04-22-1996 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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f }► 6. Develop Transportation Standards and Planning Mechanisms to Allow Continued Growth In Core Areas In Spite of Existing Traffic Congestion. Several MUSA expansion requests have been delayed because of congested levels of service on adjacent roadways. This problem will also affect the redevelopment of many areas within the Twin Cities area. Such a single-minded view of transportation, which focuses only on the number of cars entering and exiting a site on a given roadway often results in limiting development opportunities, contrary to regional planning objectives. 7. Examine Local Regulatory Controls and Provide Incentives to Create Value/Cost Housing Opportunities at the local leveL 8. Develop Innovative Approaches to Financing Needed Infrastructure Expansions and Improvements to Encourage the Use of Existing Infrastructure. 9. Establish Adequate urban land supply as the 5th metropolitan system (the current systems are transportation, wastewater treatment, aviation, and parks). 10. Examples of other ideas that merit further consideration: • Congestion pricing • Developer installed infrastructure • Land use board of adj ustment • Tax policy Conclusion The findings of the BATC study confirm that there is a serious shortage of urban land to accommodate the region's future housing needs. This shortage is causing sharply rising land prices, which in turn lead to incre.ased housing cost. Currently, this increase in urban residential land cost is causing more people to look outside the MUSA for their housing needs. The result is urban sprawl on the edges of the Metro Arex This sprawl causes higher costs to the region and individuals over the long term by limiting housing choices, and increasing the cost for roads, sewers, water and other urban services. Without a new plan for growth, these costs will continue to increase unnecessarily into the billions of dollars. Executive Summary i