A sometimes bitter debate has ended as Oneida County's Comprehensive Planning Oversight Committee has sent their work to the full county board to consider.
The state requires local units of government to put together a land use plan.
Some Oneida county towns objected to the plan labeled 'smart growth' by the state, thinking the plan was intrusive on local property rights of homeowners and towns. The county adopted a plan to have each town and the city of Rhinelander put together their own land use plans, called a "bottom up" approach. Other counties adopted a 'top down' approach where the county made the plan which was implemented by the towns. Five towns were holdouts, but as committee chair Gary Baier(buyer) says, the concerns were addressed...
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"....a good thing about it is all 20 towns are in favor, the city of Rhinelander is in favor, Everybody's on board, and I'm very happy about that...."
The committee spent three years in the process. Baier says when the full county board considers the plan in August, other points might arise, but they will consider adopting it at that time.
