Agenda - Planning Commission - 04/20/2015 - Joint with EPB

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RELEVANT LINKS: Minn. Stat. § 462.355, subd. 2. Minn. Stat. § 462.355, subd. 3. A comprehensive plan also protects and makes the most out of public investment by ensuring that development coincides with investments in infrastructure. A comprehensive plan protects and promotes the value of private property. Finally, a comprehensive plan provides legal justification for a community's land -use decisions and ordinances. The comprehensive plan itself can contain many different elements, and importantly, is not limited in scope to land use. The land use plan lays out desired timing, location, design and density for future development, redevelopment, or preservation. In addition to a specific land use plan, comprehensive plans typically include plans for: • Public or community facilities, • Parks and open space, • Housing, • Natural resources, • Transportation, and • Infrastructure. Most comprehensive plans include a variety of maps, including a land use plan map that indicates how the plan guides the future land use in different areas of the community. State law provides certain processes that cities must follow for comprehensive plan adoption and amendment. Prior to adoption of a comprehensive plan, the planning commission must hold at least one public hearing. A notice of the time, place, and purpose of the hearing must be published once in the official newspaper of the municipality, and at least 10 days before the day of the hearing. Unless otherwise provided in a city charter, the city council may, by resolution by a two-thirds vote of all of its members, adopt and amend the comprehensive plan or a portion of the plan. This means that on a five -member council, the comprehensive plan must receive at least four affirmative votes. After a city has adopted a comprehensive plan, all future amendments to the plan must be referred to the planning commission for review and comment. No plan amendment may be acted upon by the city council until it has received the recommendation of the planning commission, or until 60 days have elapsed from the date an amendment proposed by the city council has been submitted to the planning commission for its recommendation. In submitting review and comment to council, the planning commission serves in a strictly advisory role. The city council ultimately decides on the acceptance, rejection or the revision of the plan, and is not bound by planning commission recommendations. League of Minnesota Cities Information Memo: 3/1/2011 Planning and Zoning 101 Page 4