EQC Meeting Date: January 17, 2024
To: Members of the Environmental Quality Commission
From: Jake Reilly, Community Development Director
Title
Comprehensive Plan Update and engagement exercise
Body
Action Requested:
None.
Summary Report:
This report serves as an update to board and commission members on the status of the 2045-horizon Comprehensive Plan.
The first Steering Committee meeting was held on Monday, December 18th in the second-floor training room at City Hall. Meeting materials used at that meeting were included in the December Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) packet. City staff and the consultant team are starting to hold conversations with boards and commissions during standing meetings. The presentation and exercise for the January 17 EQC meeting is representative of the approach for those sessions and aligns with the approach taken with internal staff groups, and two advisory bodies, the Northfield Arts and Cultural Commission and the Mayor's Youth Council.
Progress Update:
The consultant team from NEOO and Stantec, along with several City staff, have completed the "Discovery" phase of the planning process. The "Vision" phase is now underway and takes advantage of the engagement completed before the end of the year to craft a draft vision and guiding values document. The Vision phase will extend through March 2024 in order to account for additional engagement opportunities, including those with this group and each board and/or commission with interest. Additional engagement with an expanded set of community groups will allow the consultant team to "test" the vision and guiding values with stakeholders and ensure alignment with the broader community values. The attached Monthly Comprehensive Plan Update (Attachment 1) has additional detailed information from the consultant team.
Staff will lead the members of the EQC through an exercise based on the attached, "Stakeholder Interview guide" (Attachment 2). Please review the guide pr...
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