potential for high cleanup costs tends to dampen private-
sector interest in redevelopment.
Maintaining the viability of existing urban areas of the
Region as places to live and work, as recommended in
the regional land use plan, will require special efforts to
promote the reuse of brownfields. Local units of govern-
ment should include the cleanup and reuse of brownfields
as a key element in their planning for the revitalization of
urban areas and promote such reuse through such tools
as tax-incremental financing. Limited State and Federal
financial assistance has been made available in support
of the cleanup and reuse of contaminated sites. Local
units of government should make full use of, and assist
private developers in securing, available State and Federal
financial assistance.
The reuse of brownfield sites need not be limited to
industrial use, but may include residential, commercial,
recreational, and other development, in accordance with
local development objectives. Properly carried out, the
cleanup and reuse of brownfields has many potential
benefits in addition to the underlying environmental bene-
fits: elimination of blight, increase in the property-tax base,
expansion of the housing stock, provision of jobs in
close proximity to concentrations of the labor force, and
increased use of existing public infrastructure.
Educational Activities
Planning-related educational efforts directed at county
and local units of government and private interests
are important to regional land use plan implementation.
Recognizing this, the Regional Planning Commission
undertakes a variety of educational efforts to promote
implementation of the regional land use plan. These
efforts include the following: informational meetings and
formal public hearings on the regional plan; presentations
to county and local planning committees and commis-
sions; classroom presentations; preparation of a series of
planning guides intended to serve as manuals of sound
planning practice; sponsorship of conferences and work-
shops related to special planning and plan implementation
issues; publication of a bimonthly newsletter describing
Commission planning programs and current issues in
planning; publication of an annual report which includes
an overview of current Commission planning activi-
ties and presents data gathered on an annual basis to
help monitor regional plan implementation; and coopera-
tion with the University of Wisconsin-Extension, includ-
ing assignment of a full-time Extension agent to work
directly with the Commission staff on activities relating to

plan implementation.

The University of Wisconsin-Extension also undertakes a
variety of planning-related educational activities which
promote implementation of the regional plan and support
local planning efforts to refine the regional plan. Such
efforts, frequently undertaken in cooperation with the
Regional Planning Commission, include sponsorship of
planning conferences, publication of informational mate-
rials on various planning topics, and support of county and
local planning activities through Extension community
development agents and other specialists.
Implementation of the regional plan could, nevertheless, be
strengthened if more resources were made available for
planning-related educational efforts directed at elected
officials, plan commissioners, professional planners, and
developers and other private interests. It is recommended
that the University of Wisconsin-Extension seek State
funding for, and take the lead role in designing and
implementing, a continuing educational program on
planning in Wisconsin. In Southeastern Wisconsin, this
program should be designed to accomplish the following:
1) increasing the awareness and understanding of the
regional plan, including the benefits of implementing
the plan and the consequences of failing to implement
the plan; 2) increasing the understanding of the need for,
and techniques which may be utilized in, the preparation
of county and local plans which refine and detail the
regional plan; and 3) increasing the understanding of the
regulatory measures and other mechanisms available to
county and local units of government in implementing the
regional plan and county and local refinements of the
regional plan.
The proposed educational program should make full use
of existing planning-related educational resources, includ-
ing, among others, the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture
and Urban Planning, the Regional Planning Commission,
county and local planning departments, and private plan-
ning firms. The educational activities should, moreover,
be coordinated with any related activities of the recently
created Wisconsin Land Council.
The educational program should be designed as an
ongoing activity. This is important because the member-
ships of county and local governing bodies and plan
committees and commissions-the key local land use
decision-making bodies--change over time. A continuing
educational program can, moreover, help keep local
officials and plan commissioners informed of changes in
planning legislation, developments in planning-related
case law, innovative planning and design techniques, and

other changes in the field of planning.

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