storyhill.net, Dec.11, 2006

SEWRPC study committee advances
All options on the table, sponsor says

Dec. 11 -- The county's relationship with the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission would get special scrutiny, under a resolution endorsed last week by a County Board committee.

The Parks Committee vote was 7-0.

"We give them $837,000 a year in funding," said County Supervisor John Weishan, the primary sponsor of the measure. "What do we actually get for that funding?"

SEWRPC is the agency that recommended a major freeway expansion plan that would place most of the burden of tax base loss and environmental damage on Milwaukee and MIlwaukee County. SEWRPC currently is conducting a study on regional water supply issues some fear wil result in new efforts to pump Great Lakes water across the subcontinental divide.

County Supervisor Lynne DeBruin, a co-sponsor of the resolution, said a big concern for her is the county's representation on SEWRPC compared to its funding obligation.

Each of the seven SEWRPC counties has three votes on SEWRPC, but Milwaukee County provides by far the most funding for the agency.

SEWRPC also often short-changed environmental justice considerations when consideration of community impacts should be built into SEWRPC's daily activities.

The proposed committee would include a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union to specifically address those concerns.It also would include representatives from the Parks Department, the Department of Transportation and Public Works, the Department of Administrative Services, the Corporation Counsel, County Board staff, and two other members to be appointed by County Board Chairman Lee Holloway.

Weishan said the Pewaukee-based planning agency has "more of a 1970s, 1980s view of land use." Ideas about urban environments have changed, he said.

"When you look at their urban, exurban planning, I don't know if it meshes very well," Weishan said. SEWRPC is "not quite up to the 21st century cutting edge thinking."

Weishan said all options -- from having the county take over some services SEWRPC now provides to withdrawing from the agency -- are on the table.

The ultimate goal, Weishan said, is to get "the best performance and best return on the dollar for Milwaukee County and all of us who live here."