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The Town of Verona used Planning Analyst, a UW Land Information and Computer Graphics decision-support "toolkit" to work through the planning process, and develop solid information about land uses, get answers to specific questions, and identify areas of agreement. A feature of this work was their use of "interactive" GIS

Town of Verona, Wisconsin

In 1998 the U.S. Government selected six sites across the United States to help demonstrate how geographic information systems (GIS) and other information technologies can aid in planning efforts at the local level. One of the selected sites which received a Community Demonstration Project grant was Dane County.

Communities in Dane County, Wisconsin, face controversial land use issues including protection of natural resources and watersheds, urban growth, and loss of prime farmland. One of these communities, the Town of Verona, is a rural community near Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital. Verona was a logical choice for the pilot project because citizens have actively worked for some time with community leaders and elected officials on growth issues.

Rapid growth in the town in the 1990s made Verona's 1987 land use plan obsolete. With funding from a Federal government demonstration project, the town of Verona Land Use Task Force consisting of citizens and elected officials was able to work with the Wisconsin Land Information and Computer Graphics Facility (LICGF) on developing a new land use plan for the town (The mission of the LICGF is to provide research, training, and outreach in the use of land and geographic information systems).

While doing so they developed and tested a planning process named Planning Analyst to improve decision-making about land use. It consists of five modules: (1) Exploration, (2) Analysis, (3) Allocation, (4) Impact, and (5) Public Access. The process made extensive use of generic GIS tools including ArcView, ArcInfo and ArcExplorer. The team also developed and used a simple land use allocation software called PlaceIT.

Planning steps and decision guidelines enabled Verona citizens to work with information technology experts to use digital data and local GIS maps to identify potential Farmland Priority Zones (FPZ) for the area, environmental corridors, and areas for growth. The Task Force then mapped proposed FPZs, assessed impacts of proposed scenarios, and developed policy options. The resulting plan was eventually adopted by Verona.

If you were invited to be on a planning task force or plan commission, where would you go for specific planning information? How would you decide where new homes should be built? What land should be protected? How would you express your vision and contribute?

The Town of Verona, Wisconsin engaged its citizens in comprehensive land use planning with creative answers to these questions.

Website: National Consortium for Rural Geospatial Innovations in America

by Elaine Andrews, University of Wisconsin Extension, and Zenny Sadlon, U.S. EPA Region 5

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