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Planning & Zoning Work Session 07.21.26HOPKINS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION AGENDA JOINT MEETING WITH PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION Tuesday, July 21, 2026 5:30 pm RASPBERRY ROOM AT HOPKINS CITY HALL I. CALL TO ORDER & INTRODUCTIONS II. PRESENTATIONS 1. 2050 Comprehensive Plan Update; Krzos 2. Hopkins Safe Streets for All Plan Update; Gallagher 3. Housing Plan Update; Needham III. ADJOURN 1 Memorandum To: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members Planning and Zoning Commissioners Mike Mornson, City Manager From: Ryan Krzos, City Planner Date: July 21, 2026 Subject: 2050 Comprehensive Plan Update _____________________________________________________________________ PURPOSE Under State law, municipalities in the seven-county area are required to update their Comprehensive Plan by the end of 2028. Staff is in the initial stages of planning and scheduling this process. During the work session, staff will provide an overview of the following topic areas and request feedback from the City Council and Planning & Zoning Commission: • Hopkins Existing 2040 Comprehensive Plan framework and structure • Major Issues to Consider for 2050 • Initial Plan Development Process and Timeline INFORMATION The 2050 Comprehensive Plan update will be a collaborative effort involving the City policymakers, residents, businesses, community organizations, and other stakeholders. Over the next two years, the project will build on the foundation established by the 2040 Comprehensive Plan - Cultivate Hopkins while exploring how the community has changed and identifying opportunities and challenges that should shape Hopkins over the coming decades. Public input will help shape the community vision, identify priorities, and inform the goals and policies included in the plan. Engagement will be designed to reach residents and stakeholders through a variety of methods, including community events, focus groups, online engagement, and meetings with steering committees and/or advisory groups. We intend to embody our engagement philosophy to “take it to them” by organizing proactive and fun outreach that meets residents and stakeholders where they are and purposefully engages underrepresented populations. As we begin outreach for the Comprehensive Plan update, we also want to hear from the community about the Housing Plan and Safe Streets for All Plan. Coordinating these efforts will help reduce engagement fatigue and make it easier for residents and stakeholders to share input on several important topics at once. Planning & Development 2 Engagement Timeline Phase I: Community Vision | Summer 2026 • Engage in Community Visioning: What does Hopkins need more of? What do we need less of? Where to concentrate efforts? • Deliverable: Existing Conditions Report. Phase II: What We Heard and Policy Areas | Fall 2026 – Summer 2027 • Convene Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee and/or Stakeholder Group • Engage in Community: Share Community Vision and ask questions for policy development • Deliverable: Draft Plan Vision, Goals, and Policies. Phase III: Draft Comprehensive Plan | Winter 2027 – Fall 2028 • Engage in Community: Gather feedback on draft Plan • Finalize the 2050 Comprehensive Plan: Submitted to Met Council by October 2028 in order to be eligible for early completion grant. FUTURE ACTION The Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council will play an active role throughout the update by providing policy direction, reviewing draft materials, and helping shape the long-term vision for Hopkins. As the project progresses, staff will return with updates, discussion topics, and opportunities for policy guidance before preparing the final Comprehensive Plan. CITY OF HOPKINS Memorandum To: Honorable Mayor and Council Members Planning and Zoning Commission Members Mike Mornson, City Manager From: Sam Gallagher, Associate Planner Date: July 21, 2026 Subject: Hopkins Safe Streets for All Plan Update _____________________________________________________________________ PURPOSE To seek feedback on Hopkins Safe Streets for All Plan, including identifying how this Plan aligns with community goals and preparation for a leadership commitment. INFORMATION Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) On December 18, 2025, the City of Hopkins entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration for the SS4A grant. In April 2026, the City hired Alta Planning + Design to develop Hopkins Safe Streets for All Plan (Plan) with a particular focus on helping people move Hopkins safely, especially the most vulnerable road users. With light rail transit starting in 2027, the Plan will address changes in vehicle habits and walking, rolling, and biking patterns across 55.2 miles of roads within the City. The Plan aims to reduce and eliminate roadway fatalities and serious injuries in Hopkins through action plan development and implementation. The Plan will also update the City’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan from 2013 and will incorporate a Safe Routes to School Plan to serve as a comprehensive guidebook for multimodal safety improvements in Hopkins. The final Plan will center the voice of Hopkins community in setting a clear vision for the future of safety and mobility, including a clear path on implementation with funding sources to implement design and policy recommendations, into one accessible document. The Plan will also provide most of the data necessary for the transportation chapter of the 2050 Comprehensive Plan. High Injury Network and Equity Memorandum The Plan’s Project Team analyzed trends, travel patterns and contributing factors associated with crashes on the City’s roadway network to highlight areas of elevated risk and work towards developing a High Injury Network (HIN) that prioritizes the most vulnerable roadway users (people walking, biking or using a mobility device) by weighting pedestrian and bicycle crashes in Hopkins. The HIN creates a foundation for Planning & Economic Development the Plan by identifying roadways that experience high fatality and injury rates and understanding what types of crashes have occurred in Hopkins . The Crash Trend Memorandum prepared by Alta and Stantec found that: • A total of 719 crashes were reported within city limits over the five-year analysis. • Angle crashes (23 percent of crashes) have the highest crash density at intersections along 11th Street, Hwy 7, and Blake Road. • Rear end crashes (25 percent of crashes) are clustered at signalized intersections along Excelsior Boulevard and Hwy 7. • All fatal crashes (4) involved a pedestrian. Pedestrian (3 percent of crashes) and bicyclists (2 percent of crashes) make up 5 percent of the total crashes, but 55 percent of fatal and serious injury crashes. A third of pedestrian and bicyclist related crashes occurred at non-intersections and were due to motorcyclists not noticing pedestrians/bicyclists entering the roadway at unexpected crossing locations, according to crash narratives. • More than 22 percent of youth related crashes occurred when they were walking or biking. • Intersection/access point related crashes make up more than half the crashes in Hopkins and 70 percent of Hopkins’ fatal and serious injury crashes with drivers failing to yield, improper turning and following vehicles too closely. Equity Segment Analysis Memorandum To support equitable mobility outcomes, additional analysis was conducted to better understand how Hopkins residents in Environmental Justice Areas (EJAs) travel and to help identify which corridors, destinations, and travel modes are most important to those equity priority populations. EJAs as defined by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) includes Census tracts with higher shares of people of color, low -income households, residents with limited English proficiency and tribal communities. The Equity Segment Analysis Memorandum prepared by Alta found that: • Residents in EJAs rely heavily on 11th Avenue South, Blake Road North, Excelsior Boulevard and 5th Avenue South and segments of U.S. 169 and 7th Street South. • EJA residents use public transit at nearly twice the rate of non -EJA residents. The Project Team is also evaluating future Green Line Extension Light Rail Station (LRT) ridership levels to project future trip analysis and create a High Priority Safety Network (HPSN) to proactively support safety improvements for future transit riders and changing travel patterns coming when LRT opens in spring 2027. Hopkins Safe Streets for All Stakeholder Group The Stakeholder Group is a technical group of partners engaging in key questions, deepening shared understanding on key transportation safety issues, sharing opportunities for future collaboration, and includes members from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), Hennepin County, Metro Transit, Hopkins School District, The Blake School, Hopkins City Council, Access Hopkins, Hopkins Business and Civic Association (HBCA) and Hopkins Youth. The Stakeholder group has held two meetings thus far to discuss the purpose of the Plan, goals for community engagement, and review existing conditions and project insights from MnDOT and Hennepin County while biking around Hopkins. Community Engagement The Plan is collecting feedback on existing conditions, ideas and travel patterns from people who live, work and visit Hopkins via online survey, an interactive online map, community engagement website and pop-up in person events. Staff are jointly engaging on the 2050 Comprehensive Plan, Housing Plan, and Safe Streets for All Plan at community events. Staff have attended a variety of events including but not limited to: Metro Transit’s Open Trails to the Rail, Hopkins Pride, the Farmer’s Market, and Activity Center Open House. Staff plan to table at future events including: the Sunset Series, Activity Center Lunch and Learn + Walk & Talk, National Night Out, Hopkins Library, Fire Department Open House, and more. Key takeaways from City staff conversations and feedback from roughly 280 participants across five pop-up events held thus far and 154 online survey participants include: • Pedestrians and public transit users shared that people who drive do not appear to see them crossing the street, especially along Blake Road North, Excelsior Boulevard, Mainstreet, and at the trail crossings along 11th Avenue South. • There are sidewalk gaps and inconsistencies along east and west streets in The Avenues neighborhood. • A safe route to school that increases visibility for students crossing Hwy 7 at 12th Avenue North was suggested, based on high traffic volumes, perceived high speeds, and long crossing distances. • Mobility device users shared that adding curb cuts and increasing trail maintenance throughout the City are top safety improvement requests to make Hopkins more accessible. • Signal timing along Mainstreet is not right for pedestrians and suggested automatic recall and leading pedestrian signals. • Bicyclists shared that the bike infrastructure in Hopkins is some of the best in the Twin Cities, participants bike from around the Metro to Hopkins’ regional trail network. Participants recommended trail crossing improvements along the Minnetonka Trail in the Avenues and along the Nine Mile Creek Trail. The Community engagement websites, including the online interactive map with additional comments, are hyperlinked below. FUTURE ACTION The Plan’s Project Team will come back to City Council with a Vision Zero Policy resolution that sets a goal for the City of Hopkins to eliminating deaths and serious injuries on Hopkins streets and roadways by a specific date. This goal will utilize information from tonight’s discussion to collect additional information and set a target that is specific to transportation safety needs in Hopkins. SUPPORTING INFORMATION • Hopkins Safe Streets for All Plan City Webpage • Hopkins Safe Streets for All Plan Online Engagement Webpage • U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All webpage CITY OF HOPKINS Memorandum To: Honorable Mayor and Council Members Planning & Zoning Commission Members Mike Mornson, City Manager From: Revée Needham, Community Development Manager Date: July 21, 2026 Subject: Update on Housing Plan _____________________________________________________________________ PURPOSE To provide an update and gather feedback on the Housing Plan. INFORMATION Affordable Housing Funding In 2024, the State Legislature created a new source of direct, local affordable housing funds, Local Affordable Housing Aid (LAHA). LAHA was funded with a new 0.25% metropolitan area sales tax on retail sales. The City Council has identified exploring affordable housing policies and program utilizing these new funds as a goal within the Strategic Plan. In 2025, the City Council established an Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF), in part to take advantage of a Minnesota Housing Local Housing Trust Fund Matching Grant. The City has received $641,916 in LAHA funds to date (the 2026 disbursements will be sent in July and December 2026). The City established the AHTF with an initial seed balance of $150,000 and a $150,000 matching grant from Minnesota Housing. Multiple organizations have requested LAHA funding from the City. In 2026, the City Council approved $50,000 in LAHA funding to ICA Food Shelf for emergency rental assistance. In order to efficiently use LAHA and other sources of affordable housing funding to meet community needs, the City applied for and received a $50,000 Housing Policy and Program Development Grant from the Metropolitan Council. This grant is being used to hire a consultant, Everlong Consulting, to complete a housing needs assessment and recommend effective uses of limited affordable housing funding. The Housing Plan began in April 2026 and is scheduled to concluded in December 2026. Existing Housing Needs Assessment The first part of the Housing Plan involves an assessment of existing housing stock and Planning & Economic Development Department needs. This portion analyzes the housing stock in Hopkins including, but not limited to: • Income • Household Size • Tenure (Owner-occupied v. renter-occupied) • Affordability • Housing Age and Quality The housing needs assessment will also provide the data necessary for the housing chapter of the 2050 Comprehensive Plan. The next steps of the Housing Plan include a future housing needs assessment, review of City policies/plans related to housing, and recommendations for the strategic funding plan. Community Engagement Process The housing assessment process includes a mix of both quantitative and qualitative data. Staff are jointly engaging on the 2050 Comprehensive Plan, Housing Plan, and Safe Streets for All Plan at community events. Staff have attended a variety of community events including but not limited to: Hopkins Pride, the Farmer’s Market, and Activity Center Open House. Staff plan to table at future events including: the Sunset Series, National Night Out, Fire Department Open House, and more. Specifically for the Housing Plan, targeted engagement has included or will include: developers, realtors, property managers and owners, low-income residents, social service organizations, and more. There will be dedicated in-person housing engagement opportunities in multiple languages (English, Spanish, and Somali) this fall as well as housing survey. Additional updates on community engagement and events will be posted online at: https://www.hopkinsmn.com/1257/Hopkins-Housing-Plan. FUTURE ACTION Staff will bring an update to the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council later this fall.