GreenStep City Best Practices: Resilient Economic and Community Development
Benchmarks and Community Engagement No. 24
Adopt outcome measures for GreenStep and other city sustainability efforts, and engage community members in ongoing education, dialogue, and campaigns.
Communicating Progress on Goals: Organize goals/outcome measures from all city plans (social, environmental, economic) and report to community members data that show progress toward meeting these goals.
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) shares guidelines of Service Efforts and Accomplishments (SEA) reporting. This methodology has a goal of reporting how well government assesses priorities and then delivers appropriate services.
The American Planning Association provides a guide for local government that defines sustainability, as well as how to implement, measure, and report it called Assessing Sustainability: A Guide for Local Governments (2011).
Read Understanding Your City’s Energy Resources (2018) about the type of energy information that most communities use in planning for energy development and/or to meet local energy or climate goals, and how the GreenStep partner organization Great Plains Institute can help cities use the data.
Report goals/outcomes annually from plans such as comprehensive, parks, library, housing, stormwater, drinking water, transportation, economic development, energy, sustainability; Issue a city Performance Management Report.
Achieve 1 Star rating AND identify specific steps from city departments on how to improve performance or meet goals that were not met in the previous year and incorporate them into the city's updated annual sustainability work plan.
Integrate goals/outcomes reporting explicitly into the city capital improvement planning process, identifying how public dollars are targeted to meeting sustainability goals in the plans.
Who's doing it
Burnsville - 3 star
Date action report first entered:
Date of last report update:
Year action initially completed: 06/06/2012
Implementation details:
Burnsville recently developed a Sustainability Hub, burnsvillemn.gov/sustainabilitydata. The Hub is a website to display the city’s progress toward the goals in the Sustainability Plan, provide resources to the community to enhance sustainability within their home or business, and highlight related projects happening around Burnsville.
The city budget contains a section that identifies at least 2 key programs that each department is working on. For each program, a goal is defined, objectives are set, and strategies are listed to help achieve those goals. A measurable outcome is determined an tracked. Previous goals are listed along with actual performance, and the goals for the next 1 to 2 years are set. These documents are available online going back to 2011.
Additionally, several departments in the City do their own annual reporting.
- Duluth's Community Planning department releases the Housing Indicators Report and CAPER on its webpage
- Duluth Public Library reports various usage statistics to State Library Services
- Parks and Recreation posts an annual report of completed projects, budgeting, and plans for the near future to their webpage
Eden Prairie annually tracks and reports its progress toward all citywide goals, including for sustainability, as part of its Performance Measurement Dashboard. In addition, city sustainability staff updates the City Council once per year on progress towards Climate Action Plan and other sustainability goals. To support this work, the city's Capital Improvement Plan has a section specific to funding sustainability projects and improvements.
The City of Lakeville focuses its plans and planning process along with its Envision Lakeville visioning process. Envision Lakeville is a citywide visioning process to bring people together to share opinions and ideas about the vision for the future of Lakeville. The process includes input from residential, commercial, and industrial property owners, as well as City staff and non-governmental organizations, and a task force of community members. Their work guides strategic planning for the City and influences comprehensive planning in terms of transportation, community growth, parks and trails, and effective and efficient services. Plan inputs serve as the goals and objectives within the Envision Lakeville product and are reported to City Council and updated on the City’s Envision Lakeville webpage. The Envision Lakeville dashboard gives residents a quick look at the status of plan goals in five broad categories and allows them to drill down to see what objectives have been accomplished, what actions are sill pending, and what the City is doing to meet those objectives. The individual goals and objectives are updated annually as plans and priorities change. The Envision Lakeville process has gone through two iterations, the first in 2013 to establish the initial visioning process and the second in 2018 to ensure that the vision statement, community values, and strategic priorities continued to reflect the current and future needs and goals of the community.
Starting in May 2012, the city began completing an annual report called the "strategic profile report." This report includes six major goals and action steps to meet each goal. The strategic profile report is prepared by staff and presented to council to provide progress on the action steps and important key measures in meeting community goals.
The City of Saint Louis Park Environmental Commission produces a yearly sustainability report to the City Council which is publicly available for all residents which shows progress that has been made in the GreenStep Cities program and the city's other sustainability goals.
be. Apple Valley for Homeowners (Better Energy Program)
The City of Apple Valley teamed up with Dakota Electric, CenterPoint Energy, and the Center for Energy and Environment through grants from the Joyce Foundation and the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund to offer Apple Valley homeowners this full-service residential energy program - be. (better energy) Apple Valley.
Below are some of the results of this two-year program:
793 homeowners attended workshops on saving energy
780 (98%) completed a home visit of their property with an energy professional
16,680 CFL light bulbs were installed
759 low-flow shower heads were installed
1,491 low-flow aerators were installed
149 homes completed major upgrades like attic insulation or furnace, boiler, or hot water heater replacement
27% of homes acted on at least one of the recommended upgrades
$437,000 in estimated value of energy savings from the program over the lifetime of the products
The be. Apple Valley program was designed to help Apple Valley homeowners improve their homes by reducing their energy use and saving money at the same time.
be. for Businesses
Apple Valley businesses are showing that energy efficiency makes sense for their bottom line and the environment. Since 2007, Apple Valley businesses have worked with Dakota Electric and Center Point Energy on over 100 efficiency projects and cut their annual energy bills by over $285,000.
In partnership with the Apple Valley Chamber of Commerce and with input from Apple Valley business leaders, Better Energy is finding ways to help businesses cut their costs by saving energy. Two roundtable meetings identified the following opportunities:
• Benchmarking to help businesses compare their energy use and costs to industry peers
• Bulk-buys of proven, low-cost, and quick-payback efficiency devices
• Conducting an energy survey to identify progress and opportunities throughout the business community
o Energy survey for businesses that lease their space
o Energy survey for business that own their space
• Connecting businesses to efficiency rebates and utility programs
• Employee "green teams" to save businesses money through no-cost behavior solutions
• Exploring ways building owners and tenants can both benefit from energy efficiency
• Recognizing energy-efficient businesses
Apple Valley currently supplies information every ten years in the Comprehensive Plan regarding goals for a wide variety of plans including parks, stormwater, drinking water, and economic development. The City annually reports the accomplishments of the previous years goals and the goals for the current and future years in the annual “State of the City” address by the Mayor.
Several of our water related goals are discussed below: http://www.ci.apple-valley.mn.us/DocumentCenter/Home/View/967
Goal: Limit infiltration and inflow (I/I)of stormwater into our sanitary sewer. The City has a proactive program directed at identifying and correcting I/I, including
the following: Manholes are inspected as part of sewer cleaning operations, which are performed daily March through November, weather permitting. Approximately one
third of the system is cleaned (and manholes inspected) annually.
Goal: Reduce amount of unaccounted for water by replacing or lining all defective clay water pipe. This project began two years ago and we are making progress through the Capital Improvement Program each year. Several neighborhoods or street sections are done annually, which preserves and protects infrastructure and limits wasted drinking water.
Goal: Protect groundwater from potential contamination on City properties. The City conducts quarterly inspections on all City owned facilities to check for improper storage of hazardous wastes or materials, stockpiles of soils, or any illegal dumping. Prior to 2015, these inspections were annually. Quarterly inspections will help prevent polluted drinking water from City properties. We also educate residents and businesses, but hope to lead by example.
Goal: Replace all residential water meters and inspect sump pump connections for illegal activity. This project will begin in 2016 to update all water meters to more accurately capture water use with advanced technology. Additionally the City will inspect for proper sump pump connections or any illicit connections into our sanitary system.
The city of Bemidji produces an annual budget report where goals and performance are outlined. The report is presented and discussed at city council meetings that are open to the public and aired on public television. There is also a copy archived on the city’s website. Quarterly updates on Greenstep cities progress are also presented at city council meetings by the city’s Sustainability Committee. Furthermore, the Greater Bemidji Area Joint Planning Board is working with the city and engaging the community in a Comprehensive Planning process that is developing sustainability goals that act as guidelines for city growth and development.
The City of Brooklyn Center Mayor and Council host a two day goal setting retreat with department heads, planning commission, and parks commission representatives.
Each year, City leaders and department heads hold 4 neighborhood meetings within City Parks to report on goals and progress taking place within the City. The meetings move around the City selecting different parks each year.
The attached document is made available to the public, reporting this goals/progress information via the webpage.
Cottage Grove produces an annual budget document outlining impact and outcome measures for most city departments. These measures are presented at a televised Council meeting each year as well as available on the City's website.
The City will be working to ensure impact and outcome measures are added to those sections of the budget for the 2016 budget. Some of these sections include:
Stormwater
Water conservation
Energy consumption
These updates will be presented at the 2016 annual budget presentation to the community as well as actual outcomes from 2015 and new impact measures for 2017.
The City creates a report detailing its goals for the upcoming year. Staff from all departments are assigned tasks and the report is updated regularly to reflect current progress towards accomplishing these goals. This report is available to residents by visiting our website and viewing the Powered by our Vision and Goals
webpage.
The City of Fridley hired a Community Engagement and Outreach Specialist in 2019 and launched the "Focus On Fridley" initiative in 2020 in which five key focus areas were identified for council, city staff, and the community to focus on. The City has used the Polco Software program to engage residents on these initiative and reports back via social media and the newsletter. The City also holds an annual meeting in which new updates and initiatives are shared with community members.
The City of Hastings produces a formal budget document outlining outcome measures for most city departments. The City has the budget documents for the current year as well as 5 years prior available on its website. The City also reports progress on current projects to the residents through its newsletter "Rivertown News". This newsletter is updated and mailed at least twice a year to 11,000 households in city limits and a digital copy is available on the City website.
Hopkins currently supplies this information every ten years in the Comprehensive Plan. All goals/outcomes from City plans are outlined within the report. This information is available on the City's website and also by clicking at the link which is provided.
A presentation of city of Hopkins goals for 2012 and accomplishments of 2011 is also attached.
The city Planning and Development department also provides an Annual Report on housing activity to the Metropolitan Council.
The Comprehensive Plan and planning process provides the City background information of where the City is at today in terms of population, employment, housing, land use, transportation, park and natural resources and more, as well as determine what the community’s vision is for these in the future. Additional city-wide plans are created by the City to supplement this document when more specific guidance is needed or required by regulation. These supplemental documents are plans such as the Water Resource Management Plan, Capital Improvement Plan, Parks Plan and more. These plans are located on our website and are summarized in the attached document, which is also available on our website. This document is intended to summarize the purpose of the plans, link to the current status of the plan and provide a staff contact. This will be updated on an annual basis.
The Isanti City Council hosts an annual open meeting to discuss the previous year’s goals and to make a determination on whether the goals were accomplished or not. At the same meeting, goals for the present year are set. This meeting is open to the public. Minutes from the meeting are published on the City’s website.
Annually the City publishes the Consumer Confidence Drinking Water Report on the City’s website.
The City’s Economic Development Director has an internal reporting system on the all the businesses within teh city along with the number of employees they have and the general wages they offer.
The City’s uses a quarterly publication (The Isantian) to reach out to the community and keep them informed of what is happening in city departments, with local businesses and the types of events occurring in the community.
Mankato publishes an annual "State of the City" report that outlines progress on five-year strategic plan initiatives and discusses opportunities, including efforts toward increased community sustainability.
The City reports goals/outcomes measures yearly on sustainability initiatives and stormwater management.
Sustainability: The Sustainability Chapter of Maplewood's 2030 Comprehensive Plan outlines how the City will improve on the natural and built environment by using best practices for sustainability. Property values and the City's overall marketability will rise over time by improving upon these environments. The vision for sustainability as outlined in the Chapter states: "The City of Maplewood, in order to ensure stewardship of its environment, will promote sustainable development and practices for the preservation, design, and maintenance of its natural and built environments. Developments and practices should maintain or enhance economic opportunity and community well-being while protecting and restoring the natural environment that people, economies, and ecological systems depend on." The annual Sustainability Report is provided to the Environmental and Natural Resources Commission and City Council as an update on the City's sustainability goals and to obtain comment and feedback on strategies needed to continue the mission. The report identifies specific actions taken by departments and how performance can be improved in the coming year. The Sustainability Report is broadcast live and rerun on the City's government television network. The report is published on the City's sustainability webpage.
Stormwater Management: As part of Maplewood's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, the City of Maplewood is required to prepare an annual report detailing the progress made in the previous year toward satisfying the minimum control measures including: Public Education and Outreach; Public Participation and Involvement; Illicit Discharge, Detection and Elimination; Construction Site Storm Water Runoff Control; Post-Construction Storm Water Management; Pollution Prevention and Good Housekeeping. The stormwater report presented to the Environmental and Natural Resources Commission yearly, published as a public hearing, and broadcast live and rerun on the City's government television network.
The city's contracted recycling hauler, Tennis Sanitation, sends out an annual report to all multi-family residence with the total quantity of waste collected from that building during the year.
The City of Maplewood is participating in the Regional Indicators Initiative project. The project measures annual performance metrics for 20 Minnesota cities that are committed to increasing their overall efficiency and level of sustainability. The project addresses two crucial components of planning for sustainability—carbon baseline assessments and annual indicators. Four primary indicators were collected through the activities generated by the people who live, work, learn, travel, visit, and recreate within each city’s geographical boundaries including:
Energy: Total energy consumed for electricity production and the stationary combustion of natural gas and other fuels (coal, fuel oil, diesel, gasoline, propane) primarily for space heating.
Water: Potable water consumed.
Waste: Municipal solid waste managed via recycling, composting, combustion, and landfilling.
Travel: On-road vehicle miles traveled. The project is supported by the Urban Land Institute whose mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities.
Various plans were reviewed to satisfy this step.
This was done utilizing a Carleton College intern which made this exercise beneficial for both the City and the community.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
Annual plan evaluation is necessary to address areas where more support is needed. This action organizes this function and facilitates staff to better evaluate desired outcomes.
The Environmental Management Commission has created the Oakdale Generation Green Sustainability Plan to provide guidance and track progress of the commission's progress towards meeting emissions reduction and other community environmental goals, including goals set in the city's Comprehensive Plan, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Systems Plan, and the Get Active! Action Plan. Action steps are identified each year in each category to help the city prioritize projects for the upcoming year.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
The Generation Green Sustainability Plan specifically measures yearly progress towards meeting the emissions reduction goals set as part of the city's participation in the ICLEI - Cities for Climate Protection Campaign.
The City participates in the Regional Indicators Initiative, which includes annual citywide metrics (GHG emissions, energy consumption, and costs) regarding energy consumption, vehicle miles traveled, solid waste management, airport usage, potable water consumption, and sanitary sewer treatment.
The first section of the City's Capital Improvement Budget and Plan includes a listing of the goals and policies of the Richfield Comprehensive Plan. Later sections describes the consistency with these goals and policies for every project to be funded.
Comprehensive planning benefits the community in many ways. The background data collection and analysis shows us where we are today and helps to determine where we want to be in the future. Communities that plan are able to respond to change effectively. Planning allows us to provide public facilities and services efficiently and cost-effectively. Planning also links implementation programs and strategies. In addition, the planning process helps to create ownership in the comprehensive plan by citizens and government officials. Comprehensive planning enables communities to identify population characteristics, development trends and issues. This process involves the collection and analysis of background data including population, employment, housing, land use, transportation, community services, parks and natural resources. The analysis of this data enables the community to determine its current and future needs. Communities can then develop implementation strategies and programs to satisfy these needs. The administration of these implementation and strategies can then be coordinated and carried out effectively. Roseville has many plans and programs in place that are meant to meet the goals of our Comprehensive Plan. The Implementation Chapter outlines how each program will be developed and administered, tools and monitoring metrics, and fiscal considerations. financial commitment and support to carry out the policies and achieve our goals. These financial commitments include existing programs and policies the City currently has in place such as the Capital Improvement Program and Comprehensive Infrastructure Replacement Plan. Updates are included in the newsletter for residents 6 times a year, the City's website, and are given a chance to participate when specific plans or Comprehensive Plan chapters are amended or approved with a Public Hearing process. The City continues to carry out the policies identified in the Comprehensive Plan and has implemented some of the recommendations. This housing plan summarizes the current housing efforts and identifies gaps in the community’s housing needs that should be addressed in the future.
The City of St. Anthony Mayor and Council host a two day goal setting retreat with department heads, planning commission, and parks commission representatives.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
The City annually reports the accomplishments of the previous years goals and the goals for the current and future years (see attached).
The City annually reports on the results of it's recycling program and reports in the City newsletter.
The Comprehensive Plan (and planning cycle) provides a unique opportunity for the City to set goals for the growth and progress of the City over the next 20 years. Residents are actively engaged as part of the Comprehensive Planning process in order to gain their input as the City creates goals for the Comprehensive Plan. The Implementation Chapter (Chapter 11) outlines specific goals and targets from each chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. This list guides staff in day-to-day decision making as well as provides staff with a to-do list for future projects.
Outside of Comprehensive Planning, staff are making an effort to increase public awareness of what is happening in the City as well as to get feedback from residents. 2019 was the first year since 2016 the City sent out performance review surveys to residents. The survey asked for feedback in 12 performance areas. The City received 206 responses which were reviewed by staff and included in the South St. Paul newsletter. Additionally, South St. Paul is now sending out newsletters every two months instead of every four months.
For residents that are interested, the Planning Commission and the Economic Development Authority have annual reports that are available on the City's website. These reports looks at the items that have been reviewed during the year. For residents that are interested in South St. Paul's GreenSteps progress, a link to the City's Greenstep site can be found under the Community Page.
The city reports goals/outcomes in an annual budget report that is available on the city’s website. The 2014 budget, for example, reports 2011 and 2012 performance results, 2013 performance criteria, and establishes 2014 benchmarks and goals. Goals are focused on priorities set forth in the City’s Strategic Plan which is updated every 3-5 years, as well as requests from residents and the Mayor and City Council. Performance indicators are detailed in the operating budgets of each department. The City Manager presents the budget report at December City Council meeting annually, which is open to the public, and also broadcasted on the city’s cable channel.
The Albert Lea City Council has outlined five goals for the community. When steps are made toward achieving these goals they are publicized and promoted.
The 2014 Downtown Plan contains a sustainability section with an inventory of GreenStep Cities best practices and actions Austin has taken related to the downtown district. The Downtown Plan is available on the City's website.
The Parks and Recreation Department produces an annual report. The report contains improvements to city parks, Tree City USA status, and other GreenStep Cities related actions.
A link to Vision 2020 is on Austin's home page. Vision 2020 is a community effort to improve the quality of life in Austin through forward thinking, community based and led projects. These "visions" include expanding trails systems, community wide technology, year- round recreation center, clean waterways, business friendly environment, education leader, physical beautification, vibrant downtown, tourism, and Main Street renovation.
The Sustainability Commission develops an annual plan with goals and outcomes. Annually, they will report progress to the City of Bloomington City Council, available on public television. The report will also be posted on the Sustainability Commission website.
In 2017, city staff worked with residents to establish six goals they would like to see Brooklyn Park accomplish by 2025. The city developed a list of community statistics showing progress toward those goals. Those statistics are updated annually. They are posted on the city's website and shared in presentations and publications.
The City's Comprehensive Plan includes information related to long term plans for land use, transportation, water resources and parks. The City also creates and publishes other Master Plans specific to current projects in the city such as road and development construction, economic development strategies and 2040 vision. In 2013, a park referendum was passed and reports have been created detailing plans for the new park systems.
The Sustainability Report identifies outcomes of various sustainable city projects related to recycling, energy use, water conservation, stormwater management and transportation. Future reports will indicate changes and any relevant outcomes to new projects.
The City uses Envisio to track progress toward comprehensive plan goals.
In 2016, the city of Crookston published a comprehensive plan documenting their goals for the city in the next 17 years. The GreenStep committee will focus on working toward the sustainability goals along with the GreenStep program. GreenStep committee will organize/report goals on our city website GreenStep page and update progress on these goals. A written report of progress and accomplishments will be created and published along with a presentation of progress to city council every four months (April, August, December).
The Crystal Environmental Quality Commission will make annual reports to the City Council which will be on the city's website regarding GreenStep Cities implementation progress. There is a link to the GreenStep Cities page on the city's website.
The City's annual budget includes performance measures in each department and division, which are reported annually through the budget process. The City also publishes an annual report via the Experience Eagan newsletter, which summarizes the City's goals and progress made on those goals, including a Green Guide that speaks to efforts specific to energy and sustainability.
Complete: Each January EEC meeting is televised and includes a status report to the community on each Best Practice in the Green Step Cities Program. This was held on 1-12-12 and televised on cable Ch 16 and is available to the public to download. Rick Carter presented the Regional Indicator's Project where Edina's indicators (energy usage, recycling lbs/HH, transportation, cycling, water usage) were compared with Vadnais Hts and St. Louis Park. Drinking water indicators are annually reported to the community in the About Town publication.
All plans, such as the Comprehensive Plan, the Natural Resources Management Plan and the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Plan are made available for residents on the Golden Valley website. The City produces a biennial budget, updated and adopted annually.
Before commencing writing of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan update, staff reviewed how well the City succeeded at completing the objectives and policies listed in each chapter of the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. These reports were presented to the Planning Commission and made available to the public through the Commission’s agenda packets which were posted online.
The Comprehensive Plan references the City’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) that catalogues public investments by date and cost. Council must approve the CIP and the Planning Commission reviews the CIP every year for its consistency with the Comprehensive Plan.
City's comprehensive plan includes clear goals and is hosted on the City's website. In addition, progress on City goals is communicated to all residents via the quarterly City newsletter, Lucette's Gazette.
Outcomes and goals for the City’s environmental progress are presented on to the City Council by various departments annually. The City now has a page on its website that lists notable accomplishments recognized by the GreenSteps program including energy saved and waste diverted.
Reporting on all city goals and significant initiatives are available via video on http://marshallstudio1tv.com All City Council Meetings are also available via video at this same site. Reports, such as the Annual Finance Report and Economic Development Report are available at www.ci.marshall.mn.us Community members are invited to an annual Lyon County Summit, which is organized by the City of Marshall and Lyon County Economic Development to report on city goals/accomplishments and to discuss upcoming projects. The event is MC'd by the Mayor and other City leaders. Highlights can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MybK5H_Tllc
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
All project information and reports are available to community members via video and hard copy at the City website and on the Studio 1cable access channel
City staff routinely report on the progress of city plans and initiatives (including GreenStep Cities) at City Council meetings and in the bi-monthly resident newsletter, Heights Highlights. Updates on plans are also included in the mayor’s annual State of the City address. Occasionally, more prominent communication pieces are created to tell residents about plan progress such as the video linked below about Parks & Recreation activities.
A "Sustainability: Reduce, ReUse, Rec" tab on our City's website. This includes links to any sustainable practices the city performs and directs community members to additional information about any of the city's past or ongoing projects related to sustainability.
We have also held several community meetings that go into detail about the City's future plans or current initiatives.
The Minnesota Environmental Review Board also come annually to visit Moorhead and view our sustainability projects.
In 2018/2019 the City Council conducted 5 retreats dedicated to the creation of a three year strategic plan that was adopted and covers the time period of 2020 thru 2022. Quarterly reports on all measure are provided to council with an annual written report presented and published. Within the plan are numerous environmental sustainability goals such as reduction of INI and municipal water use.
Through the existing communication mediums we will update community members on the status of our project energy savings. We will develop our goals based upon the guidance from the identified Best Practices and integrate them with City operations. Sustainable actions such as energy saving projects, recycling statistics, and the importance of water conservation is regularly communicated to community members.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
Staff provides weekly updates on the City website regarding our water use. Residents receive information on the status of the City wells in City-wide mailings and an annual discussion at our annual City Open House.
The city of New Hope Performance Measurement Report is a cumulative summary report compiled from various sources, primarily the City Services Survey, an annual paper and web-based survey, and the Morris Leatherman Company Survey, an extensive professional community-wide phone survey.
The City has an internal Sustainability Committee comprised of 4-6 staff members that meet monthly to discuss sustainability best practices and operations throughout the City. The committee is led by the City's dedicated sustainability staff person. The Committee provides an annual presentation to City Council with an update on progress related to sustainability and that presentation is available to the public. The presentation covers topics including GreenStep Cities, Partners in Energy, and GreenCorps.
Annual goals and outcome for the city of Rochester are written and presented annually at City Council Meetings that are also televised on TV. All of Rochester's Comprehensive plans, Long Range plans,Downtown master plan,Rochester urban service future land use plan, and annual updates are available online for all of the public to access for free.
The St. Cloud community has found success in its established planning hierarchy beginning with the St. Cloud Area Joint District Plan into the Comprehensive Plan leading into target area plans such as corridor studies or neighborhood master plans and finally strategic plans such as the St. Cloud Area Sustainability Framework Plan.
The City of Saint Paul's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) is published to provide the Mayor, City Council, City Staff, citizens, bond holders, and other interested parties with useful information concerning the City's operations and financial position.
Many other departments also produce annual reports, inlcuding: Public Works Department, Department of Human Rights & Equal Economic Opportunity, and Parks & Recreation.
The City of Saint Paul is currently updating its comprehensive plan – a forward-thinking vision that will guide the city’s development over the next 30 years. One of the major trends facing Saint Paul that acted as a “lens” for the last comprehensive plan was rising energy costs and climate change.
All of the plans mentioned above are available to the public. The comprehensive planning process will include public input and feedback.
Sartell has adopted numerous plans over the years including: regional plans, strategic plans, target area plans, and of course the Comprehensive Plan. The Planning Commission and Planning Dept. review the Comprehensive Plan annually. The Planning dept. also includes in dept. updates to the Council items in the Comp. Plan which have been implemented. Sartell also utilizes additional outlets (printed and electronic newsletter, social media, email subscriber blasts, etc.) to communicate advancements in the Greensteps program (e.g. Sartell becoming a Step Two Greenstep City) to the general public.
The City of Savage participates in the Office of the State Auditor Local Government Performance Measures Reports. Annually, the City submits our report to the OSA. The most recent copy of the performance measures is posted publically to the City's website on the Budget Page.
Comprehensive planning benefits the community in many ways. The background data collection
and analysis shows us where we are today and helps to determine where we want to be in the future. Communities that plan are able to respond to change effectively. Planning allows us to provide public facilities and services efficiently and cost-effectively.
Planning also links implementation programs and strategies. In addition, the planning process
helps to create ownership in the comprehensive plan by citizens and government officials.
Comprehensive planning enables communities to identify population characteristics,
development trends and issues. This process involves the collection and analysis of background
data including population, employment, housing, land use, transportation, community services,
parks and natural resources. The analysis of this data enables the community to determine its
current and future needs. Communities can then develop implementation strategies and
programs to satisfy these needs. The administration of these implementation and strategies can then be coordinated and carried out effectively. Shoreview has many plans and programs in place that are meant to meat the goals of our Comprehensive Plan.
The Implementation Chapter outlines how each program will be developed and administered, tools and monitoring metrics, and fiscal considerations. financial commitment and support to carry
out the policies and achieve our goals. These financial commitments include existing programs and policies the City currently has in place such as the Capital Improvement Program and Comprehensive Infrastructure Replacement Plan.
Updates on each section are included in the City's ShoreViews newsletter for residents 6 times a year, the City's website, and are given a chance to participate when specific plans or Comprehensive Plan chapters are amended or approved with a Public Hearing process.
The City is working on publishing information for GreenStep Cities progress as well as the Regional Indicators Initiative findings to date. Staff from the Regional Indicators Inititative has met with the Shoreview Environmental Quality Committee and will soon meet with the City Council in a workshop setting.
http://www.shoreviewmn.gov/home/showdocument?id=1294
One specific example of coordinating and reporting data to community members is our Shoreview Housing Action Plan.
This Plan takes into consideration recent housing studies, the 2008 Comprehensive Plan and changing
community needs. The City continues to carry out the policies identified in the Comprehensive
Plan and has implemented some of the recommendations. This housing plan summarizes the
current housing efforts and identifies gaps in the community’s housing needs that should be
addressed in the future.
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
Housing Metric: The Metropolitan Council has implemented several housing programs to ensure that life cycle and affordable housing opportunities are available in the region. The Livable Communities Act (LCA) is a voluntary, incentive-based approach to help the Twin Cities metropolitan area address affordable and lifecycle housing needs while providing funds to communities to assist them in carrying out their development plans. The City participates in this program and has adopted affordable and life-cycle housing goals and continues to meet the required expenditures for local housing programs. As a result of this participation, Shoreview has received funding to assist with redevelopment projects which provide life-cycle and affordable housing.
Urban Land Institute - Minnesota/Regional Council of Mayors (ULI MN/RCM)
The City was selected to participate in ULI MN/RCM’s Opportunity City Pilot Program. The
intent of the Opportunity City Pilot Program is to increase the number of cities that have tools
and strategies in place to support a full range of housing choice. The program included a
Housing Audit and Site Analysis. The Housing Audit compiled information pertaining to the
demographic makeup of the community, existing housing goals, tools and strategies, identified
gaps and recommended needed changes to support a full range of housing choice.
The second part of this program, Site Analysis, looked at the potential redevelopment of a site
using the ULI Technical Assistance Panel. A number of sites were presented to the ULI TAP for
consideration, including the Midland Terrace site. The Midland Terrace site was chosen because
it featured some of the ULI’s community site principles and has a strong potential for
redevelopment.
The new 104 unit, 6 story apartment complex is currently under construction in 2014. This building will set a new level of quality (and height!) for the area and will establish a move-up product within the Shoreview community.
Many more programs and housing initiatives are detailed in the plan. These efforts are available on our City website and featured in the City Newsletter.
The City annually holds neighborhood meetings that include surveys on the City's performance. The surveys are also published on its website for residents to respond. Those results are shared annually (attached) and used to shape the next year's strategic goals by staff and Council.
The City of Willmar produces an annual financial report. Also each department submits their budget, needs, and goals to the planning commission each year. The comprehensive plan is discussed each year by the planning commission. As the city of willmar develops sustainable goals from the comprehensive plan are used to guide the growth. Contact:
Megan Sauer
Planner
333 6th St SW
Willmar, MN 56201
(320) 235-8311
msauer@willmarmn.gov
Outcome measures/metrics/money saved:
Each city departments goals are submitted to the planning commission annually and then onto the city council. The planning commission review the comprehensive plan: which includes policies and goals on parks, housing, stormwater, transportation, economic development, energy, and sustainability.
The city reports comprehensive city metrics annually in its Performance Measurement Report. That report has a small section on sustainability. Staff is working on a sustainability audit of city operations, which will provide a more focused report on sustainability indicators and metrics.
