Comprehensive Plan Input Gathered At Hugo Public Workshop
On February 26, Hugo held a public workshop to solicit feedback from citizens regarding the 2008 Comprehensive Plan. Bustling with chatter between city staff and citizens, the meeting was the first in a series before the comprehensive plan is finalized sometime in 2008.
"A comprehensive plan is a set of guidelines that changes through time and guides development," said Community Development Director Bryan Bear in a video presentation that was played for citizens throughout the evening.
Photo by Louis Melamed
"We are really talking about the big picture for development that will happen in the city in the future," he added.
The comprehensive plan is concerned with the location, timing and intensity of development in Hugo over the next decade and beyond. The foundation for the comprehensive plan is set by the Metropolitan Council's "system statement."
According to information on the Met Council's website, "the system statement is a customized document informing each community how it is affected by the Metropolitan Council's policy plans for four regional systems - transportation, aviation, water resources (including wastewater collection and treatment), and regional parks and open space."
In addition to writing the system statement, the Met Council also has oversight over comprehensive plans by being able to direct municipalities to modify their comprehensive plan if it confl icts with the Met Council's regional vision.
"Development in the city has to be consistent with the Met Council's forecasts," said Bear.
Hugo's comprehensive plan hasn't been updated since 1998.
State law requires that every municipality within the seven-county metro area update its comprehensive plan every ten years. After completing work on its comprehensive plan in spring 2008, Hugo will then submit the plan to the Met Council in December.
One of the contentious issues that will be addressed by the comprehensive plan is to what extent rural eastern Hugo should develop.
"The eastern half of Hugo doesn't have municipal services available now. The question is, will those services be available at some time in the future and will rural Hugo develop?" said Bear.
In addition to the question of expanding services, the comprehensive plan will also have to deal with whether cluster developments should be allowed and to what extent open spaces should be preserved in the rural parts of the city.
While these issues will undoubtedly be debated extensively over the next year, most Hugo residents at the workshop seemed primarily concerned with issues directly impacting their lives.
Stacie Jensen, a young mother who moved to Hugo about six years ago, said that she hopes to stay in Hugo and raise her family in the community. Although she expressed concern about increasing traffic in the city, she said that her main concerns "are with the schools and things like that related to kids and family."
The city is actively soliciting citizen input during the comprehensive plan update process. Residents who attended the workshop were able to leave comment cards and were encouraged to e-mail or call City Hall with additional comments After reading all of the comment cards and considering the various suggestions made by citizens at the workshop, city staff will work to update the comprehensive plan.
"This is the first of many workshops, the idea being that every time we develop a component of the plan we want to get feedback," said Bear.