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16 / Chapter 3: Using the Plan <br />Elk River Comprehensive Plan <br />Implementation <br />Implementation Tools <br />There are many tools that the City can and should use to help implement this Plan, <br />including, but not limited to, awareness and education, incentives, and public-private <br />partnerships. Perhaps one of the most important implementation tools includes the <br />City’s ordinance and regulations. The following provides an overview of the updates <br />the City will need to make to its land use controls to be consistent with this Plan. <br />Zoning and Related Ordinances <br />The City has adopted zoning regulations for the purpose of carrying out the policies <br />and goals of the land use plan element of the Comprehensive Plan. The application <br />of zoning districts and the specifi c regulations must support the objectives of the <br />Comprehensive Plan. As a result, an outcome of adopting the Plan will be the review <br />and modifi cation of the Zoning Ordinances as necessary. <br />The land use plan provides the basis for guiding zoning decisions that will be made by <br />the City and private property owners. Minnesota Statutes Section 462.356 states that <br />“….the planning agency shall study and propose to the governing body reasonable and <br />practical means for putting the plan or section of the plan into effect. Subject to the <br />limitations of the following sections, such means include, but not limited to, zoning <br />regulations, for the subdivision of land, an offi cial map…..” <br />This statute anticipates that the zoning regulations will be reviewed and updated to <br />ensure implementation of the land use plan. In a broad sense, this review of the zoning <br />ordinance should examine the following items: <br /> ·The regulations for each zoning district should be reviewed to determine if they fi t <br />with the intent of the Comprehensive Plan. <br /> ·Zoning districts should be examined in relationship to land use designation. Changes <br />in zoning districts will be needed to match zoning with land use. <br /> ·The City will need to thoroughly review and update its Ordinances to address <br />inconsistencies and confl icts to integrate the concepts described in this <br />Comprehensive Plan. Updating the Zoning Ordinance will be a large undertaking that <br />will require signifi cant input, time and energy. <br />One of the policy decisions the City will need to make is how to implement the land use <br />plan through the zoning map. Unlike the Metropolitan Land Planning Act (Minnesota <br />Statutes Section 473), which requires consistency between the land use plan and <br />zoning in cities within the Twin Cities metropolitan area, Elk River may choose to take <br />a number of implementation strategies. Elk River has historically chosen to have zoning <br />consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Each has varying implications for existing <br />property uses and the current zoning. The strategies include, but are not limited to, the <br />following: <br /> ·Keep current zoning in place until such time as the use terminates or redevelopment <br />is initiated. <br /> ·Rezone property to a zoning district compatible with a land use plan category. <br /> ·Develop an interim strategy to address current use situations as they relate to long <br />term objectives.