Review Draft Highway 47 Land Use Plan

The purpose of this case is to review the draft Highway 47 Land Use Plan. The Highway 47 Plan was a goal of the City Council as part of its Strategic Plan to provide specific recommendations to improve the image of the corridor, but does not provide any specific traffic control measures. The City Council's current draft Strategic Plan Update does include a traffic study, incorporating previous alternatives and recent project approvals. With this current land use plan, the City was specifically looking for tools to make the Highway corridor more pleasant and attractive to residents and drivers. Staff worked with residents in 2018 to garner feedback on the plan. The draft plan focuses on three specific nodes along Highway 47.

Please note that this plan includes recommendations for landscaping and buffering; Staff is currently working with MnDOT for a landscaping program along the existing noise wall between Nowthen Boulevard and Alpine Drive. This program is already approved and funded by the City as of 2018, and staff anticipates that the landscaping will be put in this year. This was a large component of the effort to improve the image of Highway 47, but is being handled separately from this longer-range planning document.

Staff is looking for general feedback on the plan, specifically on the action items related to each node. Staff will come back with a designed document ready for publication after updating the draft to include Planning Commission's recommendations.

No notification required.

Staff is handling this as part of normal duties.

Staff recommends proceeding to finalizing the draft plan for public comment and workshop.

Specific action not requested.