If the City of Stanley and its immediate border governments in Delmar, Edson, and Thorp townships want to prosper both now and into the future, they will need to cooperate. But while Wisconsin state law ensures that a city’s own development must be in line with its overall Comprehensive Plan, no such state statute exists for a municipal body to align its own plan with that of neighboring governments close by. In short, where Wisconsin law is rather non-specific, local authorities must take the lead to get along, and that takes good communication, to list just one needed quality. But what’s the big deal anyway? Turns out it’s all part of a larger vision.

“The City of Stanley will work cooperatively with the neighboring towns, Chippewa County, Clark County, the School District, and state agencies to provide residents with a wide variety of cost-efficient, non-duplicative services for the betterment of all residents,” the Intergovernmental Cooperative Vision Statement reads in section 8.4 of the Comprehensive Plan. “Residents will be informed on all matters pertinent to the City operations and land use issues.”

First incorporated as a village back in the spring of 1895 after breaking from Edson township to chart its own destiny, then raised to the status of a class four city under Wisconsin state law in the spring of 1898 after an original plat was registered in the fall of 1881, the City of Stanley has grown much over the past 139 years, and is now looking toward the future. To that end, the City of Stanley Plan Commission met, reviewed, and ultimately gave its stamp of approval October 6th to the final draft of the Comprehensive Plan for the City moving forward as prepared by the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (WCWRPC), also a government entity. But what might that future hold for Stanley and the surrounding area? This remains to be seen, but the Comprehensive Plan lays out more of the vision.

“The City of Stanley will retain its smalltown character by promoting a continued mix of open and natural areas and development,” the vision statement for the future of Stanley’s “Agricultural, Natural and Cultural Resources” makes known in Section 6 of the Plan.

Paying homage to the local and county-wide farming tradition while acknowledging the challenges to small farms, the Comprehensive Plan states in part that, “the City of Stanley desires to protect the economically productive farmland in adjacent towns (Edson, Delmar, Thorp), by developing the vacant and agricultural lands within its incorporated boundaries.” To that end, The Comprehensive Plan concentrates future industrial zoning in current agricultural lands on the city’s west side, while planning a commercial zoning concentration on the city’s east Business Park along Highway 29. Among the current or future confirmed occupants of this latter area are the local hospital known as Our Lady of Victory Hospital and Courtesy Ford, with the hospital called “institutional” on current zoning maps, but “commercial” on the future one. As to neighboring townships, the 2019 municipal population estimates at the Wisconsin Department of Administration at doa.wi.gov OA predicts a population increase for Delmar of 44 residents or 4.7 percent to 980 people in 2020. For the Town of Edson, the Department of Administration estimates a drop of 21 residents or 1.93 percent over the past decade to 1,068 people as of 2020. For Thorp township, meanwhile, the stats at the DOA website predict a rise of 16 residents from the last census in 2010, to come out at 824 people in 2020. Per the Comprehensive Plan, no conflict is either foreseen now or on the horizon between the locally intertwined small governments. With neighboring municipal plans reportedly either expired or set to expire in 2020 per the City of Stanley’s new Comprehensive Plan, Clark County was not reported to have adopted a comprehensive plan. Listed among existing partnerships and agreements with other municipalities is a contract with Boyd for ambulance service and a Fire Department agreement with the town of Wilson, south of Edson and in Eau Claire County. That’s not all though.

“While not technically intergovernmental, it is important to recognize the efforts of the City’s many volunteer and service groups, such as the Sportsman’s Club, Lions Club, Stanley-Boyd school groups, 4-H groups Knights of Columbus, area churches and scouting organizations,” the Plan states. In contrast with Google’s ‘business’ designation, meanwhile, area church properties are currently labeled as ‘institutional’ under the current land use map and as ‘governmental and utilities/civic’ under future land use plans. The Dodge School and Gymnasium property labeled as ‘undeveloped’ at present is classed under ‘residential’ in new land use plans.

Speaking of education, listed alongside municipal governments and volunteer organizations, are school districts. Regarding the Stanley-Boyd School district locally, the Plan states that “most school districts are experiencing declining budgets, the need to update facilities, and the expectation to maintain a high level of educational standards.” So how to make everything work in the local government arena? That’s part of the goal as well.

“Stanley maintains proactive and constructive communication and working relationships with adjacent and overlapping governmental jurisdictions on issues of mutual interest,” the goal statement begins. “The City is home to a government that is transparent and provides ample and accessible opportunities for public input,” it finishes out. Those opportunities are primarily made known in public meeting notices, while the Plan also calls for “an open dialogue” between the City of Stanley and locally adjacent governments, on issues of “urban expansion and annexation, extraterritorial plat review, rural development, farmland, and natural resources protection.” After all, official governmental boundaries are largely man-made, but those embracing common unity in the area are much less defined.