Agenda - Council - 06/10/1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Comprehensive Planning Mower County, MN; Hoisington Koegler Group was responsible for the most recent update of the Mower County Comprehensive Plan and many of its codes and ordinances. Mower County was experiencing significant rural/urban conflicts, most notably, rural residential development in areas surrounding Austin, rural residential]agricultural conflicts related to animals and feedlots and annexation disputes. HKGi's approach to growth management in Mower County included a strategy that provides for the definition of urban expansion areas for each City in the County and the protection of these expansion areas by the County, using County zoning, until such areas are annexed to the City. This growth management technique is voluntary. The growth management strategy was also designed to tie land use decisions to soils and agricultural land capabilities. The Mower County Comprehensive Plan employs CER's as a determinate of how land should be used and the intensity of use. The County and HKGi also sought and received agreement from the most directly affected townships surrounding Austin to allow for the delineation of the future urban expansion area. Prior to the Comprehensive Plan being completed, Lansing, Red Rock and Austin townships virtually opposed ail annexations by the City of Austin. The planning process was heavily steeped in public participation which resulted in the easy adoption of the plan. The themes of the Comprehensive Plan were growth management, coexistence, cooperation, environmental protection, rational urban expansion and agricultural land preservation. HKGi also updated the County's zoning, shoreland management, surface water management and on-site sewage treatment ordinances to bring them into compliance with the Comprehensive Plan. Becket, MN; HKGi recently completed a very unique Comprehensive Plan for the City of Becker, Minnesota. Becker is a very small town that understands the value of urban design to community life, and as it is located on a major growth corridor between the Twin Cities and St. Cloud, the community is changing. Population growth has been tremendous, and its projected growth rate will leave it without land for additional residential development well before the end of the century. The plan for Becker utilizes an approach that blends planning and urban design in an effort to seek meaning in the natural, historical and cultural landscape, and translates into an urban design framework that creates community connectedness. HOISINGTON KOEGLER GROUP iNC RELEVANT EXPERIENCE Hoising~on Koegler Group Inc.