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Met Council approves Lake Elmo comp plan

Action ends protracted dispute over growth issues

In the end, the Metropolitan Council and the city of Lake Elmo found it was, indeed, possible to compromise over how best to plan for the future.

Ending a protracted dispute, the Council voted April 12 to approve a comprehensive plan requiring Lake Elmo to accept its share of the region’s projected growth while still preserving the rural character of the community.

The compromise plan was based on a memorandum of understanding signed by the two parties in January 2005. This came after the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled the Met Council has the authority to require modifications in local comprehensive plans that are inconsistent with metropolitan system plans for transportation, aviation, wastewater collection and treatment, and regional parks an open space.

“Achieving this compromise was a long and difficult process,” said Council Chair Peter Bell. “It reflects the flexible, collaborative approach our Council has tried to take in working with local communities. This plan balances the need to ensure the efficient use of our regional systems and the right of local communities to shape their own destinies.”

Bell added, “Lake Elmo’s mayor, Dean Johnston, also deserves a great deal of credit for his determination and commitment to finding a solution and ending the impasse.”

Under the approved plan, the city will:

• Plan to grow from its 2000 population of 6,863 to 24,000 by 2030.
• Commit to provide 6,600 Residential Equivalent Units (RECs) of regional sewer service by 2030. A REC is one household connection or 10 employees for new business operations.
• Achieve or exceed an average residential density of 3 units per acre and a non-residential density of 40 employees per acre in all sewered acres. Sewered development will be limited to the city’s Village area and the area south of 10 th Street along Interstate 94.

The city’s original comp plan, rejected by the Met Council in September 2002, would have limited future residential development to 2.5- to 3.3-acre lots with no sewered development. Lake Elmo would have consumed all of its available land by 2020, peaking at a population of 12,500.

“State and regional taxpayers have made significant investments to keep pace with growth in Lake Elmo and the surrounding area — including three major highways, a 2,200-acre regional park and sewer capacity,” Bell said. “The compromise plan will ensure that these investments are used in a cost-effective manner.”

Under state law, each community in the seven-county metro area is required every 10 years to prepare or update a local comprehensive plan that is consistent with the Council’s regional system plans. The next round of local plans and plan updates are due in 2008.