09/02/2008 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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The public survey was followed by the visioning process, which provided the opportunity for interested residents to look ahead to the future and define the city they desire in 2030. These two elements provide direction for guiding the future of Lino Lakes. Another element of the planning process was the City's Resource Management Plan (RMP), prepared by the Rice Creek Watershed District (the local unit of government authorized to conserve natural resources through comprehensive wetland management and planning, flood control, surface water management, etc). This RMP has been integrated into the City's Comprehensive Plan to ensure that the city's many valuable natural resources, an important community asset identified during the public survey and visioning process, are preserved. Ultimately, these three elements -the public survey, the Vision document, and the Resource Management System Plan provide a foundation for the Comprehensive Plan, which will implement the city's long -range vision and provide a guide for city officials to make those decisions necessary for achieving the vision and preserving valuable natural resource areas. What is a Vision Plan? Communities are future seeking. But first, they must be able to imagine and decide what they want the future to be. Secondly, they must decide how they are going to make this desired future become a reality. Strategic thinking is a process that brings people from all walks of life together to think about the future, create a vision, and invent ways to make this future happen through community teamwork and disciplined actions. It is an act of leadership — getting people to work together to achieve common goals and aspirations, and to develop strategies that transform visions into reality. A Vision Plan is a document recording what people think — a broad blueprint for positive change that defines a vision and key outcomes that must occur to attain this vision. Other implementation efforts and plans such as comprehensive resource management, financial, and development and redevelopment plans will assist the community, the city council, and city administration in achieving the vision. The Vision will challenge and stretch the community's imagination in defining what is possible and test its will to commit to a great and exciting, rather than "good enough ", future. It also will help forge and sustain the critical partnerships and relationships that will make the Vision a reality. Development of the Lino Lakes Vision Plan Traditionally, community visioning efforts occur as distinct undertakings, separate from comprehensive planning, that result in a citizen - created document (vision plan) presented to the city council for its consideration. The vision plan can be used to set direction and create appropriate plans and policies affecting the community's future. The four -part planning continuum initiated by the Lino Lakes City Council actively engaged citizens and integrated their participation from the beginning of the process up to the completion of the Comprehensive Plan. Each phase of the planning process allowed for the imagination of the people and content of the work product they provided to be enriched and refined, resulting in the unprecedented fully- integrated Comprehensive and Resource Management Plans. These final plans, and their associated official policy tools, will bring about in a disciplined manner the future that is consistent with the vision the community desires. The plans, once approved, must be 1 -10 • • •