Year-End Reflections on A Greater Madison Vision
The beginning of the new year is a good time to reflect on how our experiences with the A Greater Madison Vision initiative has influenced the agency’s work in 2019 and will continue to shape this year.
In 2019, we explored and shared the results of the A Greater Madison Vision survey. These results both reinforced and shaped our work at the Regional Planning Commission.
As we delved into the more than 9,000 completed surveys, a clear picture came into focus of public priorities for the region. By wide margins and across geographic and demographic groups people want to see the region reduce and adapt to climate change and improve access to opportunities for all. People further selected multi-modal transportation system including robust regional transit, and greater housing choices including more affordable housing as key to a healthy vibrant future. We shared these results with hundreds of leaders through presentations and media outreach to government and private sector groups as well as the general public.
Public priorities from the survey reinforced the importance of our work. We continued our regional flood resilience planning initiative by beginning a partnership with Wisconsin Emergency Management, local communities and partner organizations in the Black Earth Creek watershed to build support for and seek federal funding to conduct a watershed-wide green infrastructure plan. We also evaluated the potential to increase flood resilience by identifying possible wetland restoration sites in the region.
The CARPC Commission also used survey priorities to develop draft goals and objectives that provide focus and purpose for preparing a new Regional Development Plan. The Regional Development Plan will serve as a guide for how the region grows. The three draft goals for the new plan are to promote regional development that:
- Fosters community resilience to climate change
- Increases access to jobs, housing and services for all people
- Conserves farmland, water resources, and natural areas
CARPC surveyed local government officials about the goals and their related objectives. The response from approximately 150 officials was strongly supportive of these goals.
Amid all this, we moved our office from the City-County Building in order to co-locate with staff of the Madison Area Transportation Planning Board (a.k.a. the Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPO) at 100 State Street. The co-location will help both organizations to better integrate regional land use and transportation planning in support of public priorities for a multi-modal transportation system that includes robust regional transit.
To sum up, through A Greater Madison Vision we learned what’s important to the public and leaders and continued our work towards achieving those shared regional goals through planning. In 2020, we look forward to continuing to advance these regional priorities. To learn more, see our 2020 Work Program.