Agenda Packets - 2008/09/22 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No:7D Meeting Date: September 22, 2008 Type of Business: Council Business City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Ken Roberts, Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: 2008 Comprehensive Plan Update – Time Extension Introduction: City staff has been working on the 2008 Comprehensive Plan update. The Metropolitan Council is requiring all cities and local governments to update their plans by the end of 2008. However, because of delays in the update process, the city will not meet this deadline. As such, the City needs to request from the Metropolitan Council a time extension to complete the Comprehensive Plan update. Background: The City started the last Comprehensive Plan update in 1998 and finished it in 2001 with adoption by the City Council. Having broad public participation is a key to the success and acceptance of the document. To this end, the City formed a steering committee (task force) in 2007 to help with the plan update. They met several times in 2007 and 2008 to review and comment on the current Comprehensive Plan and to offer suggestions for changes to the Plan. When finished, the Comprehensive Plan should represent the culmination of the community’s vision for the city. On August 20, 2008, the planning commission received four updated elements or chapters of the Comprehensive Plan. They included the Introduction, Community Background, Land Use and Intergovernmental Coordination elements. At this meeting, the Commission members decided to review each of these updated elements on their own and bring comments back to the group at the next commission meeting. On September 3, 2008, the commission received the updated Housing and Implementation elements of the Comprehensive Plan. During the meeting, the commission provided staff with comments and questions about some of the statistics in the proposed housing element. They also requested that staff provide them with the latest version of the future land use map in an 11” by 17” size and in color for their review. Staff sent the commission these materials and the proposed Economic Development Element on September 11, 2008. Discussion: As Council is aware, the City has not had a Public Works Director for several months and Jim Ericson was the city’s Community Development Director for almost one year while serving as Acting Clerk-Administrator and Clerk-Administrator. This turn over in staff and hiring delays have slowed down the completion of the Comprehensive Plan update. The draft 2008 plan has nine chapters or elements. Since I joined the City in June, I, along with other City staff, have been reviewing and editing the elements. Staff had the Economic Development Commission (EDC) review and comment on the proposed Economic Development element. Staff incorporated their comments and changes into the draft element dated 8-26-08.