Laserfiche WebLink
The Council estimates that the City had approximately 5,740 housing units in 2016. Assuming that every housing unit <br />in the City becomes occupied, the City would still need to average over 410 new housing units over the next 24 years <br />to accommodate 15,600 households by 2040. This would be a historically high growth rate for the City. By comparison, <br />between 1999 and 2008, Hugo's highest 10-year period of growth in recent history, the City averaged just under 315 <br />building permits per year. <br />City Response: See response above. The City of Hugo has discussed this issue at length with Metropolitan Council <br />planning staff. <br />Summary of Advisory Comment: The Plan's employment forecasts for 2030 and 2040 appear reasonable. Council staff recommend <br />that the City utilize a 2020 employment forecast of 3,000 (the same as the adopted forecast for 2020) to reflect the most recent <br />employment estimate for Hugo (about 2,900 jobs in 2017). The City should communicate with Council staff and formally request any <br />changes to their adopted forecasts prior to submitting the Plan for formal review. <br />City Response: The City of Hugo utilized a 2020 employment forecast of 3,000. <br />Comments provided on Land Use (Michael Larson, 651-602-1407) <br />Land Use: Community Designations <br />Summary of Comments for Completeness: Although the Plan describes the community designations for Hugo, it <br />doesn't provide a map, which is required. We also recommend briefly describing the geographic areas with <br />references to the map. <br />City Response: The City of Hugo amended the Land Use Plan to include the Community Designations Map. <br />Summary of Comments for Completeness: The Agricultural and Large Lot Residential designations describe an <br />average of 1 unit per 10 acres over the entire district. This description is inconsistent with regional land use policy, as it <br />could conceivably allow higher density development in certain locations in ways that result in the premature demand for <br />urban services. The policy should be clarified, such as by including references to clustered development on individual <br />property, or the use of tools like transfer of development rights to cluster development over multiple properties. Guiding <br />density should not otherwise vary from property to property within the district. <br />City Response: The City of Hugo does not allow clustering. No change was made to the draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan. <br />Land Use: Agricultural Preserves Program <br />Summary of Comments for Completeness: The City has properties that are enrolled in the Agricultural Preserves Program. <br />Communities must guide these areas as 1 unit per 40 acres as required by Minn. Stat. 473H.03. The Plan proposes guiding these <br />areas as Agriculture, which allows 1 unit per 10 acres. <br />City Response: The 2040 Comprehensive Plan addressed the Agricultural Reserves Program through the zoning map, which <br />includes the 1 per 40 restriction. Language was also added to the Land Use Plan guiding Long Term Agricultural property as 1 unit <br />per 40 acres. <br />Land Use: Future Land Use and Staging <br />Summary of Comments for Completeness: The Plan needs to include a table that identifies the acreage by land use <br />designation and the 10-year timeframe for development. <br />Corrin Wendell <br />March 4, 2019 <br />