As Minneapolis residents battle over the city's 2040 Comprehensive Plan, the debate in St. Paul is just getting started.
The capital city, which released its draft comprehensive plan in March, got a six-month extension from the Metropolitan Council and won't submit its final plan to the regional planning agency until June.
Hannah Burchill, a spokeswoman for the city's Planning and Economic Development department, said the city asked for an extension to work on a chapter of the plan that focuses on the Mississippi River corridor. That chapter won't be released to the public until May.
The city released the plan's other chapters, which cover land use, transportation, parks and recreation, housing, water resources and heritage preservation, for comment on Friday. Members of the public will be able to submit comments until Jan. 11, when a public hearing is scheduled before the city's Planning Commission.
The Met Council projects that between 2020 and 2040, St. Paul will gain about 29,000 residents, 13,000 households and 19,000 jobs. St. Paul officials are using the comprehensive plan to prepare for that growth — in a more measured way than their Minneapolis counterparts — while still planning for higher density at dozens of "neighborhood nodes" across the city.
The city is planning to submit the final plan to the Met Council in June, after the City Council holds a public hearing and a vote.
To read the plan and submit comments online, visit https://bit.ly/2Rx16lT.
Emma Nelson • 612-673-4509
