V.1. Planning Application 2018-10-AMD Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update – Cultivate Hopkins
August 28, 2018 Planning Application 2018-12-AMD
Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update – Cultivate Hopkins
Proposed Action: Staff recommends the Planning & Zoning Commission adopt the following
motion:
Move to adopt Planning & Zoning Resolution 2018-10, recommending the City Council accept
the Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update – Cultivate Hopkins and authorize its release for
the statutorily required six month review period.
Overview
Staff is pleased is present for consideration the Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update –
Cultivate Hopkins. This draft plan represents the culmination of over two years of planning,
engagement, research, and community conversation on a broad vision for the community.
Commissioners may recall reviewing and endorsing the draft goals and policies during a joint
workshop with the City Council and Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee back in March
of this year. Those same goals and policies were revised based on comments from the joint
workshop and are included in this draft plan. Staff recommends the Commission take
comments during the public hearing and recommend the City Council accept the Draft 2040
Comprehensive Plan Update – Cultivate Hopkins and authorize its release for review.
The plan is summarized in the attached memo from Haila Maze, Senior Planner with Bolton &
Menk, Inc (the city’s consultant for this project). Ms. Maze will present this information during
the meeting and staff will accept feedback from the both the public and Commission during the
public hearing. Prior to the regular meeting, staff will also hold an open house from 5:00 to 6:30
PM at City Hall so the public may review the plan in more detail and ask questions.
Commissioners are encouraged but not required to attend the open.
Primary Issues to Consider
Review Process
Alternatives
Supporting Documents
Planning & Zoning Commission Resolution 2018-10
Summary Memo from Haila Maze, Senior Planner with Bolton & Menk, Inc.
Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update – Cultivate Hopkins
_____________________
Jason Lindahl, AICP
City Planner
Financial Impact: $ N/A Budgeted: Y/N ____ Source: _____________
Related Documents (CIP, ERP, etc.): _________________________________________
Notes:
Planning Application 2018-12-AMD
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Review Process
This will not be the only opportunity for the public or the Planning & Zoning Commission to
review the draft plan and provide comment. Commissioners should not feel the need to fully
review and analyze the entire plan and provide complete comments during the meeting. Rather,
you should review the document for completeness and recommend the City Council release the
draft plan for the required six months review period.
The Metropolitan Council requires that a six month inter-jurisdictional review period prior to
submittal of the final plan to them for their review. This is intended to provide an opportunity
for adjacent jurisdictions to provide feedback. During this time the City will also make the draft
plan available at City Hall and online and accept comments from the public. At the end of the
six month review period, the Planning & Zoning Commission will hold another public hearing
to review any comments prior to making a recommendation to the City Council on the final
plan. The overall review timeline for the draft plan is summarized below.
• August 28, 2018 – Planning Commission open house, public hearing and review
• September 4, 2018 – City Council review and accepts draft plan an authorized release for the
statutorily required six month review period.
• Mid-September 2018 to Mid-March 2019 – Six month review period
• March 2019 – Final City review and approval & submittal to the Metropolitan Council
Alternatives
1. Recommend the City Council accept the Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update –
Cultivate Hopkins. By recommending the City Council accept the draft plan, the Council
will consider a recommendation to accept the draft plan and authorize its release for the
statutorily required six month review period.
2. Recommend the City Council not accept the Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan – Cultivate
Hopkins. By recommend the City Council not accept the draft plan, the City Council will
consider a recommendation to not accept the draft plan or release it for the statutorily
required six month review period. Should the Planning & Zoning Commission considers
this option, it must also identify specific findings that support this alternative.
3. Continue for further information. If the Planning & Zoning Commission indicates that
further information is needed, the items should be continued.
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MEMO
To: Honorable Mayor and City Council
Planning & Zoning Commission
From: Haila Maze, Senior Urban Planner
Jason Lindahl, City Planner and
Date: August 28, 2018
Subject: Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update – Cultivate Hopkins
Overview & Plan Organization
A draft of the City of Hopkins 2040 comprehensive plan, Cultivate Hopkins, is now complete and ready
for review. This represents the culmination of over two years of planning, engagement, research, and
community conversation on a broad vision for the community. When complete and adopted, Cultivate
Hopkins will replace the City’s existing comprehensive plan, and become the lead policy document for
the next decade. While it fulfills a similar function to the existing plan, it departs in terms of format and
focus - as detailed below.
This plan has been organized to put the most impactful elements in the main body of the document,
with supporting data and information in companion appendices. This is done for readability and
accessibility, as the amount of information is extensive.
The plan is divided into the four environments – built, social, natural, and economic – with a series of
elements covered within each. For each element the plan includes:
Introduction – the purpose of including this element, including a definition of what it includes and its
role in the city.
Main Ideas – included as part of the introduction section, these are issues that have risen to the top
through the planning process in terms of importance to the community; supporting information is
included in the appendices.
Trends and Challenges – overall existing and emerging patterns that are impacting the City’s role,
creating opportunities for innovation and new directions.
Goals and Policies – guidance for a range of subtopics, addressing current conditions and opportunities.
The final element is Implementation, which lays the groundwork for how the City will implement the
plan. This section takes the policies outlined in earlier elements to the next level, with more specific
implementation steps tied to timelines and responsible parties. Since this is a comprehensive plan, not
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all specifics are spelled out – and some follow-up work on specific areas will be needed. However, this
does provide a place to start when tracking progress and ensuring the plan remains relevant and
impactful throughout its life cycle.
Purpose of the Plan
The purpose of this plan update is to provide long range guidance for growth, development, and
investment in the City of Hopkins. It will replace the City’s current comprehensive plan which was
adopted in 2009. This comprehensive plan envisions the growth and change the community will see by
2040, and creates a framework for what the City needs to do to get there. To do this, the plan
interweaves guidance from City-established goals, public comments and feedback, past plans and
initiatives, and analysis of data and trends.
As a community within the seven county Twin Cities metropolitan region, Hopkins is required by state
statute to update its comprehensive plan every ten years, as part of an overall regional planning cycle
managed through the Metropolitan Council. This plan will fulfill all requirements of this cycle.
Over the next ten years, the City will make numerous decisions related to development, infrastructure,
public services, budgeting, and many other topics that need to be aligned with its overall goals. This plan
provides a framework for this decision making process – to ensure consistency, and progress toward
longer range goals.
Cultivate Hopkins Vision
The concept for Cultivate Hopkins came out of a desire to continue to cultivate and grow the City of
Hopkins as a distinct and meaningful place. Based around principles of sustainability, resilience, equity,
and complete and connected communities, it provides a framework for preparing for the future. The
plan emphasizes retaining what is valued, while proactively addressing and welcoming change.
The vision statement for Cultivate Hopkins is: “Hopkins will cultivate the best elements of the Built,
Natural, Social, and Economic Environments into complete and sustainable community that is rooted
in tradition, characterized by vibrant and unique places, physically and socially connected, and
resilient to changing conditions.”
The plan also reflects the 2018 Hopkins City Council Goals and Strategic Plan, adopted by the City
Council in 2017. While these goals do not provide detailed guidance for every area covered by the plan,
they focus attention on important elements for consideration and action.
Sustainability Framework
The vision for Hopkins is that of a sustainable community – defined as one that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It is also envisioned as a
resilient community – defined as one that is able to respond to social, economic, and environmental
changes and disruptions while maintaining its integrity and purpose.
The City of Hopkins consulted several best practice materials to shape and inform the framework for the
comprehensive plan update. The primary source was Sustaining Places: Best Practices for
Comprehensive Plan (American Planning Association, 2015). This document details national best
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practices for creating a sustainable, resilient and complete community. Traditionally, comprehensive
plans were developed from a top-down approach with separate stand-alone chapters focused primarily
on land use and physical development. By comparison, Hopkins is using the Sustaining Places document
to further enhances the City’s existing work and ensure the new comprehensive plan fully embraces the
topics of resilience, system thinking, community engagement, equity, adaptation and measurable
implementation practices. To supplement this framework, the following resources have been used to
provide more detailed information, implementation strategies, and best practices.
• STAR Community Rating System. The Sustainability Tools for Assessing and Rating
Communities (STAR) system, developed by STAR Communities, is used to rate community
performance on a range of topics related to promoting local sustainability.
• GreenStep Cities. Minnesota GreenStep Cities is a voluntary program for cities that helps
them achieve goals in sustainability and quality of life.
• Regional Indicators Initiative. Hopkins has participated in the Regional Indicators Initiative,
which helps participating communities to benchmark their status on a range of metrics, to
measure progress against itself and peer communities.
• Climate Resilience Workshop Series. In early 2017, Hopkins participated with six other cities
in a workshop series designed to identify opportunities to build resilience related to local
climate change.
What’s New?
The vision for this plan contributed to the decision during the planning process to go over and above
what is required by the Metropolitan Council for a comprehensive plan, to include some new elements
not previously featured. These sections, detailed on the following page, include:
• New element on quality of life in Hopkins, facilitated through cross-sector and cross-
discipline collaboration, including safety and emergency preparedness, community facilities
and infrastructure, and public health
• New element on sense of community, exploring equity, race, and social connectedness, and
the role of the city in addressing disparities and encouraging engagement and connections.
• New details related to natural resources and environmental responsibility, including
renewable energy, climate change and resilience, and sustainable building practices.
• Expanded focus on economic competitiveness, including community economic
development, business development, education, and disparities.
The table below summarizes the change in plan format:
Existing Plan: Stand-Alone Chapters New Plan: Interconnected Elements
Preface and Goals Introduction
Community Demographics Community Profile (appendix)
Built Environment
Land Use Land Use
Transportation Transportation
Housing Housing
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Social Environment
Quality of Life
Sense of Community
Natural Environment
Water and Solid Waste Sustainability and Natural Resources
Parks and Trails Parks and Trails
Economic Environment
Economic Competitiveness
Downtown Downtown
Implementation Implementation
The Four Environments
Sustainability may be new to comprehensive planning but not to Hopkins. The City Council Goals and
Strategic Plan and many of the City’s existing practices and planning documents incorporated various
aspects of sustainability. The Cultivate Hopkins 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update seeks to fit together
the City’s existing vision, goals and policies with comprehensive planning best practices in a more
relatable, interconnected and measurable comprehensive plan for the future of Hopkins. Rather than
traditional individual chapters focused on land use and physical development, the Cultivate Hopkins plan
looks at the community’s through four environments detailed below.
Built Environment
The built environment is defined as all human-made elements of a
space where people live, work, and play. It includes sections on land
use and development, multimodal transportation, and housing and
neighborhoods. This is the most traditional element of city planning –
and the land use map and supporting descriptions are at the hub of
the planning framework.
This includes Land Use, Transportation, and Housing elements.
Social Environment
The social environment is defined as human interaction and
engagement in the community. It includes sections on public services
and facilities, education, public health, community connections,
equity, and arts and culture. Much of the content for this element is
new to the Hopkins comprehensive plan this time around, motivated
by the City’s focus on related issues as citywide priorities.
This includes Quality of Life and Sense of Community elements.
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A Plan for the Whole City
As is traditionally the case for comprehensive plans, the task of developing the document is being led by
the planning staff of the city. However, as this is a plan for the entire city, there are elements which
apply to the work of all city leadership and staff. Ways this plan will be used across the entire city
include:
Provides support for any major new initiatives or investments
Guides priorities for capital project budgeting
Puts short term implementation in context of longer term goals
Establishing a framework for making decisions
This plan has been developed to reflect direction for all city operations, although some topics are
covered in more detail than others.
Natural Environment
The natural environment relates to natural systems and resources,
including land, water, air, habitat, and ecology. In addition to
addressing policies around these specific systems and resources, it
includes direction for practices that are specifically aimed at
protecting or improving the natural environment, including guidance
for parks and open space, renewable energy, and climate change
resilience.
This includes Sustainability & Natural Resources and Parks & Trails.
Economic Environment
The economic environment covers the economy, jobs, businesses,
income and poverty, and affordability. This section includes economic
development and competitiveness, and guidance for Downtown
Hopkins (as the city’s economic hub). Issues related to affordability
and poverty are covered in overlapping sections in the built
environment (housing) and social environment (equity).
This includes Economic Competitiveness and Downtown elements.
CITY OF HOPKINS
Hennepin County, Minnesota
PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION RESOLUTION 2018-10
A RESOLUTION RECOMMENDING THE CITY COUNCIL ACCEPT THE DRAFT 2040
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE – CULTIVATE HOPKINS AND AUTHORIZE ITS
RELEASE FOR THE STATUTORILY REQUIRED SIX MONTH REVIEW PERIOD
WHEREAS, Minnesota Statutes section 473.864 requires each local governmental unit to
review and, if necessary, amend its entire comprehensive plan and its fiscal devices and official controls
at least once every ten years to ensure its comprehensive plan conforms to metropolitan system plans
and ensure its fiscal devices and official controls do not conflict with the comprehensive plan or permit
activities that conflict with metropolitan system plans; and
WHEREAS, Minnesota Statutes sections 473.858 and 473.864 require local governmental units
to complete their “decennial” reviews by December 31, 2018; and
WHEREAS, on April 1, 2018, the City Council of the City of Hopkins approved Resolution
2018-038 requesting additional time within which to complete the Comprehensive Plan “Decennial”
Review Obligation; and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Hopkins created an advisory committee made up of
a diverse group of Hopkins citizen to oversee development of the draft comprehensive plan; and
WHEREAS, the City Council, Planning & Zoning Commission, and the City of Hopkins Staff
have prepared the Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update – Cultivate Hopkins intended to meet the
requirements of the Metropolitan Land Planning Act and Metropolitan Council guidelines and
procedures; and
WHEREAS, Hopkins Planning and Zoning Commission, pursuant to published notice, held a
public hearing on the Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update – Cultivate Hopkins and reviewed such
draft plan on August 28, 2018: all persons present were given an opportunity to be heard; and
WHEREAS, Minnesota Statutes section 473.858, requires the proposed Comprehensive Plan be
submitted to adjacent governmental units and affected special districts and school districts for a six-
month review and comment period; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Planning & Zoning Commission of the
City of Hopkins hereby recommends the City Council accept the Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan
Update – Cultivate Hopkins and authorize its release for the statutorily required six month review
period.
Adopted this 28th day of August 2018.
________________________
James Warden, Chair