11-04-1999 Council Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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THE LAND USE PLAN Map No.__indicates the basic land use plan of the City: the designation of Orono's 'Urban Service Area' and Orono's 'Rural Service Area'. The detailed location of the dividing line (the MUSA line) between the Urban Service Area and the Rural Service Area has been was established by careful evaluation of each of the elements of this the 1980 Community Management Plan, and has undergone only minor revisions in the ensuing two decades . Environmental concerns, historic land use patterns, and the availability of sewer, transportation and other public facilities all entergd into the local decision of actual MUSA line location where to draw the line between Orono's Urban and Rural areas. The primary* clement defining the difference between Orono's Urban and Rural service areas is future development density. The Urban areas have been planned for densities of 1 or more dwelling units per acre. The Rural areas have been planned for densities of no greater than 1 unit per 2 acres. More than 75% of Orono's land area is designated as Rural in order to meet the City's environmental goals. Orono's Urban Service Area also identifies those portions of the City that have been or are planned to be provided with the wider range of public services and facilities necessary to support urban types and densities of land use as defined by the Metropolitan Council's Development Framework Guide . Orono's Rural Service Area identifies those portions of the City that do not have a wide range of urban services and are not planned to have u rban be provided with such servnees. Orono's Rural Scrynee Area is intended to permanently accommodate General Ru ral-L-and Uses and hou sing densities dcfincd-by the Metropolitan Council, and as distinctly different from a Commercial Agricultural region: The Metropolitan Council in its Regional Blueprint has defined the "Urban Area" as that part of the region "actively becoming urbanized and within which local and regional .sevices are committed during specific time periods", the outer boundary of which is identified bv the Metropolitan Urban Service Area (MUSA) line. Additionally, the Metropolitan Council has established a "One-unit-per-lQ-acres" threshold defining a gross area-wide density level, above which development becomes more suburban than rural in character. The Metropolitan Council in its Regional Blueprint has also established a goal of accommodating all expected Metro area urban development for the next 40 years within the confir. - > of the "I Irban Reserve", a roughly concentric boundary ranging from 1 to 10 miles outside the current Year 2000 MUSA. Virtually all of rural Orono that is not within the current MUSA, is within the Urban Reserve: and most of Orono's Urban Reser\e area is within the portion anticipated bv Met Council to be brought within the MUSA by 2020. CMP 3B - 23