Wood County Comprehensive Plan and Housing Study 2025

The Wood County Comprehensive Plan will help guide County decision makers on a wide array of issues over the next twenty years. As of Spring 2025, the Plan’s Housing Element has been completed in the form of a Housing Report which can be viewed below. The remaining 8 Comprehensive Plan elements will be developed over 2025 and 2026. Click the links below to learn more:

Vilas County All Hazards Mitigation Plan Update 2024

The federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 mandates that mitigation plans be accomplished for all incorporated units of government as well as Native American tribes and updated on a five-year cycle. Although Vilas County collaborated with the Lac du Flambeau Tribe on the development of a joint hazard mitigation plan in 2008, its 2013 plan is considered the County’s initial All Hazards Mitigation Plan (AHMP) by FEMA. This is the second update to the plan. The next subsequent update will be due in 2029. An approved mitigation plan is required for a jurisdiction to be eligible for certain federal mitigation funding following a disaster. In addition, if a major disaster strikes a jurisdiction without a current plan, FEMA will require the jurisdiction to complete a plan.

Langlade County Comprehensive Plan 2019

The Langlade County Comprehensive Plan.  The plan provides detailed information on the county and also includes all seventeen towns, a village and one city.

The Farmland Preservation Plan’s required elements are incorporated into this Langlade County Comprehensive Plan. Those required elements were revised in 2024.

Forest County Comprehensive Plan 2024

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 vision for future planning and community decisions.

The comprehensive plan law (§66.1001 WI Stats. Adobe PDF 113 KB) defines the contents of a local comprehensive plan as a combination of nine chapters—Issues & Opportunities; Natural, Cultural, & Agricultural Resources; Housing; Transportation; Economic Development; Land Use; Utilities & Community Facilities; Intergovernmental Cooperation; and Implementation.

According to §66.1001 WI Stats., if a town, village, city, or county engages in official mapping, subdivision regulation, or zoning, those actions must be consistent with that community’s comprehensive plan. This plan is an update of the 2011 Comprehensive Plan adopted by the county.

Wausau Safe Routes To School

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs are an opportunity to make walking and bicycling to school safer for children in grades K-8, and to increase the number of children who choose to walk and bicycle. On a broader level, SRTS programs can enhance children’s health and well-being, ease traffic congestion near the school, and improve community members’ overall quality of life.

Regional SRTS HomePedestrian SafetyResourcesBicycle SafetySRTS PSAs

Planning Process and Schedule

In 2018, the City of Wausau and the Wausau School District won a WisDOT SRTS planning grant to create a SRTS Plan.

In the fall of 2021, the City of Wausau and the Wausau School District began SRTS Planning with the assistance of the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (NCWRPC). The NCWRPC is guiding the Wausau SRTS Task Force through the planning process.

Data collection occurred in spring & summer 2022. Further analysis with the SRTS Task Force will occur throughout the 2022-2023 school year.

Plan development occurred in 2023.

Plan review and revision will occur throughout the 2023-2024 school year.

Plan adoption is anticipated in spring/summer 2024.

Implementation of the Wausau SRTS Plan can begin anytime thereafter into many years later.

Schools in Wausau SRTS Plan:

John Muir Middle School
Thomas Jefferson Elementary
Grant Elementary
G.D. Jones Elementary
Lincoln Elementary
Horace Mann Middle School
Riverview Elementary
Franklin Elementary
Hawthorn Hills Elementary
John Marshall Elementary

Make questions or comments about the planning here.
(Email link to submit comments on this plan.)

Athens Elementary Safe Routes To School

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs are an opportunity to make walking and bicycling to school safer for children in grades K-8, and to increase the number of children who choose to walk and bicycle. On a broader level, SRTS programs can enhance children’s health and well-being, ease traffic congestion near the school, and improve community members’ overall quality of life.

Regional SRTS HomePedestrian SafetyResourcesBicycle SafetySRTS PSAs

Planning Process
In 2022, the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and School District of Athens won a WisDOT SRTS planning grant to create a SRTS Plan for Athens Elementary. In the fall of 2023, the Village and Athens Elementary began SRTS Planning with the assistance of the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (NCWRPC). The NCWRPC guided the Athens Elementary SRTS Task Force through the planning process.

Athens Elementary SRTS Task Force
Joy Redmann, Athens Elementary Principal
Jamey Handschke, Buildings and Grounds Supervisor
Andrea Sheridan, Superintendent
Tanner Nowacki, Evening Custodian
Julie Weideman, Parent
Carla Nowak, Kindergarten Teacher
Kathy Luther, Grade 2 Teacher
Beth Steinke, Business Office Manager
Bridget Kottke, Parent
Officer Aaron Stencil, Athens Police Department
Lisa Czech, Clerk, Village of Athens
Fred Heider, Planner, North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission

School Data
Athens Elementary
-Parent Survey Results
Map 3 – Site Assessment (Not available yet.)
Map 4 – Transportation (Not available yet.)
Map 5 – School Routes (Not available yet.)
Map 6 – Recommendations (Not available yet.)

Make questions or comments about the planning here.
(Email link to submit comments on this plan.)

Marathon Area Elementary Safe Routes To School

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs are an opportunity to make walking and bicycling to school safer for children in grades K-8, and to increase the number of children who choose to walk and bicycle. On a broader level, SRTS programs can enhance children’s health and well-being, ease traffic congestion near the school, and improve community members’ overall quality of life.

Regional SRTS HomePedestrian SafetyResourcesBicycle SafetySRTS PSAs

Planning Process
In 2022, the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and Marathon School District won a WisDOT SRTS planning grant to create a SRTS Plan for Marathon Area Elementary. In the fall of 2023, Marathon City and Marathon Area Elementary began SRTS Planning with the assistance of the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (NCWRPC). The NCWRPC guided the Marathon Area Elementary SRTS Task Force through the planning process.

Marathon Area Elementary SRTS Task Force
Richard Parks, Ed.S., District Administrator
Max Wienke, Elementary & Middle School Principal
Connor Ellenbecker, MAES/MVA Associate Principal
Brian Boehm, Director of Maintenance
Tyler Geske, Chief, Marathon City Police Department
Steve Cherek, Village Administrator – Treasurer, Village of Marathon City
Fred Heider, AICP, Planner, North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission

 

School Data

Marathon Area Elementary School
-Parent Survey Results
Map 3A – Site Assessment (Not available yet.)
Map 4A – Transportation (Not available yet.)
Map 5A – School Routes (Not available yet.)
Map 6A – Recommendations (Not available yet.)

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Make questions or comments about the planning here.
(Email link to submit comments on this plan.)