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March 2015 SWWRPC e-Newsletter
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From the Executive Director
Looking out my window it certainly doesn't look like the end of March! A foot of snow will do that. Last week showed so much promise; however, this week our temps are stuck in the thirties and low forties, with overnight temps below freezing. But we all know that spring is just ahead. Flocks of robins and grackles have arrived in recent days and the animals are always dependable harbingers of the seasons.
The work of Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission is extremely varied. A great example of this is the Dodgeville Cemetery Project, where Troy, Katherine, and her team applied geographic information system (GIS),database management, and other technology to the problem of mapping graves and attaching information in ways that help the public and unburden City staff of tedious record-keeping and retrieval of documents. It is a money-saving project that also delivers much better customer service - a win/win solution.
We want to thank the City of Dodgeville, Mayor Todd Novak, and his staff for giving us the opportunity to serve their community. What can we do to help yours?
Larry Ward, AICP
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| City of Monroe Comprehensive Plan Update
Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SWWRPC) is working with the City of Monroe to update their 2005 Comprehensive Plan. This update will provide the City of Monroe with a single vision uniting decision-making and coordinating community resources and services through 2025.
This process is supported by the valuable efforts of
Green County
University of Wisconsin Extension (UW-Extension), Green County Development Corporation (GCDC), and the City of Monroe.
This planning process will launch with a "Visioning Event" sponsored by UW-Extension. This visioning exercise will encourage residents of Monroe to imagine their ideal Monroe in the year 2025. The responses from the public will directly impact the planning process and implementation of the plan. Residents that would like to participate can visit a visioning board site available at Monroe City Hall, Monroe Public Library, Green County YMCA, or Behring Senior Center. These boards will be available for community input from
March 18 - April 1. Additionally, residents can also contribute by attending the Visioning Event on
April 9th from
5pm-7pm at Monroe Clinic.
The plan process will also feature 14 community meetings, focusing on aspects of daily life in Monroe. The exact date of each topic meeting will be set in the coming weeks. Topics for these meetings include:
*Arts, Culture, and Community Resources
*Economic Development
*Housing
*Land Use and the Built Environment
*Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources
*Transportation
*Utilities and Energy Resource Management
In addition to addressing the specific issues and challenges in each topic group, participants will also have to address how their topic relates to the four lenses of the plan:
*Education
*Health
*Aging in Place/Youth Retention
*Inter/Intra-governmental Coordination
Any Monroe resident interested in attending the "Visioning Event" or any of the topic areas are encouraged to contribute! To participate or for more information contact James Winters at SWWRPC, by phone
(608-342-1057) or by email (
[email protected]).
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Dodgeville Cemetery Project
The City of Dodgeville awarded the East Side Cemetery Mapping Project to SWWRPC in May, 2014. Katherine is the project manager of this geographic information system (GIS) mapping project. In assisting the City of Dodgeville to modernize its East Side Cemetery records, we created a program that will save the city thousands of dollars annually through increased productivity. On this project, we created an interactive online Cemetery map that allows individuals to find the graves of family members in the cemetery. Before this project, City staff spent hundreds of hours annually looking up cemetery information in several books and card catalogs. This same process can now be done by staff in minutes, or by those looking online for the information, thereby releasing City staff to perform other necessary functions.
This project utilized a temporary data entry clerk and two GIS Technicians from University of Wisconsin - Platteville that started on June 9th.The UW-Platteville interns Katie Wiederholt and Cassie Jorgenson collected over 8,000 data points and personal information from headstones in the cemetery. They merged the GPS data point information with over 6,500 paper records entered by the temporary data entry clerk. Katie and Cassie cross-checked field data and office data eliminating discrepancies, which improves cemetery records. Headstone photos and the obituaries were attached to the cemetery database, and then uploaded to ArcGIS online database.
The website has been up and running since February 24th. In addition, Katherine created a new interactive Cemetery Deed for the City, creating an easy to fill-in template for the purchase of cemetery plots. We provided the city with an Excel Spreadsheet with all the information that allows Julie Abing to search based on various criteria, and as a template for future burial information. Troy and Katherine presented the website at the March 3rd Dodgeville City Council. Furthermore, ESRI ArcWatch, an E-Magazine for GIS News, Views, and insights, wrote an article about the Geography students mapping the cemetery.
Click Here for East Side Cemetery Interactive Map
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Land and Water Resource Management Plan
In December 2014, Katherine finished the final draft of the Lafayette County Land and Water Resource Management Plan (2016 -2025), a state-mandated conservation plan. The Kick-off meeting was on February 14th, 2014 with Terry Loeffelholz and Roger Lange of Land Conservation Department. Activities over the past year included: establishing a citizen advisory committee, obtaining local and state data to complete priority farm identification, obtaining input from the citizen advisory committee, and presenting the findings to the county and to the State Land and Water Conservation Board.
The Lafayette County Land and Water Resource Management (LWRM) Plan addresses soil and water quality concerns using local, state, and federal programs. It is a 10 year (2016 - 2025) action and implementation plan that emphasizes cooperation with partners in Lafayette County with a five year workplan. The Lafayette County LWRM Plan was written with the assistance of partner agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection; Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; Farm Service Agency; Natural Resources Conservation Service; and University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension. Input on the plan came from a citizen advisory committee, comprised of individuals who represent a wide array of interests, include the Lafayette County Farm Bureau, local farmers and landowners, and Lafayette County Board.
The final plan includes alternative resources that would be helpful for Lafayette County, and a priority farm identification process that utilized the Wisconsin DNR Erosion Vulnerability Analysis for Agricultural Lands (EVAAL) toolset, which was developed to support the prioritization and implementation of agricultural best management practices for improving surface water quality, and used to help strategize adaptive management and water quality trading potential in a watershed. The priority farm identification was completed on a sub-watershed level, which directs Land Conservation Department efforts in areas of high need within the County to address soil and water quality issues revealed through the LWRM Plan process.
The Lafayette County Conservation and Zoning Department held a public hearing on December 2 to review the draft LWRM Plan, and the Lafayette County Board approved the Plan on December 16 for approval. Terry Loeffelholz and Troy Maggied presented the 2008 - 2013 accomplishments along with the 2016 - 2025 Plan goals and priority farm identification to the State Land and Water Conservation Board on February 3rd, 2015. The Land and Conservation Board approved the LWRM Plan on February 3rd. The LWCB approved the plan for 2016 - 2025 with a review in 2020.
Plan Link http://swwrpc.org/wordpress/lafayette-county-land-and-water-resource-management-plan-2/
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"Pretzel City Kitchens" Food Enterprise
Organizers behind a proposed food enterprise center/culinary incubator (called "Pretzel City Kitchens") are soliciting feedback from local growers, producers, and food entrepreneurs in northwest Illinois and southwest Wisconsin. These organizers hope Pretzel City Kitchens will provide access to:
- Commercial-grade kitchen amenities and equipment
- Certified food preparation facilities
- Dry and cold storage
- Regulatory certification and business start-up assistance
- Culinary classes for youth and adult learners
- Possible space for co-packing and retail
If you are involved in local foods, food processing, culinary entrepreneurship, or a food-based business - or would like to start one - please visithttps://www.surveymonkey.com/s/freeportcommercialkitchen to take a short survey. You input is greatly appreciated. Questions? Please contact Grant McCarty, University of Illinois Extension, at [email protected] or (815) 235-4125.
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Our Partners
My Wisconsin Woods
In this edition of the My Wisconsin Woods newsletter, readers can gain information on burning, land leases, agricultural forests and more.
View their latest newsletter here.
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SWWRPC's Mission
The Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission collaborates with communities and organizations to build capacity within southwestern Wisconsin, serving as advocates for its residents. We create opportunities and develop dynamic solutions to the challenges facing the region. We foster growth by supporting innovative endeavors that provide tangible benefits to those we serve. We believe in the bold vision of southwestern Wisconsin and work to build the region's future.
To learn more about us visit our website at
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