Multi-jurisdictional planning or intergovernmental cooperation are different terms for the same focus: multiple units of local government improving communication in order to work together to address the challenges facing their region. This cooperation and/or planning can occur at multiple scales and address multiple issues. Local cooperative planning efforts involve cities and their surrounding townships, county wide efforts coordinate numerous jurisdictions within a county and multi-county efforts cover a wider geographic area or region. The issues that are addressed by these cooperative efforts could focus on land use planning, service sharing to reduce costs and provide better services, transportation coordination, economic development initiatives, farmland protection or any number of other issues.
MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL PLANNING BENEFIT
| For Cities/Villages (built-out areas): |
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Understand and influence larger land use trends |
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Increase awareness of influences exerting pressure from outside individual municipalities (for example traffic generators or population increases) |
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Work with neighbors to influence the design of new developments |
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Make them fit with character of existing older neighborhoods |
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Connect transportation networks and mitigate traffic impacts |
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Design connected open spaces |
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Create a seamless community via the look and feel of new developments |
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Maintain a vibrant and healthy downtown business district |
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Have a voice regarding new commercial development within surrounding townships |
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Develop a shared vision for how the downtown area(s) will function in the region |
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Preserve important natural systems that are shared between municipalities |
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Coordinate efforts to protect water quality, both surface and groundwater |
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Create connected open space systems that serve as an amenity for city/village residents |
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Share services, such as police, fire, sewer, water, solid waste and libraries |
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Create a strategy for providing a broad range of housing |
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Find the most efficient arrangement for of land uses in the entire region |
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Increase communication between planning commissions as well as between township/city boards and lakes associations |
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Coordinate development efforts along boundaries to help growth positively impact multiple municipalities through the potential for increased tax base |
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Build political alliances capable of leveraging greater resources and increasing opportunities for funding |
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Help to maintain a healthy and vibrant community |
| For Townships and more rural/suburban areas: |
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Many of the benefits identified for Cities Villages also apply to suburban or rural Townships. The following list is more specifically targeted to Townships |
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Find the most efficient arrangement for of land uses in the entire region |
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Not every local unit has to plan for EVERY land use |
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Create a strategy for providing a broad range of housing |
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Higher density uses can be located closer to areas with urban services and away from rural areas where these uses are not appropriate |
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Coordinate growth strategies |
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Make local plans more defensible |
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Create connected open space systems |
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Preserve rural character and farmland |
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Reduce the cost of services by placing high intensity land uses closer to urban areas |
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Develop, implement and share technology dependent resources |
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Access to GIS, land use monitoring, water quality monitoring, etc. that may be cost prohibitive to an individual municipality |
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Potential to increase land values through coordinated planning and resource sharing |
