Agenda Packets - 1983/10/24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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APPENDIX A DISCUSSION OF EXISTING METROPOLITAN DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK GOALS AND POLICIES Minnesota Statutes direct the Metropolitan Council to prepare a comprehensive development guide that recognizes and encompasses physical, social and economic needs of the Metropolitan Area. The Metropolitan Development Guide is the long- range regional plan that provides a framework for physical growth. The Metropolitan Development Framework (MOF) is the Guide's chapter for managing growth of the Region in an orderly and economic fashion. It sets forth the basic data and assumptions upon which plans for regional systems (highways, transit, sewers, parks and airports) are based. The MDF thus provides the organizing principles for the single -function guide chapters in the Development Guide. The fundamental premise of the MDF is that full use of existing public facil- ities, such as sewers and roads, should take place before further outward expansion of the urban area occurs. The MDF is not designed to reduce or slow regional growth, but rather to manage or guide the growth that is occurring into areas with existing public services. If growth occurs in areas already served by regional roads and sewers instead of continued urban sprawl, then public investments could be reduced substantially. The key principle is to maximize the use of existing public investments and still provide a variety of living environments for residents in the Metropolitan Area. The MDF contains the following concepts: o The MDF first divides the Seven -County Region into an urban service area and a rural service area. Growth is to be guided in the Metropolitan Urban Service Area (MUSA). No major investments or development should occur in the Rural Service Area. o The MUSA consists of four types of communities and lifestyles and the Council has policies for each: Metropolitan Centers, Fully Developed Area (mature suburbs), Area of Planned Urbanization (developing suburbs) and Freestanding Growth Centers. o The MUSA is also divided into eight sectors. Each sector must contain enough developable land to accommodate 1990 forecasted growth for that sector plus a five year overage. Areas with severe environmental constraints to urban development are not counted as developable land. o The MOF contains a general priority system for public investments: first to the Metropolitan Centers and Fully Developed Area, then to the Area of Planned Urbanization and Freestanding Growth Centers, and finally to Rural Centers. ECONOMIC GOALS AND POLICIES GOALS DISCUSSION The current Metropolitan Council goals in the Metropolitan Development Framework (MDF) related to the economy seek to have a Region with the following characteristics in 1990: 25