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<br />New Brighton <br />Comprehensive Plan <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Introduction <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />The Comprehensive Plan <br /> <br />The comprehensive plan is a tool used to guide the physical and socio-economic change within a <br />community. It is intended to be broad in scope while establishing general objectives and policies for such <br />elements as land use, surface water management, public infrastructure (sewer and water supply systems), <br />transportation, housing, redevelopment, park and open space and environmental protection. The plan is <br />different from the zoning ordinance in that the plan is visionary and general whereas the zoning ordinance <br />is much more specific and detailed. The zoning ordinance is a tool to implement the comprehensive plan <br />and is amended to reflect the vision set out by the plan after the planning process has been completed. <br />The primary users of the comprehensive plan are the City Council, Planning Commission and City Staff <br />who must use the plan to guide the day to day decisions of local government. But the plan is intended for <br />everyone including New Brighton residents. Public participation through a series of neighborhood <br />meetings and town meetings helped make the comprehensive plan what it is, and similar participation is <br />of critical importance to future planning endeavors as well. <br /> <br /> <br />Authority to Plan <br /> <br />In 1976 under the Minnesota Land Planning Act (MLPA), communities in the Metropolitan Area were <br />required to develop a Comprehensive Plan to address the interdependence of local units of government <br />within the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. The MLPA requires the adoption of coordinated plans and <br />programs in order to “…protect the health, safety and welfare of the general public…and to ensure <br />coordinated, orderly and economic development.”1 This legislation gave the local planning commission <br />the authority to prepare the plan and submit it to the governing council for approval and adoption. In <br />preparing the plan, the planning commission is required to work with other City agencies, adjacent <br />communities, school districts and counties in order to ensure coordinated regional planning. A 1995 <br />amendment to the MLPA required the Metropolitan Council to prepare a comprehensive development <br />guide for the metropolitan area. The Metropolitan Council adopted a “2030 Regional Development <br />Framework” in January 2004, which provides direction on how to plan for growth including <br />transportation, water resource management, and regional parks. Adoption of that plan then requires local <br />governments within the seven county metropolitan areas to update their local comprehensive plans to <br />ensure consistency with the goals and policies established for the region. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1 Minnesota Statutes 473.851, Copyright 1996 by the Office of Revisor of Statutes, State of Minnesota <br />1-1