A Bold Experiment: The Met Council Turns 40

Forty years ago, a conservative-dominated Minnesota Legislature took a bold step — it voted to create a regional planning and coordinating body for the seven-county metropolitan area.

Now, as we observe the 40th anniversary of the Metropolitan Council’s creation, it’s appropriate to pause and assess the progress that has been made, as well as the challenges that lie ahead.

At the time the Metropolitan Council was established, our region faced serious problems that could not be effectively addressed by any one city or county:

Backyard septic systems were failing in many suburban communities, and inadequately treated waste was being discharged into many of our region’s lakes and rivers.
The Twin Cities’ privately owned bus company was rapidly deteriorating, a victim of rising fares, declining ridership and an aging bus fleet.
Rapid growth was threatening vital natural areas better suited for preservation as parks and open spaces.
Growing fiscal disparities were making it difficult for communities with inadequate tax capacity to fund essential services and were providing unhealthy development incentives.

Over the last four decades, considerable progress has been made, as a recent documentary on Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) demonstrated.

“
While the challenges are great, our history tells us that even the most difficult problems can be overcome through effective regional planning and cooperation.
”
- Peter Bell

Our region has developed a modern wastewater treatment system, with eight regional treatment plants and 600 miles of regional sewers that serve more than 100 communities. This system regularly wins awards for near-perfect compliance with environmental regulations, while maintaining rates 25 percent below similarly sized metro areas.

We took over and modernized the old bus company, building a transit system with more than 820 buses and 27 light-rail vehicles that carry 240,000 passengers a day. This year, we will begin preliminary engineering on the region’s second LRT line in the Central Corridor and we’ll begin construction of our first commuter rail line in the Northstar Corridor.

Working with 10 local park agencies, we have developed a regional parks system that is the envy of many urban areas. The 53,000-acre system includes 49 regional parks, 28 regional trails and six special recreational features that attract more than 33 million visitors a year.

Less visibly, perhaps, the Council works closely with the 189 communities in our region to ensure the “orderly, economical” development of the metro area and the efficient use of our regional infrastructure, as the Legislature directed when it created our agency.

While much has been accomplished since 1967, our region faces major challenges in the coming years as our population grows, ages and becomes more diverse. That’s why the Council joined with the McKnight Foundation and the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs to hold a regional policy conference this month.

While the challenges are great, our history tells us that even the most difficult problems can be overcome through effective regional planning and cooperation.

Peter Bell

June 2007