Council OKs comprehensive plan update

Talk about it

The Rosemount City Council voted Tuesday to release its comprehensive plan for its six month review. For the next half a year neighboring cities and the general public will have the opportunity to give feedback on the proposed document.

A comprehensive plan guides development for years to come. The current plan will direct development within Rosemount’s borders until 2030. The city is required to update the plan every 10 years.

While the plan encompasses a number of elements the most crucial part to come out of the process is the land use map. In a colorful fashion the map dictates how sections of land should be used.

The Rosemount Planning Commission has held open houses throughout the planning process. Suggestions out of those meetings led to changes of the land use map.

Some of the more significant changes include designating a chunk of land east of U.S. Highway 52 and south of County Road 42 residential. The neighborhoods within the land will be disconnected from others in Rosemount so city planner Eric Zweber said there will need to be a special effort to make them feel like part of the city.

Flint Hills Resources requested some of the land owned by the company have its designation changed to general industrial. Currently land owned by the refinery, located north of 140th Street and east of Blaine Avenue, is designated rural residential.

The planning commission, which has led the comprehensive plan process, granted the company its request but added language that requires the company create a master development plan that must be approved by the city before the land can be rezoned.

While some requests for land use changes were granted others were not. Irene Beberg, who owns 50 acres with her mother and sister in northwestern Rosemount, requested the properties get served with urban services, including water and sewer, and be designated as commercial and high density residential. Her property and others in the northwest corner of the city are designated rural residential.

Zweber said the planning commission did not recommend the changes because they would change the character or the property and others around it.

Another big change to the comprehensive plan is the addition of commercial land use designations. Currently the city only has one commercial land use designation that covers all the different uses. Zweber recommended that be switched to four designations. Those would be neighborhood commercial, community commercial, regional commercial and downtown.

Residents and neighboring communities have six months to evaluate the plan. Residents wishing to review the plan can view it at city hall. After the review period is complete the planning commission will review comments and recommend changes to the council. The council will adopt the plan sometime early in 2009 and submit it to the Metropolitan Council for final approval.

In other business Erickson Pond will undergo some changes this fall to meet additional storm water needs from the downtown area. Two storm water treatment basins will be excavated in the area southwest of the Erickson Pond Wetland.

To make the additional basins possible portions of the Koch Trail will have to be relocated. Retaining walls will be installed along the trail as well. City engineer Andrew Brotzler said the trails will be moved west to the base of the steep hill. Overlook areas will be added that will include benches.

An advertisement for bids will go out in the next couple weeks. Brotzler said work on the project should begin sometime this fall and be completed in the spring.

The estimated project cost is $580,000. A grant from the Metropolitan Council will pay $500,000 of the project. The rest will come out of the Storm Water Utility Fund.

Tags: rosemount comprehensive plan, news