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- 7J~ ~y( '. I -. April 19, 1996 I Local Governmental Unit . Metropolitan Region Dear Local Official, I Enclosed please find a c'1'/ of the Executi ve Summary and full report of Tire High C051 of Sprawl: A Twin Cities Mt'tropolitan rea Urban Land 5u/,pll/ Anall/sf;; and Recommendatio1l;; jor Managing Gro.wth contracted for b{, the Builders Association 0 the Twin Cities (BATCl with a team of expert regional I consultants in t le area of re~ional land use and housing policy. As a local unit of government official, we believe you will ind this study a useful tool as growth policies are debate under the leadership of the Metropolitan Council over the next several months. Over the past weeks as we have pre~ared for the public presentation of our data. We have spent time I with members of the Metropolitan ouncil and staff. \-Ie have been very teased with the reception of our study in general, and specifically with the acceptance of the soun ness of our land use and availability data. I Background: [n the foil of 1995 we undertook a studv designed to empirically determine how much land was available for development in the metro 21rea when you took into consideration: land used for Or eI dedicated to a public purpose, land dedicated for environmental uses such as preservation of wetlands, C'lnd land used for large lot dt'velopment. Looking at the current ~.fUSA area our data showed us there would oc only about three veas of land sU~fk left unless we took serious steps now to more efficiently and effectIvely use our land. We basel uture hoUsi1\~ needs on Metropolitan I Council projections and on the fact the Council expects 80'lc of future deve opment to occur on the fringe of currently d~"elofing communities. Consequently, our study also analyzed and mapped barTlers. to the expansIOn 0 our urban area. Melhodolo~lj: I Ourplol\11i'ng consultant, John Shardlow and his staff at DSU interviewed 23 citieson the developing edges of the Metro, and ~athered their land availability data that ,"vas later incorporated in the Summary and Study. We elieve the facts speak clearlv for themselves and we invite you to carefully I review the attached materials. ~ The shortage of available land for future development and the resulting high cost of land in our region I COnH~S as no surprise to manv of you. \\e bdic\'l' these basic facts are compelling and will I sustain themselves through many flours of debate as we work to determine approhriate growth folicies for the region. However the data is only the beginning. The recommendatIOns isted on page 1 of the Executive Summary are issues and ideas we will \vant to be discussing with you in more detail. I . I -- 1325 East 79th Street, Suite 6, Bloomington, !v!innesota 55425-1196 Phone (612) 851-9242 ol'.lain Fax (612) 851-9560' Parade Fax (612) 851-9570 I