North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission
Providing Economic Development, Geographic Information Systems, Intergovernmental Cooperation, Land Use Planning and Transportation Assistance since 1973
A comprehensive plan is a local government’s guide to community physical, social, and
economic development. Comprehensive plans are not meant to serve as land use
regulations in themselves; instead, they provide a rational basis for local land use
decisions with a twenty-year horizon for future planning and community decisions.
CLICK HERE to view agenda/packets for upcoming meetings (City of Stevens Point Website)
In 2025, Centergy, Inc. worked with the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (NCWRPC) to produce this study in response to growing concerns over housing affordability. This study recommends a variety of strategies and programs that each individual community may explore depending on their own needs to encourage the construction and rehabilitation of needed housing, along with recommendations for a possible Regional Housing Fund. The Centergy Region includes Adams, Lincoln, Marathon, Portage, and Wood Counties.
Portage County’s Parks Department updates its Outdoor Recreation Plan every 5 years to identify essential outdoor recreation needs that affect the future of outdoor recreation in the County.
This Outdoor Recreation Plan (ORP) focuses upon County managed outdoor recreation facilities, and also list projects within the towns and villages. The City of Stevens Point and Village of Plover both have ORPs which will both be referenced in this plan. All listed nature based and active recreation based projects become eligible for competitive federal and state outdoor recreation grant money when this plan is adopted by County or local municipality by resolution.
All communities that want to use this plan to apply for grants, must adopt it by resolution.
Non-profit groups, foundations, and the general public may also use this document to coordinate their own private efforts for developing outdoor recreation facilities.
2024 Portage County Outdoor Recreation Survey Results with Comments (128 page PDF)
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A comprehensive plan is a local government’s guide to community physical, social, and
economic development. Comprehensive plans are not meant to serve as land use
regulations in themselves; instead, they provide a rational basis for local land use
decisions with a twenty-year horizon for future planning and community decisions.
We have been creating economy overviews for all ten of our counties along with Centergy and Grow North regions. We have reports from 2018 to 2024 – More information is about EMSI reports HERE. We also have historic reports back to 2013 if you are intrerested.
The broadband strategy presented at narrowing the digital divide in Portage County by enhancing broadband connectivity and accessibility. Additionally, this strategy will pinpoint obstacles and objectives related to expanding infrastructure and promoting broadband adoption. Consequently, Portage County will be in a stronger position to seek and, hopefully, secure BEAD funding for broadband deployment.
Every few years, NCWRPC updates basic demographic and economic development information in the form of County Profiles, which provide a snapshot of current economic trends and opportunities for economic growth. Included is a map of business park locations where acreage is available as well as contacts for various economic development agencies and programs.
Federal transit law requires that any projects selected for funding under the Section 5310 Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities (formerly titled Elderly and Disabled Capital Assistance Program) must be derived from a “locally developed, coordinated public transit-human services transportation plan”. This requirement was implemented as part of the SAFETEA-LU legislation and the requirement continues under the new transportation legislation, FAST Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation). The purpose of the coordinated planning process is to have stakeholder involvement in the assessment of elderly and disabled transportation, and to provide strategies and goals to improve those transportation alternatives. These coordinated plans were last completed in 2019 and are due to be updated for 2023.
This report is intended to update and replace the previous, Urban Area Sewer Service Plan for the City of Stevens Point and surrounding urban area. These types of plans are also known as areawide water quality management plans.
The general purpose of this areawide water quality management plan, herein referred to as Sewer Service Area Plan, is to maintain a twenty-year sanitary sewer service boundary for the Stevens Point Urban Area and an institutional structure for implementing the Plan and managing the extension of sanitary sewage services within this urban area. The urban sanitary sewer service area boundary identifies the geographic land area within which sanitary sewer service could be made available by the year 2040 in a cost effective, environmentally acceptable manner.
Every few years, NCWRPC updates basic demographic and economic development information in the form of County Profiles, which provide a snapshot of current economic trends and opportunities for economic growth. Included is a map of business park locations where acreage is available as well as contacts for various economic development agencies and programs.