Be Proactive: Turn your Plan into Action

Jenny EricksonSauk County UW-Extension

Community Resource Development Educator

Sauk County Plan Commission WorkshopNovember 28, 2007

Where is Your Plan?

Does this look familiar?

Dust it off &

Start taking action!!

Don’t wait for a request.

Our Plan has been Adopted, Now Let’s Get Started!

Plan Commission Handbook, May 2002

A Plan is Only as Good as it’s

Implementation!

Implementation… How tough can this be?

AHHHH….

I thought you were volunteers?

Start with Your Vision.. A vision is an end state. It is what you want to look like in 20 years. It should help to guide your decision making process.

Picture it…

Over the next 20 years, the predominant visual character of Honey Creek will be a scenic rural landscape of heavily forested bluffs towering over broad fertile valleys and well maintained family farms…

Town of Honey Creek Vision…

Honey Creek Example:Vision: Preserve/create traditional rural character of their community

Vision: Continue tradition of community decision making

They started with Land Use….

Developed a Joint Master Plan for Leland and Denzer designed to promote traditional neighborhoods, housing design and enduring architecture.

So How Do We Get There?

What Should We Do First?

--Decision Making--

Generate

Prioritize Organize

Lots of ways to prioritize and every community will be different.

Prioritizing Examples:

1.) Ask focus groups to rank policies for each element based on urgency.

•Priority 1: Immediate (2007)

•Priority 2: Short Term (2008-2010)

•Priority 3: Mid Term (2011-2013)

•Priority 4: Long Range (2013-2023)

•Priority 5: Future Consideration (2024+)

Prioritizing Examples:

2.) Use criteria to prioritize policies

Categories KeyPolicy LU1

Policy LU2

Policy LU3

Policy LU4 

CostA = Inexpensive C = Expensive A      

Public Acceptance/ Political Will

A = Acceptable C = Unacceptable B      

EquityA = Fair C = Unfair B      

AdministrationA = Simple C = Complex C      

EffectivenessA = Effective C = Ineffective A      

 Compile results:

2 A's 2 B's

1 C      

More criteria…

What is the easiest?

What are the pressing issues in your community?

What needs to happen first?

What do you have the resources (time, energy money) to tackle?

Where is there momentum already?

Where are there resources to help?

Where are partnerships possible?

What are we good at already?

What we can build on?

Prioritizing Examples:

3.) Chose a goal and pick policies to achieve it

Intergovernmental Goal: Identify and establish mutually beneficial relations with neighboring units of government and Sauk County

Housing Goal: Manage new and existing housing developments to maintain the rural character…

Prioritizing Examples:

4.)

Life After Policies..

Generate

Prioritize Organize

• Brainstorm specific action steps that will implement your policies.

-Bite Sized Actions-

NRCP3 – Enhance wildlife habitat by encouraging landowners to develop wildlife sanctuaries, windbreaks…

Get creative… Who else cares about this? Who else benefits from this?? How can we work together?• •

BE REALISTIC TO AVOID BURNOUT!

Develop Your Action PlanAction Steps Timeline Responsible

PartiesResearch financial incentives utilized by other communities.

June 2008 Fred Smith and Jody Kline

Contact UWEX office about educational materials on the benefits of windbreaks.

Sept 2008 Windbreak Committee

Develop tax incentive program for wildlife habitat.

Sept 2008 Jane Lyons and Judy Ferris

Distribute windbreak brochures and outline incentives in tax bill.

Dec 2008 Windbreak Committee

How Will You Know When You Get There?

• Define success.

• How will you measure it?

Three new windbreaks will be planted in 2009 as a result of the new incentive program.

All new driveways installed will satisfied the safetyand habitat fragmentation standards outlined in the Plan.

OR

DO SOMETHING!!• This is a big plan and it will take time so…

• Get the ball rolling…

• Make Progress…

• Have fun and…

• Celebrate your successes along the way!