Smart Growth Planning Helps Communities Grow

A bill proposed in the state Assembly would allow communities to scrap their land use plans if they wanted to do so.

Current law requires that land use plans be consistent with a municipality's comprehensive plan. Ordinances that would be affected include: official mapping, local subdivision regulation and zoning ordinances. If a municipality creates or alters a current ordinance, the comprehensive plan has to include the required planning elements.

However, if AB 303 were made into law, it would allow communities to discontinue comprehensive planning if they wanted to, even if they already have one on file. 

The bill was introduced by Mary Williams (R-Medford) and Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) and has the support from a number of other assembly members on Oct. 5 and a public hearing was held Oct. 11.

Proponents of the bill said allowing communities to opt out of land use planning is necessary to allow municipalities to respond quicker to development proposals and avoid planning costs.

Mount Pleasant Community Development Coordinator Logan Martin said without planning, communities could see a mix of development that just doesn't work.

"This is an extreme example, but without planning, you could have a slaughterhouse next to a 2,500-square-foot home," he said. "Comprehensive planning is not just about land use, it affects everything from the zoning that keeps a community organized to the streets that need to go in and the utilities that have to be run."

Because Mount Pleasant has a plan in place, the village ran water and sewer down Highway 20 to I-94, allowing for development along the corridor.

Even if AB 303 gets passed, Brennan Kane, deputy planning director for Mount Pleasant, said the village will stand by its 2030 master plan.

"You need a guideline of where to put commercial development, of where you want residential neighborhoods to grow," he confirmed.

Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine) said it's a bad idea for communities to opt out of smart growth planning because it's a tool that allows municipalities to better attract businesses and families.

"Every municipality in Wisconsin is competing with savvy communities elsewhere that use smart growth planning," he said. "If you look at a list of the Top 10 places to live, work and play, each one of them has a strategic plan in place to become a destination community for businesses and families."

All state municipalities were required to file a master plan by Jan. 1, 2010, whether they were incorporated or not, both local and county government. Some of those communities received a grant from the State Department of Administration to help pay for the costs associated with creating the plan. AB 303 eliminates that program, for which an estimated $2 million was set aside.

"Staff of planning departments understand the need to look to the future and the importance of having a smart growth or master plan," Martin said. "This bill lets off the hook anyone who didn't file a master plan."

But Mason also pointed out how AB 303 could impact duplication of services, which amounts to a lot of wasted taxpayer money. A document from the UW System about whether or not AB 303 would impact the universities backs him up. In part, the document says that while the schools are okay, "... a general lack of coordination could result in increased inefficiencies in many areas of local government in the future."

"Look at our communities east of I-94," Mason said. "We have many shared services and that allows communities the opportunity for smart budgeting. Without smart growth planning, that all goes out the window."

We only have to look to Waukesha for a current example of how a lack of smart growth planning has long-range implications, he added.

"Waukesha was suburban sprawl and now they need water from Lake Michigan," Mason stated. "Smart planning, if done well and in cooperation as a region, makes us all successful. Being anti-smart growth is just not smart."