Poster Presentation C Thursday, 5:00 – 6:00 pm C Edmund Fitzgerald Exhibit Hall

Twin Cities Regional Planned Land Use Database ­ 2020: Policy Implications

Paul E. Hanson
Metropolitan Council
Mears Park Centre
230 East 5th Street
St. Paul, MN  55101-1626
paul.hanson@metc.state.mn.us

For the first time, a map has been created showing planned land use for the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area in a uniform, regional classification scheme for the year 2020. The map is generated from a complied regional geographic information system (GIS) database. The information was derived from the 190 individual communities that make up the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. The combined regional vision is intended to provide a base for regional planning among communities and a means to compare locally adopted land use designations. Displayed using a uniform coding scheme, developed through a broadly collaborative process involving local and regional perspectives, the regional planned land use database has many useful applications and can impact regional and sub-regional planning policies. For example: School districts can plan for enrollment gains or loses based on housing projections. Transportation planners can better predict future traffic patterns and therefore plan transit improvements accordingly. Regional aviation planners can develop policy guides, based partially on planned land use, that fulfill state and federal statutory responsibilities for safety and noise. Waste management operators can better predict needed services and plan for facility improvements based on projected growth. Commercial developers are able to better service communities and businesses based on transportation and housing projections. And the Metropolitan Council, a governmental body that provides daily services and helps to plan for the future of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, can more effectively track regional growth, make forecasts and develop improved service strategies and regional growth policy. As a result, having a regionally uniform planned land use database allows us to make “apples to apples” comparisons between communities that can potentially influence regional and sub regional planning policy in ways that hasn't been possible in the past.