This article was published in the December issue of "Planning" magazine by the APA.
Click here for the link to the original posting.
Planning Under Attack in Wisconsin - Who's Next?
By Gary L. Peterson, AICP
Twelve years ago, the state of Wisconsin adopted a comprehensive planning ordinance that won praise throughout the U.S. Now that planning law is in danger of erosion from conservative factions of the state assembly, which are considering an amendment, AB 303, that allows local governments to opt out of the planning act. I see this measure as a harbinger of things to come in other states.
The 1999 ordinance, which was passed as part of Gov. Tommy Thompson's budget bill, required municipalities to make their zoning, subdivision, and mapping ordinances consistent with an officially adopted comprehensive plan. The law also required the plans to include nine elements (issues and opportunities; housing; transportation; utilities and community facilities; agriculture, natural and cultural facilities; economic development; intergovernmental cooperation; land use; implementation) and to provide for a 30-day approval process, including a public hearing. Brian Ohm, AICP, a planning professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, led the task force that drafted the ordinance.
Over the last decade, some 1,450 of Wisconsin's 1,600 eligible local governments have adopted comprehensive plans that comply with state law. That's a big accomplishment for a state that had no planning or consistency requirements at all before 1999 and that did not require local governments to adopt plans. The results so far are astounding: Planning principles have been introduced in large and small communities all over the state. The 1,000 or so cities, towns, and villages that had no comprehensive plan of any sort immediately began to develop one. Plan commissions have been created in places where there were none, and some 5,000 new plan commissioners have been appointed.
Most important, adjoining communities, including townships, have begun to coordinate their plans and activities as they never had done before. The legislation required every community to provide a copy of its comprehensive plan to adjoining communities a month before adoption. Residents were encouraged to attend public hearings in neighboring communities.
Over the years, there have been several unsuccessful attempts by anti-planning Republican legislators to kill the law. But they were repeatedly defeated by Democrat-controlled legislatures. In 2007, Gov. James Doyle vetoed a line item that would have rescinded the comp planning ordinance from that year's budget bill.
Now the Republicans who control the legislature and, once again, the governor's office, have introduced AB 303, which would allow local governments to reverse their decision to adopt a comprehensive plan. The first version of this bill would have enabled communities to opt out after just 24 hours' notice. A subsequent amendment restores the month-long opt-out period that's in the existing legislation. During that period, they must hold a public hearing and notify neighboring cities, towns, and villages and the county and regional planning commissions.
Meanwhile, comprehensive plans that remain in effect will no longer be required to have the same specified elements. Updating plans will become far more expensive. It will be much harder for local governments to prevent negative developments. Relations between communities are also likely to suffer as the prospect of open communications declines. Border wars could once again become the rule. The worst part of all this is the major loss of consistency and certainty for every village, town, city, and county governing body.
Why is the prospect of AB 303 so threatening to other states? The national news is filled with examples of copycat legislation. If this ordinance is adopted in Wisconsin, it is sure to pop up in some form elsewhere. And everywhere, the lack of a plan will cost communities money — on duplicated infrastructure, for one thing. They will have far less ability to direct new development to the places where it is most needed and can be best accommodated. Development will once again be at the whim of current boards and councils. Planners everywhere will find themselves playing a diminished role.
As Wisconsin goes, so goes the nation.
Gary Peterson is the president of APA's Wisconsin Chapter. He is also the president of Sustainable Services, Inc., in Madison.
This article was published in the December issue of "Planning" magazine by the APA.
Click here for the link to the original posting.