COMPREHENSIVE
PLANNING - Timeline
History of Comprehensive Planning in the County
September 1988: Authorization to begin County Plan Process.
County Planning and Zoning Committee went on record that the
preparation of a County Comprehensive Plan was desirable, and
steps to develop such a plan are in order.
1989 - 2000: Steps taken to develop Plan. County Staff and
Staff from County UW-Extension in collaboration with local units
of government and citizens took steps to develop a County Comprehensive
Plan. Two planning efforts were made: first effort ran from 1989
to 1993, and after a 2-year delay, the second effort ran from
1995 to 2000, and was a continuation of the first effort. No
agreeable way to implement future land use in the County was
developed during this 11-year effort and the process temporarily
ended due to a moratorium being placed on the adoption of a County
Plan by the County Board (see December 19, 2000 for County Board
Resolution placing moratorium on Plan adoption).
October 1999: Comprehensive Planning Law Passed. State of Wisconsin
passes new Comprehensive Planning Law, s. 66.1001, Wis. Stats.
It requires all local units of government (towns, cities, villages
and counties) to adopt a comprehensive plan by January 1, 2010
if they make decisions regarding land use.
May - July 2000: Transportation Planning Grant Awarded. Winnebago
County Board adopts Resolution # 23-52000 on May 16, 2000 authorizing
the County to apply for a State Transportation Planning Grant
for $55,900 and to provide for a 25% County match of $13,975.
Grant to be used for the completion of the required Transportation
Element of the County Comprehensive Plan under the State Comprehensive
Planning Law, s. 66.1001, Wis. Stats. State officially awards
grant to County in July 2000. County then contracts with Martenson & Eisele
CDS to write the Transportation Element.
December 19, 2000: 1)Moratorium placed on Plan adoption; 2)Authorization
given to apply for Planning Grant. Winnebago County Board adopted
following two Resolutions:
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Resolution No. 135-122000: It placed a two-year
moratorium on County Board adoption of a County Comprehensive
Plan. The Resolution also directed the Winnebago County
Planning and Zoning Department and Winnebago County Planning
and Zoning Committee "to work with Towns in the County
to prepare a plan that is agreeable to the Winnebago County
Board and to at least a majority of the Towns in Winnebago
County".
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Resolution No. 134-122000: It authorized the County to
prepare an application for a State Planning Grant in the
amount of $77,400 to complete the other 8 elements (non-transportation)
of the Comprehensive Plan and authorized the County to
provide a 25% match in the amount of $19,350.
February 28, 2001: Initial Meeting of New Planning Advisory
Group. Based on the December 19, 2000 County Board moratorium
Resolution, the Towns in Winnebago County began meeting to coordinate
a new planning effort for the County Comprehensive Plan. The
Towns brought in the County UW-Extension Community Development
Educator (Mike Koles), to guide and facilitate the process. In
addition, the Towns invited the Cities, County Planning & Zoning
Committee and County Planning Staff to participate in the renewed
effort.
March 2001 - March 2002: Meetings held to Revisit and Recreate
Vision Statements, and develop Goals, Issues & Opportunities
for Comprehensive Plan. The Planning Advisory Committee met on
a monthly basis to set-up the structure of the Planning Advisory
Committee, then rewrote the prior Value and Vision Statements
for the Plan. The new Vision Statements included Visions for
the Urban Areas and Visions for the Rural Areas. An overall Mission
Statement was also created. In addition, the Planning Group developed
Goals and Issues and Opportunities for all of the Comprehensive
Plan Elements. This information (Mission, Visions, Goals, Issues
and Opportunities) was compiled into a document entitled "Winnebago
County Comprehensive Plan Visioning Report", October 2002.
Mike Koles, former UW-Extension Community Development Educator,
authored it.
January 15, 2002: Draft Transportation Plan Element Completed.
The County Board was presented with the draft Transportation
Plan Element after the Planning Advisory Group completed its
review of the document with the Consultant. This element will
be included with the rest of the Comp Plan and considered for
County Board adoption at that time.
January 2002: County Awarded State Planning Grant. Winnebago
County was awarded a $58,050 State Planning Grant to complete
its Comprehensive Plan. This is coupled with the required 25%
County match of $19,350. The total of $77,400 enabled the Planning
Advisory Group to hire a consultant to assist them in finishing
the Plan. A Selection Committee was formed by the larger Planning
Group to work on selecting a consultant.
March-May 2002: Consultants Selected. The Selection Committee
for the Planning Advisory Group distributed a Request for Proposal
for Planning Services. Five Proposals were submitted, interviews
held, and the Selection Committee chose to work with Planning
and Design Institute (PDI) out of Milwaukee to perform the physical
planning activities and Stitt Facilitations (Bert Stitt) out
of Madison to perform the necessary planning process services,
such as facilitation, public participation, mediation, awareness.
June 27, 2002: Initial Meeting with
Consultants. PDI and Stitt Facilitations held a kick-off meeting
with the larger Planning Advisory Group to introduce themselves
and discuss the timeline and activities over the next year in
which to complete the County Comprehensive Plan.
July 2002 to June 2003: Planning Advisory
Committee and Consultants Meet Monthly to Develop County Plan.
PDI in collaboration with the Planning Advisory Committee and
Stitt Facilitations met monthly to prepare the County Plan, specifically
the Land Use Policy Framework Map and Framework Policies for
all 9 elements of the County Comprehensive Plan. In addition,
the following activities occurred during this period:
July 20, 2002: Countywide Bus Tour
Held. PDI and the Planning Group participated in an all-day bus
tour of the County. The tour visited many sites throughout the
County and was designed to provide the Planning Group Representatives
and PDI with a visual feel of existing land use planning and
development issues in the County.
September 18, 2002: Management Group Subcomittee of the Planning
Advisory Group begins to meet. Group will meet weekly or as necessary
throughout the planning process to manage the planning project
(meeting times, locations, public relations, citizen participation
and other activities related to the Project).
September 26, 2002: Stakeholder Interview Report submitted
to Planning Advisory Committee. Bert Stitt, Stitt Facilitations
submitted a report entitled "Summary Notes Taken from Conversations
with Winnebago County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee
Members and Others". The report summarizes a collection
of anonymous comments during one-on-one interviews held by Bert
Stitt with Planning Advisory Committee members and other stakeholders
in the County in regard to their sentiment on planning issues/concerns
as it may relate to the County Planning Process.
October 24, 2002: Planning Advisory Group addresses two key
items:
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Planning Group receives completed " Winnebago
County Comprehensive Plan Visioning Report",
authored by Mike Koles, former Winnebago County UW-Extension
Community Development Educator.
-
Planning Advisory Group supports use of the "Winn
Tomorrow - Winnebago Citizens Planning our Future" logo.
The use of the logo serves to validate the Planning Advisory
Group's overall sense and purpose of what the County Comprehensive
Planning effort is all about. The logo will be used for
all meeting notices, correspondence, documents and so on,
created as part of this project.
November 12, 2002: 1st Public Open House and Planning
Fair held at The Pub in Winneconne. Over 100 citizens attend.
PDI presents Framework Policy concept to the Public for input;
and local plans were on display for the public to view.
January 14, 2003: First Meeting of Plan Amendment/Adoption
Subgroup. Subcommittee of the larger Planning Advisory Group
meets for the first time to work on a set of "understandings" on
how the County Comprehensive Plan will be adopted and amended.
The key to the understandings is how the process intends to include
the involvement of local units of government and citizens. The
Subgroup agreed to meet weekly to complete their mission in a
timely manner (see May 29, 2003).
January 20, 23, 27, 2003: Focus Group Sessions held. Bert Stitt,
Stitt Facilitations, held a series of three Focus Group Sessions
with the purpose of "providing County citizens with the
opportunity to speak to their concerns regarding the County's
Comprehensive Plan and the Planning Process". The "Winnebago
County Focus Group Report" is a compilation of these citizen
views and was authored by Bert Stitt.
March 27, 2003: 2nd Public Open House and Planning
Fair held at the Fox Valley Lanes in Neenah. Local plans were
put on display for public review and PDI presents updated Framework
Policy concept to the Public for additional input. In addition,
the County Plan Amendment Process Flow Chart was presented by
the Plan Amendment Subgroup.
April 17 & 24, 2003: PDI holds two Planning Workshop Panels
to review Framework Policies. The mission of the Workshop Planning
Panels was to fine-tune the framework policies developed over
the course of the last eight months by PDI and the Planning Group.
Specifically, the April 17 Workshop was for the Urbanizing areas
and the April 24 Workshop was for the Rural areas. Participants
were chosen based on their interest in "rolling up their
sleeves" to better define the policies and recommend changes
and additions.
May 15, 2003: Presentation Session and Open House Held. The
public was invited to participate in a series of three one-hour
presentations. The presentations were made by the Department
of Natural Resources, East Central Regional Planning Commission,
and Department of Transportation and related to how their programs
and activities may impact property owners in Winnebago County
and the County Plan in general. The Session began with a Pre-meeting
Review of Exhibits and Maps from the three agencies.
May 29, 2003: PDI presents preliminary Draft of Comprehensive
Plan; Bert Stitt presents draft Memorandum of Understanding for
County Plan Amendment and Adoption. A Preliminary "Draft
Winnebago County Comprehensive Plan" * is distributed by
PDI to the Planning Advisory Group. Work on the preliminary draft
is still required by PDI to fully complete the draft document
for wider distribution. Bert Stitt distributed a draft "Memorandum
of Understanding" * prepared by the Plan Amendment/Adoption
Subgroup. The document describes a series of understandings regarding
the process for adopting the County Umbrella Plan and for amendment
of the Plan. Planning Advisory Group requests the MOU to be reviewed
by the County Corporation Counsel for legal validity. * Click
here for most recent versions of these documents.
June 24, 2003: Planning Advisory Group reviews the content
of the preliminary Draft Plan Document. PDI worked with the Planning
Group to go over the plan document and suggest any changes or
additions as necessary. PDI took the information to prepare a
more complete document in time for the next meeting. In addition,
the Planning Group reviewed with Bert Stitt the Memo of Understanding
from the Plan Adoption/Amendment Subgroup. Additional Changes
were suggested for that document as well. Changes are scheduled
to be brought forth to the next meeting on July 8.
July 8, 2003: Planning Advisory Group reviews updated content
of Draft Plan Document. PDI and Planning Group reviewed the document
for any additional changes. Communities were to provide PDI with
changes so that they can be included in the document in time
for the July 30, 2003 Planning Advisory Group meeting. In addition,
the Planning Group briefly discussed the Memo of Understanding
document. It was agreed to pursue changing this document to a
more formal Intergovernmental Agreement between the local communities
and the County.
July 30, 2003: PDI presents Updated Draft Document to the Planning
Advisory Group. The Planning Advisory Group reviews the updated
draft and PDI discusses the proposals contained in the document.
It was agreed to have the local communities bring the "Draft
Winnebago County Comprehensive Planning Document" to their
respective local Boards and Planning Committees to review the
contents and submit written comments on any changes that they
suggest should be made.
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