The City of Barron's Plan Commission will hold a public hearing June 12 at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall to discuss the city's comprehensive planning proposal. The City Council will then act on the proposal at its 6 p.m. meeting the same day.
Barron has been working closely with its engineering firm, SEH Inc., and West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning to draft a comprehensive plan for the city's future development, as required by state law. David Carlson of SEH appeared before the Plan Commission May 2 to discuss the policy's latest draft.
What is comprehensive planning?
According to the Wisconsin Department of Administration, comprehensive planning was established by the Comprehensive Planning Law as part of the state's 1999-2001 biennium budget. The law requires communities to plan for their future in nine categorical areas:
* Issues and opportunities.
* Housing.
* Transportation.
* Utilities and community facilities.
* Land use.
* Agricultural, natural and cultural resources.
* Economic development.
* Intergovernmental cooperation.
* Implementation.
Communities in the state must create and adopt a plan by Jan. 1, 2010, that covers all of those areas, and future policies must remain consistent with the plan. Municipal and county governments that fail to have a plan in place by the deadline risk losing authority over local land use decisions. Public involvement in the process, such as Barron's June 12 public hearing, is meant to give everyone a say in his or her community's direction.
Although 'land use' is only one of the nine categories in the planning process, it is typically the most involved aspect of the plan and is to blame for comprehensive planning's nickname-smart growth.
Carlson said Barron's comprehensive plan is divided into nine parts, which align with the nine categories listed earlier. The categories, although named differently, are often closely related, such as land use and agricultural resources.
Carlson said SEH and West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning analyzed the information gathered from a public "visioning" meeting in October 2004 that identified the city's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Their analysis found that there are four main themes important to Barron residents: maintaining great community facilities, supporting business, improving labor conditions and preserving family values.
Great community facilities
City residents said community facilities, such as its schools, hospital, clinic, BACC and 18-hole golf course, make Barron a great place to live.
The BACC, in particular, Carlson said, showed how the community pulled together to make a dream come true. Not many cities Barron's size can boast about having a community hub like the BACC provides.
Business is important
Industrial and commercial businesses were noted as assets to the community and something worth expanding upon.
Barron's industrial juggernaut-the Jennie-O Turkey Store-was said to show both the city's strength and its weakness. It's a strength because it employs so many people, but it's also a weakness because Barron residents want more than just one big industry in town. They want to see the city develop a diversified industrial sector.
The commercial business climate was also an area of concern. The loss of retail business and the thought of having an empty main street were situations to be avoided.
Employment concerns
Bringing more high-paying jobs into the area and improving wages were some areas where Barron residents thought improvements could be made. They indicated that non-competitive wages posed a threat to the community.
Family values
Churches, family values and community facilities, such as the BACC and schools, were identified as pillars of Barron society.
Carlson said it was interesting that the community also identified racial intolerance and cultural misperceptions as threats. Some communities would just "ignore the elephant in the room," but Barron admitted its struggle.
Racial tensions came to light in the late 1990s when Somali immigrants moved into the Barron area, but the tensions have eased in recent years, he said.
Now that the city's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and goals have been identified, Carlson said the next step is to organize a plan of action to make Barron's vision a reality.
To do this, the city will have a series of three meetings to evaluate its long-term policy goals. These meetings are meant to address Barron's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with appropriate policies.
Smart growth elsewhere
Other communities are grappling with comprehensive planning, or smart growth, too.
The Town of Rice Lake approved a format April 25 for its comprehensive planning project. The town's plan design will include the nine categories mandated by the state and will serve as the first step toward meeting the state's 2010 deadline for municipalities to develop their plans.
The framework of the plan was adopted, but now the difficult task of detailing the town's future development plans is in the forefront.
Ladysmith held a public hearing April 19 about a bill in the State Legislature aimed at repealing the comprehensive planning statute.
Of the 47 who registered and/or testified at the Ladysmith hearing, one spoke in favor of the comprehensive planning statute and another registered as a supporter.
Those who favored the law's repeal cited a variety of concerns for their opposition, including the cost of hiring a planner, lack of need/desire for such planning in rural areas, landowner rights, possible funding disparities between urban and rural areas and the dangers of a one-size-fits-all policy.
Earlier this year, County Administrator Duane Hebert said he had reservations about the "cookie cutter," one-size-fits-all law, although it is "a good thing" for local governments to have a development plan.
Barron County didn't apply for funding in 2002 when many other government entities-including the City of Barron-decided to secure grant money for hiring someone to help develop its plan. The county board, at the time, voted to hold off on the application because the state might change the plan's requirements in the near future.
Opponents on the 2002 county board of the grant application said the City of Rice Lake had spent money in 1989 on similar planning, but that money was now wasted because it didn't meet the requirements for the new comprehensive planning law.
County officials expect the new county board to take up the 'smart growth' issue again latter this summer.
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