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I Report on Comprehensive Plan Focus Group Recommendations December 29. 1997 Issue 5 - Individual Property RiQhts - While everyone agreed that both residents and landowners have rights, there was no resolution of this issue. Issue 6 - Parks. Recreation. Trails. and Open Space - This does not represent an issue, however, the Focus Group recommends as follows: . More emphasis should be placed on open space in rural areas. . More emphasis should be placed on urban active parks in urban areas. . All parks should not be required to serve all purposes (active athletic uses should be clustered into larger parks). . The option to expand Central Park should be protected, as should the expansion capabilities of all of the City's parks. . Parks should both be able to grow and change to accommodate changing demographics and numbers of residents. . Design and location of trails should be based on their use. . Should look at opportunities to preserve open space and the urban forest. Issue 7 - Protect the Rural Lifestvle - It was agreed that the issue of ruraVurban compatibility has already been addressed with the resolution of the above issues. CONCLUSIONS The issues resolution process has been extremely difficult for all parties for a number of reasons. There is great distrust of government, especially the Metropolitan Council. Some members of the Focus Group want to defy regional growth management policies. The Metropolitan Council imposed a minimum rural residential density limit of one unit per 10-acres, thus forcing urban densities into areas that may be better developed at rural densities or something more closely approximating the surrounding existing development. Some members of the Focus Group feel the City cannot be trusted to make decisions regarding urban growth based on past performance, thus necessitating a referendum. Many others feel the City has done a fine job. What does all of this mean as we progress with the comprehensive planning process? As part of the alternatives development stage, we should look at one concept which brings the Comprehensive Plan literally into compliance with the charter as it is currently written. With this alternative we should be able to determine the degree to which a charter based comprehensive plan departs from regional growth management policy. On the other hand, we should look at a concept which blends regional growth management policy and the City's own community vision. This latter concept will likely be more in keeping with what we were told by the community visioning session participants. Page 3