Agenda - Council Work Session - 12/07/2010

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The system plans /statements prepared by the Metropolitan Council for these regional systems should be specific in terms of the size, location and timing of regional investments in order to allow for consideration in local comprehensive planning. System plans should clearly state the criteria by which local plans will be judged for consistency and the criteria that will be used to find that a local plan is more likely than not to have a substantial impact on or contain a substantial departure from metropolitan system plans. Additional regional systems should only be established if there is a compelling metropolitan problem or concern that can best be addressed through the designation. Common characteristics of the four existing regional systems include public ownership of the system and its components and an established regional or state funding source. These characteristics should be present in any new regional system that might be established. Water supply does not meet these criteria. IV -F Review of Local Comprehensive Plans In reviewing local comprehensive plans and plan amendments, the Metropolitan Council should: ■ Recognize that its role is to review and comment, unless it is found that the local plan is more likely than not to have a substantial impact on or contain a substantial departure from one of the four system plans; ■ Be aware of the statutory time constraints imposed by the Legislature on plan amendments and development applications; • Provide for immediate effectuation of plan amendments that have no potential for substantial impact on systems plans; • Require the information needed for the Metropolitan Council to complete its review, but not prescribe additional content or format beyond that which is required by the Metropolitan Land Use Planning Act (LUPA); • When a city's local comprehensive plan is deemed incompatible with the Met Council's systems plans, Metro Cities supports a formal appeals process that includes a peer review and encourages cities and the Met Council to work in a cooperative and timely fashion toward the resolution of outstanding issues. Metro Cities opposes the imposition of sanctions or monetary penalties when a city's local comprehensive plan is deemed incompatible with the Met Council's systems plans or the plan fails to meet a statutory deadline when the city has made legitimate efforts to meet Met Council requirements. • Concerning'flexible' residential development and achieving consistency with the Metropolitan Council's system plans and policies, Metro Cities supports the 2011 Legislative Policies 27