07-08-2026 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Staff Report To: Mayor Fischer and Members of the Little Canada City Council From: Ben Harrington, AICP, Community Development Director Bryce Sheeran, City Administrator Date: July 8, 2026 Re: Resolution Authorizing Application for Metropolitan Council Local Planning Assistance Grant Funds for the 2050 Comprehensive Plan Update Actions To Be Considered: Motion to approve, table, or not approve: • Resolution identifying the need for planning funds and authorizing the City Administrator and Community Development Director to submit a grant application and execute subsequent funding agreements with the Metropolitan Council. Background: Under Minnesota Statutes section 473.864, subdivision 2, the City of Little Canada is required to complete its "decennial" review and update of the local comprehensive plan every ten years. The upcoming cycle requires the city to prepare and adopt its 2050 Comprehensive Plan Update by early 2028. This process involves a rigorous rewrite and modern alignment of the city's key planning elements, which carries notable technical and administrative costs. To alleviate the financial impact on local municipalities, the Metropolitan Council adopted need- based eligibility criteria on December 17, 2025, to distribute Local Planning Assistance Grant funds. These grant allocations are intended to support qualifying metropolitan cities with base funding to directly offset the consulting, data synthesis, and administrative expenses tied to completing the decennial update. The grant is non-competitive, meaning funding will be provided to eligible cities that apply with complete applications. The base funding level for this program is established at $40,000. Beyond this baseline, the grant framework provides bonus incentives, such as up to $10,000 for "Advancing Regional Goals" (progress indicators supporting local sustainability, equity, and resilience metrics) and an additional $4,000 bonus for early plan completion and submittal. When combined, Little Canada is eligible to secure up to $54,000 in total grant assistance to directly offset our expenses. Staff fully intend to target the early completion incentive and are evaluating the “Advancing Regional Goals” incentive for compatibility with Little Canada’s goals with this update. The application window for this grant is actively open and processing submissions on a rolling monthly basis through November of this year. Funds will be distributed to awards in two phases: the first allotment follows initial application approval to kickstart the project, and the final portion releases after the Metropolitan Council officially authorizes the completed plan.