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             Center of Community Economic Development
                University of Wisconsin-Extenstion

                  COMMUNITY ECONOMICS NEWSLETTER
No. 246 	                            	          April, 1997
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Economic Development and Land Use: Different Strokes for Different Folks 
               by Dave Marcouiller & Gary Green**


Integrative community development planning is often described as a
function of the interplay between involved stakeholders.  In rural
Wisconsin, these interdependent stakeholders include public policy
makers, the private business sector, residents of the host community,
and seasonal visitors.  The manner in which different groups interact
in local situations and these groups' access and involvement in
community decisions forms public opinion regarding local development
and land use.

Class differences in addition to the relative strength and power
between local residents and seasonal visitors creates an underlying
tension and is reflected in attitudes and perceptions of how the
local area should develop.  The focus of this short column is to
discuss what we do know about these alternative local development
perceptions between two important stakeholder groups in Northern
Wisconsin _ recreational homeowners and the residents of the local
community.

These differential attitudes transcend beyond direct market impacts
to underlying issues of regional economic growth and land use. 
Studying the situation in Forest County, Wisconsin, we found that
local residents were much less supportive of land use planning
compared to recreational homeowners1 .  Furthermore, our data
suggests that the longer these two groups reside in the area, the
more divergent their views on land use and zoning become.  These
results are consistent with the results of others and underscore the
importance of looking at recreational developments with respect to
the perceptions of relevant stakeholder groups.  Other findings
include:

1.Class differences (measured by household income levels) have an
important role in explaining attitudes toward land use controls, but
do not explain away differences between seasonal and full-time
residents. 	Wealthier full-time residents appear more like seasonal
homeowners in their support for land use controls 	and zoning.

2.The length of residence and interest in county-wide issues affect
attitudes toward growth and development.  The longer a person resides
in the local community, the stronger is their support for economic
growth activities.  The more active a person is in local issues, the
stronger is their support for land use controls.

3.Local residents who are dependent on local jobs and social contacts
have much stronger views in support of 	local growth and development
than those who are not as dependent.

4.Although seasonal residents do not tend to be very well integrated
into the local community, they do maintain strong social ties with
other recreational homeowners and frequently belong to local
organizations and associations established on the lake.

5.This lack of local dependence and the development of a sense of
community among lake residents tends to prevent seasonal residents
from developing attachments with permanent residents and leads to 
very different positions regarding local growth and development. 

Important differences exist in how growth and development is viewed
between seasonal visitors, residents, and local business owners. 
Seasonal visitors are primarily interested in physical appearance,
human sociocultural comfort and affordability in the short-term. 
Local residents are typically dependent upon local economic activity
and view development as a necessity.  Local businesses tend to view
development with an over-riding interest in resulting demand for the
goods and services they sell and the appreciation of assets which
results from economic growth.

Recreational homes have many impacts on rural regions that are
important in understanding their full development potential.  These
impacts extend beyond the marketplace and include the general
perceptions of economic growth, development and land use that vary by
stakeholder group.  Development practitioners have been guilty of
overlooking the importance of recreational homeowners in remote rural
regions of Wisconsin.  The future activities of seasonal residents
will inevitably force local policy makers and development
practitioners to seek more complete answers to their local questions.


Ron Shaffer
Community Development Specialist

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* Dave Marcouiller is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist,
Dept. Of Urban & Regional Planning, Center for Community Economic
Development, Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison.  Gary Green is a
Professor with the Dept. Of Rural Sociology, University of
Wisconsin-Madison.


 1/ This topic is more fully addressed in a co-authored article
 primarily written by Gary P. Green entitled "Local dependency, land
 use attitudes, and economic development: comparisons between seasonal
 and permanent residents" which appears in the most recent issue of
 Rural Sociology.  Interested readers can obtain a copy of this by
 calling Gary at (608) 262-9532.


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If you're interested in receiving a paper copy of the Community 
Economics Newsletter, please contact the Center for Community 
Economic Development, 1327 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53715 or 
call (608) 265-8136 or e-mail me at hamilton@aae.wisc.edu
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