Community Notification of Development Projects; Elverum
CITY OF HOPKINS
Memorandum
To: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
Mike Mornson, City Manager
From: Kersten Elverum, Director of Planning & Development
Date: September 14, 2021
Subject: Community Notification of Development Projects
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PURPOSE
The purpose of the City Council discussion is to update the City Council on changes
made to our process and procedures for notifying the public of upcoming development
proposals and seek Council feedback.
INFORMATION
Over the past few months there has been discussion about the City’s notification
process related to development projects. There have been suggestions made by the
community and internal discussions around equity. These discussions have led to
changes in how we are currently providing notification and what we plan to implement
going forward.
Some of the changes we have made that can be codified as part of the new zoning
code. Those include:
o Increasing the notification area from 350’ (as required by State Statute) to
500’
o Notifying individual apartment units rather than simply the owner of the
apartment building
An additional change that will be implemented with the next development project is the
use of site signage to notify the community of a proposed development. It is also
anticipated that this will become part of the formal notification process identified in the
zoning code.
Staff will share other tools that have been tried recently including delivering flyers, door
to door, to surrounding apartment residents and translation of project information in
other languages, as well as other suggestions staff have heard from the community
related to social media.
Planning & Economic
Development
FUTURE ACTION
The recognition that past practice of community notification is not meeting today’s
expectations is not just happening in Hopkins, but rather it is something many
communities are currently addressing. Discussions around community engagement in
development activity will continue to happen and new ideas may emerge. Changes that
require policy change will be brought forward for City Council adoption, including those
changes that will be reflected in the new zoning code.