Table 87

UNUSED URBAN LAND IN THE REGION BY COUNTY: 1963, 1970, 1975, 1980 AND 1985
Unused Urban Land
1963             1970             1975             1980             1985
Percent          Percent          Percent          Percent           Percent
County       Acres  of Region  Acres  of Region  Acres  of Region  Acres  of Region  Acres  of Region
Kenosha...... .1.1,242      4.6    1,220     5.1    1,200     5.8    1,105     5.5    1,144      5.9
Milwaukee  .... 15,292      57.3   12,307    51.2   10,662    51.7   10,003    50.2    9,274    48.3
Ozaukee ......     912      3.4    1,027     4.3    1,055     5.1    1,073     5.4    1,081      5.6
Racine ......... 1,576      5.9    1,718     7.1    1,593     7.7    1,432     7.2    1,400     7.3
Walworth .....      913      3.4      870     3.6      752     3.7      763     3.8      745      3.9
Washington ....     631      2.4      641     2.7      543     2.7      562      2.8     568      3.0
Waukesha ..... ..6,144      23.0    6,244    26.0    4,810    23.3    4,997    25.1    5,003     26.0
Region          26,710   100.0   24,027   100.0   20,615   100.0   19,935    100.0   19,215   100.0
Change in Unused Urban Land
1963-1970         1970-1975        1975-1980       1980-1985        1970-1985
County        Acres   Percent   Acres   Percent  Acres  Percent  Acres   Percent  Acres    Percent
Kenosha ......        -22    -1.8      -20     -1.6    -95      -7.9     39     3.5       -76     -6.2
Milwaukee  .       -2,985   -19.5   -1,645    -13.4   -659     -6.2   -729     -7.3    -3,033   -24.6
Ozaukee ......       115     12.6       28      2.7     18      1.7       8     0.7        54     5.3
Racine ......... ..  142      9.0     -125     -7.3   -161    -10.1     -32    -2.2      -318    -18.5
Walworth .....        -43    -4.7     -118    -13.6     11      1.5     -18    -2.4      -125    -14.4
Washington ....        10     1.6      -98    -15.3     19      3.5       6     1.1       -73    -11.4
Waukesha              100     1.6    -1434    -23.0    187      3.9       6     0.1    -1,241    -19.9
Region           -2,683    -10.0   -3,412   -14.2   -680      -3.3   -720    -3.6    -4,812    -20.0
Source: SEWRPC.

1963 and 1970, agricultural land use in the
Region declined by 46,300 acres, or just over
4 percent, representing an average annual loss
of 6,620 acres, or about 10.3 square miles.
Between 1970, the base year of the adopted
regional land use plan, and 1985, the agricul-
tural land base in the Region declined by an
additional 69,400 acres, or 7 percent, an average
annual loss of 4,629 acres, or 7.2 square miles.
Each county in the Region has experienced a
significant loss of agricultural land since 1963.
The unusually large loss of farmland in Wauke-
sha County, indicated in Table 88, reflects the
previously described rapid increase in residential
and related urban development in that County.

Agricultural lands in the Region serve as a land
reserve for urban expansion necessitated by
growth and redistribution of the regional popu-
lation and economic activity. While the regional
land use plan envisioned that the agricultural
land base would decline in order to accommodate
new urban growth, the rate of decline has been
greater than anticipated under the plan (see
Table 89 and Figure 37). The plan envisioned a
total of about 966,300 acres of agricultural land
in the Region in 1985. The actual agricultural
land area in 1985 was lower by about 34,300
acres, or about 4 percent, than the planned
amount. Actual agricultural land use was less
than the planned amount in each of the seven

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