About
A comprehensive plan is a local government's guide to community physical, social, and economic development. It provides a rational basis for local land use decisions with a twenty-year vision for future planning and community decisions. The Wisconsin Comprehensive Planning Law (
s. 66.1001) does not mandate how a local community should grow, but it requires public participation at the local level in deciding a vision for the community's future. Comprehensive plans must be updated no less than once every 10 years.
Statutory requirements for comprehensive planning have changed over time. Recent changes designed to increase the supply of housing can be found in
2025 Wisconsin Act 173. Beginning January 1, 2028, cities and villages will need to identify minimum and maximum net densities authorized for projected residential land use areas.
The former Wisconsin Comprehensive Planning Grant Program at the Department of Administration financially assisted local governments in the development and adoption of comprehensive plans in the past. From 2000 through 2010, comprehensive planning grants were awarded to municipalities, counties, tribes, and regional planning commissions. No comprehensive planning grants have been awarded since 2010. No grants are planned for the future.