HPC Meeting Date: February 7, 2024
To: Members of the Heritage Preservation Commission
From: Jake Reilly, Community Development Director
Title
Comprehensive Plan Update and Engagement Exercise.
Body
Action Requested:
None.
Summary Report:
This report serves as the February 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. City staff, the consultant team, and members of the Planning Commission, are starting to hold conversations with boards and commissions during standing meetings. The presentation and exercise for the February 7, 2024 Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) meeting is representative of the approach for those sessions and aligns with the approach taken with internal staff groups, the boards and commissions that are advisory to the Northfield City Council, including the Youth on Boards cohort. The second Steering Committee meeting has been set for February 28, 2024.
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 HPC through an exercise based on the attached, “Stakeholder Interview guide” (Attachment 2). Please review the guide prior to the meeting and be prepared for a lively, staff-facilitated discussion on an appropriate subset of discussion questions derived from the guide, in consultation with the planning commission. As the comprehensive planning team works through the visioning phase and concurrent engagement Staff will provide monthly updates to each board and commission similar to the attached.
If there are specific questions or concerns about the process, the monthly update, or other Comprehensive Planning issues, please do not hesitate to contact Jake Reilly, Community Development Director at jake.reilly@northfieldmn.gov or 507-649-7018.
Alternative Options:
N/A
Financial Impacts:
N/A
Tentative Timelines:
v December 18, 2023 - First Steering Committee meeting held
v December 20, 2023 - Northfield Youth on Boards/Mayor’s Youth Council
v January - March 2024 - Vision phase: Staff/consultant team meets with other boards/commissions and others, for structured/facilitated conversations about desired outcomes of 2045-horizon comprehensive plan.
Ø Tentative draft board and commission engagement schedule:
§ January 17, 2024 - Environmental Quality Commission
§ January 22, 2024 - Economic Development Authority
§ January 29, 2024 - Housing & Redevelopment Authority (special)
§ February 5, 2024 - Park & Recreation Advisory Board
§ February 7, 2024 - Heritage Preservation Commission
§ February 14, 2024 - Library Board
§ February 28, 2024 - Human Rights Commission
§ February/March - tentative with Northfield area Transportation Advisory Committee (NTAC)
v February 28, 2024 - Steering Committee Meeting #2
v January through April 2024 - Analysis Phase (concurrent with Vision phase)
v April through July 2024 - Plan Phase
Ø Including ground-truthing with Steering Committee and wider community
v December 2024 - Adoption of final document