Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/06/2014

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Regular Planning Commission Meeting Date: 03/06/2014 By: Tim Gladhill, Community Development 5. 5. Information Title: DISCUSSION: Receive Draft of Metropolitan Council Regional Development Framework and Preliminary Forecasts Purpose/Background: On February 26, 2014, the Metropolitan Council released the draft for comment of the Regional Development Framework, a land -use guiding document for the seven (7) county metropolitan area. This is a precursor to a required update to the City's Comprehensive Plan beginning in 2015. Over the past year, the City has been actively working through citizen engagement processes for multiple small -area or neighborhood plans in order to build an incremental work plan to update the City's Comprehensive Plan. Additionally, the City has scheduled another citizen engagement process on March 20, 2014 to review the City's Future Land Use Map as well as the Vision, Values, and Goals Statement that will serve as the foundation for the City's review of the Regional Development Framework, Regional System Plans (pending), and eventual update to the City's Comprehensive Plan. Participants in the previous Comprehensive Plan Update (2007-2009) commented that they did not feel they could influence the policies being discussed, as the Regional Development Framework and System Plans had already been approved by the Metropolitan Council. With that in mind, the City has developed a citizen engagement plan and work plan to put the Future Land Use Map first (based on the existing Vision, Values, and Goals Statement) to serve as the foundation of the City's participation in the regional planning cycle. The City desires to ensure that the regional growth forecasts are not the foundation for the City's future land use vision, but that the Future Land Use Map (our vision) drives our response and development of local growth forecast numbers. In response, the City has scheduled the citizen engagement meeting to achieve this goal and have the community scope the level of involvement and develop the work plan moving forward. The intent of this topic report is to deliver the Regional Development Framework to the Planning Commission, as well as the general community. Comments to this draft are due on April28, 2014, so Staff wanted to provide the Planning Commission and the community ample opportunity to review the document and forward comments to the City. Staff will continue to review the document and provide a recommendation to the Planning Commission at their April3, 2014 Meeting. Notification: Notification is not required at this time. Staff has advertised for the March 20, 2014 citizen engagement session in the previous two (2) rounds of the Ramsey Resident. Observations/Alternatives: The regional planning cycle involves the following: • Completion of the U.S. Census once every ten (10) years • Regional Development Framework • Regional System Plans • Local System Statements • Local Comprehensive Plan Updates