| Comprehensive Plan Overview
What is the Comprehensive Plan?
The Comprehensive Plan is the blueprint for growth and development of the community. It describes the long-term direction and vision for the City. The plan assesses the issues and opportunities that the City and the community will face in the next 20 years and discusses how the City and the community will want to respond to those issues and opportunities. Then, with a focus on development and use of land in the City, it describes actions and programs the City will perform in pursuit of the vision. The Comprehensive Plan contains the long-term goals for the city, such as providing a safe and healthy environment for residents, supporting businesses to help create jobs, and preserving the high quality of life the residents of Apple Valley have come to expect.
Land use is only the foundation of the Comprehensive Plan. Land use creates implications for city investments in infrastructure, facilities and services.
Streets provide the capacity for land to develop and for movement within Apple Valley. Planning seeks to ensure that Apple Valley has a street system with the design and capacity to support future development. The character of streets and the volume of traffic also affects adjacent land uses. The Comprehensive Plan must balance the transportation and land use aspects of the street system.
Development requires service by municipal sanitary sewer and water systems. Development can only occur within the capacity of regional sewer system that is allocated to Apple Valley. The City seeks to provide a safe water supply at pressure needed to provide adequate fire protection.
Parks are important part of the quality of life in Apple Valley. Planning must consider the type and location of parks needed to meet the future needs of the community. A system of trails and sidewalks should allow people to move throughout the community on foot and bicycle.
The pattern of development and the characteristics the population influence the nature of public services.
All of these factors create financial implications. Land use creates the value used for property taxation - the primary source of revenue for the City. Many revenues used to build public improvements comes directly from new development.
The factors make the process of updating the Comprehensive Plan critically important for Apple Valley.
Time Frame
This update of the Comprehensive Plan looks to the year 2030. Considering a future over 20 years away forces the community to broadly consider issues and opportunities facing Apple Valley. Issues are easier to face before they become a problem. Opportunities cannot be captured if you pass them by.
A comprehensive plan is not only about encouraging the right actions, but also preventing the wrong ones. A residential subdivision in the wrong place may block the expansion of an needed industrial area or the right-of-way for a critical road corridor. Looking into the future helps to prevent unintended consequences.
Why Update the Plan?
State Law requires that all cities in the seven-county metropolitan area update their comprehensive plans a minimum of every ten years. The update cycle is tied to updates in regional plans by the Metropolitan Council. Apple Valley has until the end of 2008 to submit its comprehensive plan to the Metropolitan Council for review.
Even without this statutory mandate, it is important for Apple Valley to periodically review and update its plans for the future. Over the next 20 years, it is likely that Apple Valley will become fully developed. The Comprehensive Plan will guide what happens on these critical last pieces of land. As Apple Valley matures, more attention will be needed on maintaining existing development and encouraging revitalization. These are only two of the opportunities and challenges that must be considered in updating the Comprehensive Plan.
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