I have read much of the most recent draft of the Blueprint 2030, and it
seems to me to be full of conflicting goals, as well as being considered
about 4 years prematurely.
1. Cities are required to update their comprehensive plans every 10 years.
Some cities have not yet received Met Council approval for their updates in
relation to the 2020 plan. Other cities and governmental units have spent a
lot of time and money to make this update, and made long range policy and
planning decisions based on the 2020 plan. In Lakeville, we had 22
community meetings, endless worksessions, and updated our zoning ordinance
and our zoning map. Now, the Met Council is saying "Never mind that, we
want a new plan." It undermines the legitimacy of any planning they might
do, if they can just start over at any time. By the time that cities are
required to update their plans again, the 2030 plan will already be out of
date, and taxpayers will be paying for the Met Council to do yet another
plan.
2. In the Blueprint, under Strategies for the Developing area, Table 1, the
housing goals state "achieve community-wide housing densities of 3-5 units
per residential acre for new residential development ('residential acres'
are defined as areas of residential land use that include local streets,
alleys, parks, and locally protected natural resources but exclude major
transportation rights-of-way, major parks and open space, NWI wetlands and
steep slopes over 18%)"
This would have the effect of penalizing developing cities for any local
environmental protection and local parks, as they would have to increase
their density on the housing part each time they protected a small wooded
area or built a neighborhood park, or increased setbacks from
environmentally sensitive areas. It would also penalize cities with ponding
systems to pre-treat storm runoff before it goes into the wetlands, as there
is no discussion of exempting stormwater ponding and drainageways from the
density calculation. The soil in Lakeville doesn't drain well, so we need a
lot more ponding/drainage areas than other parts of the metro. Also, what
constitutes a major transportation right of way? In our area, there are no
state highways, very little funding for county highways, and there has been
very little funding for Lakeville to get access to I-35, so there are some
collector streets and parkways that serve high volumes of traffic. Are they
major transportation rights of way? Because of the traffic volumes, we have
to have larger rights of way and increased setbacks for the berming and
landscaping necessary to meet noise guidelines. This again hurts us in the
density department.
3. The Met Council is already taking requests for proposals for a 10 mile
sewer extension to Elko and New Market, based on the goals of the 2030 plan,
even though the 2030 plan has not yet been approved, and these cities have
not signed on to the Livable Communities Act nor have they agreed to any
smart growth
principles. They did not consult with other affected cities, nor did they
consult with the Lakeville School District, which would need to construct a
third high school and 2-4 more elementary schools to serve the new homes
that could conceivably be served by the 6 million gallon-per-day pipe. So
what happened to community collaboration and better communication between
jursidictions? Where is the coordination with other infrastructure needs,
like highway/transit improvements and school capacity?
Meanwhile, suburban communities that have been following the rules -
building more density and "lifecycle and affordable housing" are still
waiting for the regional highway, transit, and sewer infrastructure
improvements necessary to support that density.
I think that the Blueprint 2030 is more about fuzzy math (the infrastructure
costs that are "saved" are mostly those that are paid by the landowners, not
those that are paid by taxes) and about increasing Met Council control and
decreasing local control.
Wendy Wulff
Chair, Lakeville Planning Commission
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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