconsin Statutes also provide that "the county board of any county may plan for the physical development and zoning of territory within the county . . . and shall incorporate therein the master plan adopted under s. 62.23(2) or (3) and the official map of any city or village in the county adopted under s. 62.23(6)." Wis. Stat. § 59.69(1).
(25) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(3)(e).
(26) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(3)(b)(1).
(27) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(3)(b)(2).
(28) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(2)(d).
(29) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(3)(c).
(30) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(3)(d).
(31) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(3)(a).
(32) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(3)(c).
(33) Wis. Stat. §§ 59.69(3)(d) and 59.69(2)(f).
(34) Wis. Stat. § 59.69(3)(d).
(35) Kmiec v. Town of Spider Lake, 60 Wis. 2d 640, 651-652, 211 N.W.2d 471 (1973).

Wisconsin Statutes