Comprehensive Planning Update TownCounty Zoning Relations

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Comprehensive Planning UpdateTown-County Zoning
Relations

• Town Officials Workshops
• Spring 2005
• presented by
• James H. Schneider, J. D.
• UW-Extension Local Government Center

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Part IComprehensive Planning Update
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Major 2003-04 Comprehensive Planning Legislation

• AB 435 to repeal the comp planning law died in
  committee.
• AB 551 to allow town board approval of county
  plan was vetoed by the governor.
• .

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• AB 750 to exempt from consistency requirement
  town board exercise of disapproval authority over
  county general zoning not taken up in floor
  session and died.
• Act 233 (AB 608) narrowed consistency
  requirement.

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Comprehensive Planning Law--Review

• Created in 1999 budget act
• Applies to local governmental units
• Counties
• Cities, villages, towns
• Regional planning commissions
• Comprehensive plan is the
• county development plan
• city, village, town master plan
• RPC regional master plan

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• The cross-reference to existing terms means
  comprehensive plan is developed by planning body
  that develops adopts the above plans.

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Comprehensive Planning Body

• County planning and zoning agency direct(s)
  the preparation of the development plan/
  comprehensive plan under the law.
• County board may
• create a planning zoning committee or
  commission or
• designate an existing committee or commission as
  the county planning zoning agency.

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Planning Body cont.

• City, village or town (with village powers) plan
  commission is the comprehensive planning body.
• A city, village or town, unlike a county, has no
  statutory authority to develop this plan by a
  committee.
• An advisory committee may also be involved.

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Key Aspects of Law

• Public participation guidelines required
• 9 integrated elements required must be updated
  at least every 10 years
• Intergovernmental aspects (element and sharing of
  plans)
• Grants provided

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How Comprehensive Planning Law Relates to Prior
Law

• Until the consistency requirement applies
• county may develop and operate under a
  development plan (or other planning authority).
• city, village, town may develop and operate under
  master plan (or other planning authority).

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• Consistency requirement is in effect a mandate
• Starting in 2010
• a local unit must have a comprehensive plan in
  place for its covered actions to be consistent
  with, or else it is at risk of having those
  actions challenged in court.

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Consistency Requirement

• Applies as of Jan. 1, 2010
• Former requirement
• General language any program or action of a
  local governmental unit that affects land use
  must be consistent with that units comprehensive
  plan.
• Nonexclusive listing of actions subject to
  consistency includes zoning, subdivision
  regulation, official mapping, incorporation,
  annexation, boundary agreements, etc.

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New Consistency Requirement(2003 Act 233)

• 2010 consistency requirement applies only to the
  following
• --zoning ordinances
• --local subdivision regulation under a
  local ordinance
• --official mapping under local
  ordinance/resolution

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• Effect of Act 233 on local units
• Narrows actions that must be consistent with plan
  and therefore reduces chances of lawsuits after
  2010 challenging actions.
• 9 elements still must be covered in comprehensive
  plan.
• Narrows the implied mandate to only those units
  engaging in 1 or more of the 3 types of covered
  activities (more below).

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In other words

• Towns are not required to have comprehensive
  plans by 2010, if they dont engage in any of the
  actions covered by the consistency requirement
• zoning ordinances,
• subdivision ordinances,
• official mapping under local ordinance/resolution.
  
• This likely means, though, that a town board in a
  town without a comp plan would lose the authority
  to disapprove a county general zoning ordinance
  amendment (unless the law is changed).

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Planning Grants

• Available for county, city, village, town RPC
  comprehensive planning
• Competitive scoring of applications

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• Funding incentives (points )
• for multi-jurisdictional plans
• a county and 2 local units
• an RPC and 2 local units
• 2 local units (city, village, town)
• 10 of base added for each city, village, town
  plus, for a county, 10 of county base if all
  towns in county participate.

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Comp Planning Grant Awards(millions)

• 2005--2.0
• 2004--1.8
• 2003--2.7
• 2002--2.8
• 2001--2.5
• 2000--1.0 (transportation planning grant)
• ---------------
• 12.8 (total)

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Units Receiving Grants/ of Units

• Towns--466 (8)/1266
• Villages--151 (1)/401
• Cities--93 (6)/190
• Counties--28 (3)/72
• RPCs--3 (1)/9
• Tribes2/11 (reservations)
• ( ) Refers to units that received a 2000
  transportation planning grant and later received
  a comprehensive planning grant.

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Multi-jurisdictional Grants

• 64 awards
• 643 communities covered

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Some FAQs

• Is a comprehensive plan required?
• Is it necessary to have a plan commission to
  engage in comprehensive planning?
• May an advisory committee be involved?
• May a town base its actions on the county plan?
• Whose plan controls, if plans are in conflict?

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Answers

• See Comprehensive Planning and Smart Growth
  FAQs
• On Local Government Center website
• http//www.uwex.edu/lgc/program/pubs.htm
• (scroll down to FAQs )

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Comments

• Legislation has stimulated planning.
• Grant funding, the consistency requirement and
  extraterritorial authority will be continuing
  issues.
• Counties RPCs play an important role in
  providing data maps as a basis for plans.
• Counties working with local units, especially
  towns, may provide planning resources help
  achieve consistent, cost-effective outcomes.

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Part IITown-County Zoning Relations

• BackgroundLocal Planning authority
• Zoning

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A. Background--Local Planning Authority

• County
• may prepare a development plan (comprehensive
  plan) for town territory.
• may plan with towns and other local units.
• must incorporate city village master
  (comprehensive) plans into county plan.
• may prepare city village plans if requested.

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• Town planning authority
• is under city/village authority for
  master/comprehensive planning
• Which requires that the town have village
  powers.

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• Town may plan with county or neighboring units
  under
• the comprehensive planning law.
• general intergovernmental cooperation law.
• cooperative boundary agreement law (with
  municipal neighbors).
• extraterritorial zoning law (with city or village
  neighbor).

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• Cities villages may
• develop a master plan (comprehensive plan)
• for their own territory
• for adjacent town territory
• plan cooperatively with towns and other units
  under various statutes (see previous slide)

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• Providers of planning services for town territory
  may include
• town and county staff
• regional plan commission
• neighboring communities
• consultants

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Planning in Extraterritorial Area

• Under county law, the city and village
  master/comprehensive plan controls in the ET
  area.
• When the consistency requirement takes effect in
  2010, this means that county actions in the ET
  area must be consistent with the city or village
  plan (if any) for that area (unless the law is
  changed).

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• In addition, the city or village may exercise ET
  subdivision review and (less commonly) ET zoning.
• This arrangement especially points out the
  importance of affected units working together to
  reach agreement for planning for the ET area.

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B. Zoning
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County-Town Zoning

• In general
• County authority is to zone towns, not cities
  villages, but
• Certain minimum special zoning provisions (e.g.,
  shoreland floodplain zoning) survive annexation
  or incorporation.
• If no county general zoning is in effect
• town may zone unilaterally under village powers
  or
• town may petition county to adopt general zoning,
  and then zone on own if county does not act
  within one year (rare).

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• If county general zoning is in effect
• town board may by resolution accept county zoning
  (sec. 59.69(5)(c) or
• town can zone under village powers under sec.
  60.62 but
• town meeting (or referendum) must authorize town
  board to exercise zoning under village powers,
• county must approve ordinance
• county must approve amendments
• before they can take effect.

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Evidence of Town Going under County General
Zoning

• See the town board minutes for the meeting at
  which the resolution was adopted.
• The town clerk is required to send a certified
  copy of the resolution to the county clerk, who
  must record the filing and print it in the county
  boards proceedings. Sec. 59.69(5)(c).

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County Zoning Amendments (Town Role)

• Town may petition for amendment and be involved
  in reviewing proposed amendments
• Petition for amendment to county zoning may be
  made by
• town board
• affected property owners
• county zoning agency
• county board members

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Town Role in County Comprehensive Revision

• If county general zoning is in effect in a town
• town board has to approve county comprehensive
  revision within a year to be in effect in town -
  or else town becomes unzoned.
• Comprehensive revision is a complete rewriting
  which changes numerous zoning provisions and
  alters or adds zoning districts.

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• The ability of a town to bail out of a
  comprehensive zoning revision has contributed to
  outdated county zoning.
• However, due to the comprehensive planning law,
  it is expected that county zoning will be
  updated.
• Towns that have been involved in county planning
  and zoning revisions will more likely have a new
  county zoning ordinance that they like.

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Town Role in County Zoning Amendment Process

• A proposed amendment must have a public hearing
  held by the county zoning agency. (Class 2 notice
  required.)
• Notice of the hearing must be mailed to the town
  clerk of
• each affected town 10 days prior to the hearing.
  
• The town board may file a certified copy of the
  resolution disapproving the proposed amendment
  with the county
• before the public hearing
• at the public hearing
• or within 10 days (30 days) after the public
  hearing.

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Extending Town Review Period

• The town board may extend the review period by
  20 days so it has 30 days after the hearing to
  disapprove by adopting a resolution and filing a
  certified copy with the county clerk. The
  extended review period remains in effect until
  rescinded by resolution and filed with the county
  clerk.

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Town Board Disapproval

• A district boundary change may be disapproved by
  the affected town.
• A text change may be disapproved by the majority
  of affected towns.
• It is important for towns to review proposed
  amendments and timely disapprove those they
  object to (see next slide).

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Three Disapproval Scenarios

• First, if the proposed amendment makes only the
  change in the petition and it was not disapproved
  by the affected town(s) (i.e., the affected town
  for a district change, a majority of affected
  towns for text changes)
• The amendment takes effect upon passage by the
  county board.

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• Second, if the proposed amendment is changed
  after referral to the towns and passed by the
  county board, the effective date is delayed and
  town boards may exercise disapproval authority as
  follows
• The ordinance must be submitted to affected
  town(s) within 7 days of passage by county board.
  
• The town board has 40 days after enactment to
  approve or disapprove. Disapproval, as above, is
  effective if a majority disapproves a text
  amendment, or if the affected town disapproves a
  district boundary change.

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• Third, if (for some reason) the county board
  passes an amendment that was disapproved by a
  town (district boundary change) or a majority of
  affected towns (text change), the town board(s)
  may exercise disapproval within the 40 day period
  as in the previous slide.

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Special Zoning Approval/Disapproval Limited

• Town authority is limited under certain special
  zoning statutes.
• County must enact shoreland floodplain zoning,
  even if it does not have general zoning.
• Shoreland floodplain zoning ordinance
• effective in town without need of town approval,
• and town disapproval does not apply to amendments
  to these ordinances.

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• County exclusive agricultural zoning has certain
  special provisions...
• Town board may reject coverage, but in counties
  with density of at least 100 persons per square
  mile, it takes a majority of towns to reject
  coverage.
• Town board may disapprove a text amendment, in
  which case the previous language remains in
  effect.
• Town board, as under general county zoning, may
  veto a map amendment.

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• Recent act on livestock siting and expansion
  limits local regulatory authority but does not
  change underlying structural zoning relationship
  between the county and town.
• E.g., the town still has the same disapproval
  rights as before.

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• Town with zoning under village powers may
  regulate
• shorelands floodplains if ordinance is at least
  as restrictive as county ordinance, resulting in
  concurrent jurisdiction.
• exclusive agricultural zoning.

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Comments

• Towns may resent lack of greater zoning
  authority...
• As stated above, towns in general may plan with
  the county and their neighbors to try to achieve
  mutually beneficial results.
• Under cooperative boundary law, city/village
  neighboring town may reach agreement on general
  zoning, but town remains under county shoreland,
  floodplain exclusive agricultural zoning.
• Under extraterritorial zoning, city/village
  town may displace general county general zoning.

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Some Final Observations on Town-County Zoning
Relationships

• Towns can play an important part in county
  zoning.
• Get to know county officials, staff processes.
• Develop a town comprehensive plan to serve as a
  basis for your involvement in county decisions.
• Be involved in county planning and policy-making.

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• Take part in county administrative decisions,
  such as variances and conditional use permits
  (e.g., testify at a hearing submit a letter,
  resolution or motion), but
• be clear on whos being represented (e.g.,
  yourself, the town), and
• tailor your involvement to the forum (i.e., in
  quasi-judicial matters, such as CUPs and
  variances, address the legal standards and avoid
  outside contacts with members of the
  decision-making body).