Community engagement and visioning assistance is available from a number of organizations in Minnesota such as regional initiative foundations, and visual preference and other placemaking tools are catalogued on this NextStep web page.
Training workshops, consultation and local assessments from U-Connect at the University of MN Extension.
Regional development organizations work with cities on transportation and economic issues common to multiple units of government, and are all linked to from the website of the Minnesota Regional Development Organization (MRDO).
Work with community members in establishing design goals or designs standards, publish the standards, and ensure that the standards are provided to everyone proposing development in the corridor.
Adopt an overlay district; in the public process to set design standards, use visual preference survey tools to develop both goals and designs.
Require or provide incentives (design assistance, permit fee reductions, etc) for new development and redevelopment to adhere to the goals and designs.
Implementation details: Burnsville completed design guidelines for the Interstate 35W corridor as it enters Burnsville from the north, also known as Burnsville's North Gateway District. For the North Gateway Design Guidelines indicates that there were numerous community visioning and planning initiatives that spanned 2 decades including Partnerships for Tomorrow and Vision for Tomorrow (See attached North Gateway Design Standards). When the actual guideline manual and zoning district was developed in 2006, the affected property owners were also involved in the process. The city had also done community wide visioning that concentrated on this north gateway area of the community in preparation for the 1990 and 2000 comp plan updates.
A visual preference study was also done for the North Gateway design guidelines similar to the Heart of the City Design Guidelines process and many of the graphics included in the design manual are from the visual preference presentations that were done as part of the guideline and zoning development process for the North Gateway. (See attached guidelines).
Implementation details: Mankato utilizes adopted Highway Gateway Overlay District for established corridors.The HGT, Highway Gateway Overlay District, is intended to promote high quality design in Mankato's gateways. The areas included within this district are located at major entryways into the City. Requirements include exterior treatments, specialized setback standards, signage, architecture, and landscaping.
Implementation details: Maplewood has been actively working on the design goals for the highway corridors of Highway 36 and 61. In 2009, the City of Maplewood prepared an application for federal funding for the construction of the interchange at English Street. In the spring of 2010 it was announced that the project was successful and awarded $7 million in federal funding for construction in 2014. A visual preference survey was conducted to engage the public and agencies in the design process to refine the design.
Report on Proposed design:
http://www.sehinc.com/files/online/36EnglishNewsletter1010.pdf
Implementation details: The City of St. Cloud 2003 Comprehensive Plan identifies design goals for five highway/entryway corridors into the City. The five highway corridors include States Highways 15, 10, and 23, Interstate 94 and CSAH 74. The design goals are a part of the Target Area Plans identified in the 2003 Comprehensive Plan. The design goals include creating a strong sense of arrival into the community, enhancing the corridors with landscaping, lighting, signage and architectural features, including gateway monuments, and landscaping to screen industrial areas and to promote the open space and natural wetlands, prairie and wooded areas surrounding the community. The Comprehensive Plan was developed following extensive meetings with community members and stakeholders to gather input and recommendations before the Plans adoption.
Implementation details: As part of the upgrade of Cedar Avenue to accommodate bus rapid transit (BRT), a public process was undertaken and design goals were developed that guided the work of the corridor. The completed Cedar Avenue corridor will have landscaping, streetscape elements, decorative lighting, tree plantings, benches, and way finding at key intersections.
Implementation details: Corridor Highway. Our Comprehensive Plan indicates an improvement to one of city streets which connects two State Highways. The plan calls for an adcent corrider for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Additionally we will be making arrangements for storm water runoff that will return water to the soil.
Outcome measures/metrics: We have been in negotiation with the county to obtain a CSAH status for this city street to be re-built to our standards. We have scheduled a public hearing on this project in July 2011. Itasca County has agreed to designate this street as CSAH. The street will be redesigned to include a safe pedestrian and bicycle corridor and rebuilt in accordance with community input and in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan. The county has agreed to make this street a county state aid roadway and has agreed to reconstruct the roadway in conformance with our comp plan. The county has contracted with our city engineer to design the road and as of 01/01/13 the design work is underway. Once the design work is complete, we will have public meeting. That meeting is scheduled for February 13.
Implementation details: The City included goals for highway development in the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. Additionally, the goals are outlined in Section 1350 of the City Code. Finally, the City is in the process of establishing design goals for the MX-3 Transit Oriented District.
Implementation details: Rochester recently did work on County Road 104.the Rochester-Olmsted Council of Governments (ROCOG) has identified in its Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) a network of future arterial corridors which will be needed to ensure the safety and mobility of the traveling public. County Road (CR) 104/60th Avenue has been identified in the LRTP as a key future corridor. It has been identified as part of the outer beltway system around the City of Rochester's urbanized area that is expected to be developed over the next 25 to 30 years. There were 5 design policies created to define the grade and layout of intersecting streets and lots adjacent to the corridor. Policy #1 Design speed- desired speed will be 55 MPH. #2 Design standards- County state aid standards will be followed for lane widths, curvatures, grades and shoulder widths. #3. Median type- Throughout the corridor the predominant median design would be a depressed median with median crossovers limited to one every 1/4 mile. On approached to major intersections a compressed intersection design with raised medians will be considered to facilitate turn lanes and pedestrian crossing and create refuge areas for pedestrians. #4Typical cross section design-The basic design for the corridor will incorporate open ditches on the outside of the travel lanes and a grassed, depressed median to separate the travel lanes. Exceptions to this would be considered at future signalized intersections where pedestrian and bicycle crossing is encouraged. #5 Site grading- Owners or developers who, through a proposed development, site expansion or change of use are initiating grading activity on a property, will be required to grade the site to match the proposed center line profile and cross section for 60th ave. based on the ultimate cross section for the corridor.
Implementation details: The City has established design and performance standards for its Golden Spike commercial corridor with its C-3 highway commercial district ordinance. In addition, the City's Comprehensive Plan also identifies design standards for the Golden Spike corridor as well as the 2nd Street North and the County Road 29 corridors.
For more information contact: Marilyn Patterson (Community volunteer) | mpp03@charter.net | 320-258-5300
Implementation details: The goals and policies that follow are intended to strengthen the system by improving accessibility for residents through transportation choice. Highway 96 was a state highway that was turned back to Ramsey County (probably 15 to 20 years ago). When this turnback occurred, the County facilitated a design process involving the Highway 96 communities. Shoreview engaged a citizen group and sought public input in the design of the roadyway through the City. As a result, the Highway 96 Corridor study was completed which provided some transportation and land use guidelines for the road reconstruction. Many of the design features that are present in the Shoreview segment of the corridor are a result of that study.
Implementation details: The City of Woodbury has developed landscaping guidelines for the City’s major roadway corridors that are implemented for all major roadway construction projects. The City has also developed roadway corridor design principles for major roadways, which includes multimodal transportation considerations, impervious surface controls, and boulevard tree planting requirements.
no. 9 
Best Practice Action 1
