Contact:
Russ Kashian, (262) 472-5584, kashianr@uww.edu
WHITEWATER — A new survey being launched this month may help Wisconsin communities with their “smart growth initiative” plans by reviewing those already completed.
The survey has been developed through a partnership between three universities — the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Marquette University and UW-Stevens Point — and the state Department of Administration (DOA). The research team intends to start gathering data beginning Friday, July 16, from more than 120 municipalities that have completed and filed their comprehensive plans with DOA.
That reflects only about 10 percent of all municipalities in Wisconsin, so most plans are still pending or in progress.
The smart growth initiative, enacted as part of the 1999-2001 state budget law, is major legislation aimed at encouraging sound land use practices across the state. It requires all municipalities to complete plans by 2010 and creates financial incentives for communities that meet state land-use guidelines.
“It’s too early to study whether the first wave of plans have been effective, but we can learn a great deal from how these plans were put together,” said Russ Kashian, a UW-Whitewater economics professor who spearheaded the project. “We hope to gain valuable insight on how these processes can be improved for communities, many of which are embarking on comprehensive planning for the first time.”
The research group has already noticed great variation in how the plans have come together. Some areas have bundled many municipalities together under one plan, some even at the county-wide level, while others have filed individual plans down to the township level.
Kashian added that many communities have hired outside consulting firms to assist in completing plans, while others have relied on elected officials or volunteer citizens. The differences in overall cost to taxpayers can be significant, Kashian said.
“We want to identify the efficient models for planning,” he said. “We intend to identify different approaches that can end up saving communities a lot of money and lead to greater buy-in from the public.”
Kashian added that the results of the study will help DOA alter its smart growth grant program, currently funded at $1.5 million per year, to encourage best practices.
The online survey will gauge issues such as the level of community involvement in the planning committee; the overall costs of the planning process; whether intergovernmental cooperation was seen as a priority; and the greatest challenges to planning.
It will also measure whether the approved plans led to policy changes with key issues such as affordable housing, public green space, wetlands preservation, shared municipal services or historic site preservation.
The research brings together expertise from the Center for Land Use Education at UW-Stevens Point and co-principal investigators Kashian and economics professor Heather Kohls of Marquette. Kashian’s expertise is in urban and regional economics, farmland preservation and urban sprawl. Kohl is an environmental economist who conducts research on public policy effectiveness. Also involved in the project are Joanna Schumann, grant administrator for DOA, and Chin Chun Tang, a survey and database designer with UW-Stevens Point.
Data will be collected through the summer and presented in October at UW-Stevens Point’s 15th annual Conference on the Small City and Regional Community. The survey is at: https://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/landcenter/survey/cpsurvey_introduction.htm
For more information about the project, please contact Kashian at (262) 472-5585, or kashianr@uww.edu.
