Adopted Comprehensive Plan
On July 5, 2022, the Town Plan Commission recommended and the Town Board adopted the Comprehensive Plan update. Like the Town’s 2015 Comprehensive Plan, the Plan update is divided into the Conditions and Issues volume and the Vision and Directions volume.  The Vision and Directions volume contains all of the Plan’s vision, goals, objectives, policies, and programs—including the future land use map and land development and preservation policies.  You can find the Vision and Directions volume by clicking here, and the Conditions and Issues volume by clicking here. 

Why Update the Comprehensive Plan?
The Town of Cottage Grove completed a full review and update to both volumes of the Town’s 2015 Comprehensive Plan. The Plan update process enabled the Town and its residents to revisit and revise the Town’s future vision for growth and preservation. The update also allowed the Plan to incorporate new Census, land use, and other base information, placing the Plan on a logical 10-year update cycle. The entire Plan update finished in 2022.

Focus Areas
The main focus areas of the Comprehensive Plan update are farmland preservation, policies concerning the location, amount, and scale of residential and commercial development, and evolving intergovernmental situations and relationships with the neighboring Village of Cottage Grove, Village of McFarland, and City of Madison.

Timeline
The timeline for the Comprehensive Plan update can be found here.

Community Input Survey
In March and April 2021, the Town of Cottage Grove conducted a community survey to gather residents’ input on the vision for the future of the Town, community planning issues most relevant to the Comprehensive Plan update, and community priorities.  The survey was conducted using Survey Monkey – an internet survey tool.  The Town used various means of media to direct residents to the survey and received 213 responses.  A summary of the results of the survey can be found here.

Future Land Use Map
On June 16, 2021 a meeting occurred with MDRoffers Consulting, Town Staff, the Town Plan Commission, and owners of 35+ acres which focused on the future land use map and its policies with landowner input.  Town Planner Mark Roffers gave an overview of the Town’s then-current Comprehensive Plan and the update process.  A video of the meeting is linked here and a copy of the presentation is linked here.