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3 Planning & Development Update Comprehensive Plan 2040 The City recently finished its required 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update. The Metropolitan Land Planning Act requires all cities and counties in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (7-counties) to adopt a Comprehensive Plan (“Plan”), and to update and amend those plans on a decennial basis. The Plan is required to comply with the Metropolitan Council’s regional system plans that include transportation (highways and transit), wastewater services, airports, parks and open space. The City is required to submit the Plan update must be submitted to the Metropolitan Council for review and approval. What is a Comprehensive Plan? A Comprehensive Plan establishes a community’s long-term vision, goals, strategies and policies for guiding future changes and investments. The Plan is intended to serve as a roadmap for the City for the next 20-year planning period. The Lake Elmo Comprehensive Plan Update addresses future land uses, housing, economic development, transportation, parks, trails, open space, natural resources and city services/facilities including sewer and water systems. In 2018, with input from the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Panel, the Planning Commission and the City Council, the consultants for the City prepared a draft of the Comprehensive Plan update. Some of the highlights of the City’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan include goals and strategies about character and governance; land use; balanced development and growth; housing; parks, trails and open space; and transportation and infrastructure. The Land Use Chapter of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan has the current estimated and forecasted population and household numbers for Lake Elmo for 2018, 2020, 2030 and 2040. In 2018, the City’s estimated population was 10,521 and it is expected to grow to 22,300 persons by 2040. For households, there are now an estimated 3,619 households in Lake Elmo and the City is expecting there will be 8,200 households in the City by 2040. The City has included in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan two new land uses for Lake Elmo - mixed use business and a mixed use business park. These land use categories area for some of the areas south of 10th Street in which the City assumes the land will develop with a minimum of 50 percent residential uses in each. The 2040 Plan includes a rural land use designation for those areas of the City with an expected development density range of 0.1 – 2 residential units per acre. The Land Use Plan also has a range of residential land use designations for the areas with (or those the City expect will have) sanitary sewer with residential densities of 1.5 units per acre up to 15 units per acre. The City included information in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan about balanced development and growth and a housing chapter. Specifically, the housing chapter underscores the dynamics behind the role and importance of housing as a key element within the Comprehensive Plan and the projected need for housing in Lake Elmo over the next 20 years. This draft update was reviewed and approved by the Planning Commission and City Council in early 2019. The City then sent the proposed Comprehensive Plan update to the Metropolitan Council for their review and approval. The Metropolitan Council approved the Lake Elmo Comprehensive Plan update (the 2040 Plan) on October 23, 2019 and the City Council gave the 2040 Comprehensive Plan final approval on November 5, 2019. The City will be using the 2040 Comprehensive Plan as a guide to help in decision-making in matters related to land use and other development-related topics in Lake Elmo for the next several years. The 2040 Comprehensive Plan is available on the City of Lake Elmo Website at Lakeelmo.org