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Memo to Mayor and City Council January 22,2002 Page 2 iWhy Review the Comprehensive Plan? Unlike the consensus that was reached regarding the purpose of a Comprehensive Plan,no one issue clearly stood out in the minds of the Commissioners regarding the need for a Comprehensive Plan evaluation. A Commissioner posed the question,"Is Elk River still the place where the city and country flow together?" as the basis for a Comprehensive Plan evaluation. Several Commissioners felt that the current plan has a number of unclear statements and that if we clearly don't understand what we want,we cannot fully evaluate proposals that come before the Commission ("we" being the Commission). Other Commissioners felt that changes in the market trends in regards to demographics,building design, cluster developments, etc. are impacting the plan and wondered if the plan is equipped to handle these changes. The question of how large a developed city do we want was raised. Issues like as the development of the gravel mine area and the changes to the 169 corridor from Rogers to Zimmerman were raised as examples of additional impacts to the plan. There were also concerns expressed by the amount of density allowed under the current land use plan. Process In discussing alternative processes, the Commission clearly felt that a section-by-section evaluation of the plan in-house could be accomplished, as the Plan only needed "fine- tuning". It would be important to establish criteria to evaluate the objectives stated in the • current plan and determine if they are being met. If the objectives are not being met,then a more-detailed evaluation would be required. The Commission agreed strongly that the review should be conducted by a steering committee comprised of members of the Planning Commission,City Council,Park and Recreation Commission,Housing and Redevelopment Authority,Heritage Preservation Commission,and Economic Development Authority,as well a few members of the community. They did not feel that a consultant was needed. The Commission also felt that prior to a full review of the Comprehensive Plan that the Planning Commission and City Council should meet to establish a common foundation and understanding as to what the issues and concerns are. Several Commissioners felt that the Council was sending mixed messages to the Planning Commission in regards to land use issues. Recommendation In order to begin the review of the Comprehensive Plan,staff and the Planning Commission recommend the following be implemented: a. Schedule a joint meeting between the Planning Commission and City Council to discuss issues and concerns and develop a common understanding and a basic foundation for the review process. b. Establish a steering committee for review of plan. • S:\PLANNING\MICHMC\MEMOS\CompPlanUpdate.doc