Agenda - Council - 04/14/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council actions to leverage the Sewer Availability Charge structure to expand affordable housing • Collaboratively explore opportunities to promote affordable housing production through its handling of SAC, and, if any are identified, include those in the Sewer Availability Charqe Procedure Manual. Consider including an "Affordable Housing SAC Credit" in the 2040 Water Resources Policy Plan to be adopted in 2015. Part III: Council Policies and Roles, page 89: Review of Housing Requirements for Local Comprehensive Plans Cities, townships, and counties in the seven -county area prepare local comprehensive plans as required by the Metropolitan Land Planning Act. These plans must include a housing element and a housing implementation program. Local governments will begin this decade's round of local comprehensive plan updates following Council adoption of Thrive MSP 2040 and the systems and policy plans (including this Housing Policy Plan) and the anticipated September 2015 distribution of Systems Statements. Comprehensive plan updates must be submitted to the Council in 2018. The Council assists local governments to create consistent, compatible, and coordinated local comprehensive plans that achieve local visions within the regional policy framework. The Council reviews updated local comprehensive plans based on the requirements of the Metropolitan Land Planning Act and the comprehensive development guide (Thrive MSP 2040 and the system and policy plans). The Council considers each local comprehensive plan's compatibility with the plans of other communities, consistency with adopted Council policies, and conformance with metropolitan system plans. If the Council finds that a community's local comprehensive plan is more likely than not to have a substantial impact on or contain a substantial departure from metropolitan system plans, the Council can require the community to modify its local plan to assure conformance with the metropolitan systems plans (Minn. Stat. 473.175). Under the Metropolitan Land Planning Act, local comprehensive plans must include a housing element that: • Contains standards, plans, and programs for providing adequate housing opportunities to meet existing local and regional housing needs; • Contains standards, plans, and programs for providing adequate housing opportunities to meet projected local and regional housing needs; Aacknowledges the community's share of the region's need for low- and moderate -income housing (the Need); and promotes the availability of land for the development of low- and moderate -income housing; and • Includes an implementation section identifying the public programs, fiscal devices, a+€ official controls, and specific actions the community will use to address their existing and projected needs Need (Minn. Stat. 473.859, subd. 2 and 4). With the development of this Housing Policy Plan, the Council has identified an opportunity to improve the consistency and quality of the housing elements and implementation programs of local comprehensive plans. While communities are now guiding enough residential land at densities to support affordable housing development to address their Need, the Council had not previously provided specific guidance to local communities on other housing element requirements in the Metropolitan Land Planning Act. comprehensive plass could do more to strengthen the connection. For example, comprehensive plans could identify sites (or the characteristics of citcs) that offcr the bcct opportunitict) for affordable or mixed income housing. In addition, local governments can improve the likelihood of new affordable housing by expressing what types and locations of new affordable or mixed incomc housing they would support or finance. Page - 9 1 METROPOLITAN COUNCIL