An End-of-Year Message from Our Director
CARPC’s 2022 Regional Development Framework reflects the greater Madison region’s shared goals for how we grow, namely: combatting and adapting to climate change; increasing access to housing, jobs and services for all; and conserving our vital natural, agricultural, and fiscal resources. In 2023, CARPC committed itself to building the region’s capacity to achieve those goals.
Combatting climate change means reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases that are warming the earth to dangerous levels. Among the wide range of actions required to mitigate this threat, the Regional Development Framework focuses on two areas. One is promoting growth patterns that reduce how much and how far we have to drive to reach our destinations, which reduces climate-causing pollution from tailpipes. The other is protecting and expanding tree canopy to absorb more carbon dioxide while also generating many other benefits.
To promote desired growth patterns this year, CARPC tracked development trends to measure how much growth is occurring in already developed areas and within centers and corridors. Our tracking showed that, at the regional scale, 39% of houses built since 2020 were in centers and corridors and 47% were in already developed areas – meeting and exceeding Framework targets. Our online data dashboard allows people to examine these performance indicators for the community they live in.
As the rules governing what types of development can occur where, zoning codes can present a barrier to achieving the growth patterns recommended by the Framework. This year CARPC partnered with UW-Madison and six communities to hire a UW Project Assistant to examine all the zoning codes in the region and identify changes that make desired growth patterns easier. Look for the recommendations in mid-2024.
Reducing emissions from vehicles and other sources won’t be enough to lower greenhouse gases to safe levels, however. We also need to remove them – particularly carbon dioxide (C02) – from the atmosphere. Trees across the globe play a vital role in capturing, or sequestering, CO2. This year, CARPC partnered with the Tree Canopy Collaborative to “maintain, protect, and expand public and private tree canopy across Dane County where ecologically appropriate.”
Towards this end, CARPC mapped tree canopy change over time which shows significant decline. While this is bad news, it gives us an important baseline for actions to reduce and reverse this trend. To support regional tree canopy expansion, CARPC staff created a Canopy Cover Priorities webapp that focuses on tree canopy equity. For this work, CARPC received a Special Achievement in GIS award from Esri. Related mapping work inventoried the region’s Heritage Oaks and remaining old growth stands.
Even as we work to reduce greenhouse gas levels, increasing our resilience to the changes that have already occurred is also vitally important. In recent years, CARPC has worked with communities and organizations in the Black Earth Creek watershed to reduce flood risks exacerbated by the wetter and warmer weather driven by climate change. Building on this watershed-level green infrastructure planning effort, CARPC coordinated efforts this year to pool local, state, and federal resources for continued water quality monitoring along Black Earth Creek. Monitoring provides critical information needed to track pollution, flow, and progress towards plan goals.
In support of the Framework’s conservation goal, CARPC completed its first year of hosting the Wisconsin Salt Wise program. In 2023, Salt Wise conducted extensive training, outreach, and communications throughout the state to expand salt application practices that reduce salt pollution. These efforts reached thousands of people, including many salt applicators, across the state, and recently culminated in the Program Manager’s appearance on comedian Charlie Berens’ Cripescast.
Other water quality efforts included collaboration with the Lake Waubesa Conservation Association to obtain a WDNR grant for developing a Lake Management Plan for Lake Waubesa. In the Starkweather Creek watershed, CARPC continued education and monitoring efforts to reduce salt runoff and concentrations.
CARPCCommissioners also played a key role in promoting Framework goals. Recognizing that local communities are the main implementors of growth, the Commission’s Proactive Planning Committee completed its work of reaching out to community leaders to learn how CARPC can best partner with them to implement the Framework. The Commission adopted the Committee’s recommendations this year and is gearing up to “operationalize” them through a strategic planning process in 2024.
Amid all that work, CARPC also processed nine applications to amend the boundaries of Urban Service Areas under the Water Quality Planning program. We provided planning services to area municipalities. And we also continued to update our Open Data Portal with online access to important information and maps.
In closing, perhaps our main takeaway this year is that we are fortunate to work in a region where so many communities and people are coming together and working diligently to tackle our shared goals. Thank you and we wish you happy and safe holidays!