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Council. He provided a brief summary of the information contained in THRIVE MSP 2040. He identified trends in the region and projected trends for the future. Member Bennett arrived at 6:15 p.m. Mr. Wojchik provided information on the regional ten-year planning cycle, noting that the system statements are legal documents that are released to the cities that include forecasts for things such as population and housing. He noted that once the system statements are released, cities then have three years to complete their updated Comprehensive Plan and advised that the deadline for final submission of the local Comprehensive Plans is December 31, 2018. He stated that there are planning assistance grants available to help cities with the cost of updating their Comprehensive Plan, noting that the Met Council just signed an agreement with Ramsey to receive a grant. He provided more details on the system statements that are released and noted that the statement for each city is tailored specifically to that city. He reviewed the role of a Comprehensive Plan, noting that it should act as umbrella for the official controls and policies. He reviewed the elements of the Comprehensive Plan that are required by statute and the additional elements that are recommended. He stated that housing is a required element of the plan and reviewed the different aspects that must be covered under that topic. He displayed the housing forecasts for Ramsey that were included in the system statements. Member Bauer arrived at 6:22 p.m. Mr. Wojchik stated that the staff from the Met Council can provide information that will be needed for the housing chapter of the plan if desired. He explained how the threshold is determined for affordable housing, noting that one third of all new households will fall into the affordable need bracket for housing. Member Torgerson arrived at 6:25 p.m. Mr. Wojchik explained how the allocation of affordable housing need is determined, noting the different factors that are considered when making those allocations. He reviewed the requirements to fulfill the Metropolitan Land Planning Act. He noted that development does not always have to be affordable housing now and used the example of a market rate apartment building that could be converted to affordable housing in the future. He explained that eight units per acre is the minimum density required to qualify for affordable housing credit, noting that the higher the minimum density, the less land that will be needed to address the allocation. He stated that the unit count for Ramsey currently is 2,190 units and therefore he does not see a problem for Ramsey. He stated that a city can put their own stamp on how they will achieve the goals through the implementation program and the tools they select to achieve the goals. He reviewed some of the tools, policies and practices that cities can use to achieve the goal of affordable housing. He highlighted some of the funds and other new resources available to reach the goal of affordable housing. He noted that while some cities choose to do just the minimum in terms of updating their Comprehensive Plan, this is the opportunity to make the plan more dynamic which will benefit the community. He reviewed some of the elements of value added planning that can be added to the plan, such as community involvement to help create the plan and evaluation of the policies and implementation strategies at the other end of the process. He City Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee/ January 9, 2017 Page 2 of 8