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I n s i d e Arden Hills, MN . 55112-5734 ECR-WSS PRST STD U.S. Postage Paid Twin Cities, MN Permit #1962 Postal Customer From the City Council--an update on the Comprehensive Plan What is the Arden Hills Comprehensive Plan?An important part of what the City Council does is planning for our City to maintain its vibrancy and well-being. As part of this process, the City updates its Comprehensive Plan every decade to comply with state law, and to ensure consistency with the Metropolitan Council’s Regional Development Plan. The Metropolitan Council is charged by the state legislature with planning for the Twin Cities metropolitan region. The City’s Comprehensive Plan, which will be completed in December 2018 and will focus on planning for up to the year 2040, needs to be consistent with the Regional Development Plan. The Comprehensive Plan has already been updated for TCAAP (Rice Creek Commons) when the Redevel- opment Code was passed last year. What will be included in the Arden Hills Comprehensive Plan? Land Use. Apart from TCAAP, Arden Hills is a nearly fully-developed com- munity and as a result, redevelopment pressure has increasingly become an issue in some of the City’s older commercial and industrial areas, especially in the Red Fox/ Grey Fox/Lexington Avenue business area. Our land use plan will also be considered concurrently with the Higher Education Study the City has already initiated. With the campuses of Bethel University and University of Northwestern, along with other potential higher education uses in the City, special planning consideration is needed with regard to educational needs. Transportation. Transportation and traffic are always major considerations. As Arden Hills residents know, there have been a number of road and bridge projects done in the City to improve our transportation system. Arden Hills must be coordinated with the entire metro area, and this is not solely for automobile traffic. The transpor- tation plan also addresses bicycle/walking components and bus transit. Water Resources. This section focus- ing on Wastewater, Surface Water, and Water Supply must also comply with the requirements of the Rice Creek Watershed District. One area of focus is that, with increased incidents of major storm water events over the past several years, our City and the region as a whole need to address how to improve surface water management to accommodate this increase. Park & Trails. Planning will help the City to review and prioritize trail and park plans. Arden Hills is transitioning, and there are a number of new families with young children moving into our com- munity. There is a great deal of resident support for increased trails throughout the community for walking and biking. Trails, however, are an expensive proposition, but with careful planning and the use of funding from grants and other sources, the City is expanding its network of trails. The parks and trails in TCAAP have been planned for, and we will see them being implemented in the coming years. Housing. Approximately 50 percent of the housing units in Arden Hills were constructed prior to 1974. As housing stock ages, the City needs to focus on this issue, to encourage property reinvestment and creative solutions to address housing maintenance. Arden Hills has traditionally been a community of primarily single fam- ily home development and has seen more recent development and redevelopment of multi-family and senior housing. Growth at TCAAP and redevelopment within the current City will provide opportunities for life-cycle housing and to meet broader housing goals. How can residents become involved with the planning? During this planning process, resident en- gagement is important. The City’s website will include a link to a project website for the Comprehensive Plan, hosted by mySidewalk, which will facilitate public participation by providing relevant data and information. The project website will also ask residents to respond to a range of questions on the community’s future. In addition, residents will be encouraged to post questions and suggestions that will be taken into consideration during the planning process. The City Council will be asking the Planning Commission; Economic Development Commission; and Parks, Trails, and Recreation Committee to review the parts of the Comprehensive Plan in their areas. If you are interested in being part of the planning process, you are welcome to join one of the Commissions/ Committees covering the subject of your interest. Once a draft of the Comprehensive Plan is completed (scheduled for Novem- ber 2017), there will be a public hearing and residents will be welcome to speak at that time. For more information on the Comprehensive Plan and how you can get involved, please contact Senior City Plan- ner Matthew Bachler at 651-792-7822. Fran Holmes, Arden Hills City Council Nutmeg Brewhouse opens New City Engineer takes post Tree servvice licenses outlined What’s Gaga Ball?