SB 697

Under the current law commonly known as the "Smart Growth" statute, if a

city, village, town, county, or regional planning commission (local governmental unit)

creates a development plan or master plan (comprehensive plan) or amends an

existing comprehensive plan, the plan must contain certain planning elements. The

required planning elements include the following: housing; transportation; utilities

and community facilities; agricultural, natural, and cultural resources; economic

development; land use; and intergovernmental cooperation.

Also under current law, unless certain conditions apply, beginning on January

1, 2010, certain ordinances enacted or amended by a local governmental unit that

affect land use must be consistent with that local governmental unit's comprehensive

plan. The ordinances to which this requirement applies are official mapping, local

subdivision regulation, and zoning ordinances, including zoning of shorelands or

wetlands in shorelands. Also under current law, beginning on January 1, 2010, if a

local governmental unit enacts or amends any of these specified ordinances, the

comprehensive plan must contain at least all of the required planning elements.

Under this bill, a local governmental unit is authorized to repeal its

comprehensive plan. Correspondingly, the ordinances that under current law must

be consistent with a local governmental unit's comprehensive plan must, under the

bill, be consistent with the local governmental unit's comprehensive plan only if the

local governmental unit has a comprehensive plan in effect.

Under current law, the Department of Administration provides grants to local

governmental units to assist in financing the cost of planning activities. This bill

eliminates this grant program.