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� <br /> i <br /> �� <br /> MEMORAND UM <br /> To: Mayor and City Council <br /> From: Mike Gaffron, Asst. City Administrator <br /> Date: Au�ust 28, 2009 <br /> Subject: Review of Met Council Initial Response to Comp Plan Update Submittal <br /> Attachments: <br /> A - August 12, 2009 Met Council Letter to Orono <br /> B - Met Council Rural Area Guidelines - August 2008 <br /> C - Met Council MUSA Implementation Guidelines -November 2007 <br /> D - Excerpts from Minnesota Statutes <br /> Comp Plan Process. Orono's Draft 2008-2030 Comprehensive Plan Update was forwarded to <br /> the Metropolitan Council on July 24. The Plan was submitted in order to meet the July 30 <br /> extended deadline established last December, although the Plan technically will not be ready for <br /> final submittal until 1) the 6-month adjacent jurisdiction review period is completed on <br /> December 10, 2009, and 2) the City holds a public hearing on the Plan and the Council adopts a <br /> Resolution approving it for submission. <br /> These process issues will be resolved as a matter of course in due time. We do need to plan for <br /> an open house & public hearing on the Plan sometime in September or October. <br /> Comp Plan Content. The August 12 letter from Met Council (MC) indicates that the Plan is <br /> "incomplete and inconsistent with Council policy, and rrzay be found to have a substantial impact <br /> on or contain a substantial departure fi�om metropolitan system plans. " It goes on to say that <br /> review will be suspended until the process and content completeness issues are addressed. The <br /> content completeness issues in most cases can be rectified with additional submittals of easily <br /> generated information or text changes. <br /> Summary of Consistency Issues. There are a few critical areas in which the City's planned <br /> land use is inconsistent with Metropolitan Council's regional policies and inconsistent with <br /> various elements of Met Council's 2005 System Statement for Orono. These issues go directly to <br /> the core of Orono's philosophical disconnect with Metropolitan Council's goals regarding <br /> residential development and efficient use of the metro sewer system. While not unexpected, <br /> these inconsistencies are not easily resolved. They include: <br /> 1. Population & Household Forecasts. Orono's future development in sewered areas (within <br /> the existing and proposed MUSA) is planned to be primarily low-density and will result in <br /> the City not meeting the Met Council's overall new development density requirement of <br /> an average of 3 units per net acre for sanitary sewer service areas. The lower densities <br /> produce households and population outcomes that fall short of the Met Council's <br /> forecasts. Those forecasts are based on Met Council's desired outcome for Orono, not on <br /> Orono's intended Plan. Met Council indicates "The City needs to revise the Update and <br /> base its comprehensive planning on the System Statement forecasts of population and <br /> households." <br /> Review of Met Council Comp Plan Initial Response Page 1 of 17 <br /> August Z8, 2009 <br />