DNSSD.org Land Use Planning Project

North Shore Land Use Planning Project This project is made possible in part by a grant by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources-Waters and Minnesota's Lake Superior Coastal Zone Program through the Coastal Zone Management Act, administered through the Office of Ocean and Costal Resource Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Land Use Planning Facts

What is a Land Use Plan?
A land use plan is the policy framework that communities use to guide development and land use activities. Land use includes housing, roads, commercial and industrial uses, recreation, open space, natural resources, and public facilities.

Why a Land Use Plan?
To reduce health and environmental hazards from older failing septic systems, the Duluth/North Shore Sanitary District (D/NSSD) received funding from the Legislature to build a sewer line along the shore of Lake Superior. The new sewer line, running from the Lester River in Duluth to the St. Louis CountyLake County border, will mitigate damage from failing septic systems. The sewer line may also allow much more intensive development along Lake Superior than is currently possible. The planning area includes trout streams, fragile shoreland and watersheds, and a range of existing business types, households, and communities. This land use planning process will examine land use issues and local development priorities in light of the potential for heavy development along the North Shore.

Who is preparing the Land Use Plan?
In response to the new sewer line, the D/NSSD Planning Advisory Committee and Lake County hired Biko Associates, Inc., Desotelle Consulting, and the Natural Resources Research Institute to examine land use issues. Biko Associates is a planning and design firm that emphasises public involvement in planning. Desotelle Consulting is an engineering and planning firm, and NRRI wil provide expertise in Geographic Information Systems mapping.
A Steering Committee made up of residents, government officials, and business owners will determine the goals, priorities, and policy recommendations in the plan. Residents and other interested parties are invited to participate in goal setting to reaffirm present land use practices or to shape alternative land use plans.

How is the Land Use Plan being developed?
The project has three phases. During the first phase of the project, information about the planning area is collected and compiled into background studies. The consultant team wil then, over the next two phases, conduct a public and stakeholder participation process to set land use and strategic priorities. During the second phase of the project the connsultants will follow the direction of the steering committee of residents and stakeholders to prioritize issues, create alternative land use plans, and allow residents to modify the alternatives to suit their vision for development and land use along the North Shore. During the third phase, the steering committee will create and approve a draft land use management plan with action priorities for local governments, based on comments from the communities and stakeholders. At a final public hearing, the D/NSSD will present the final Plan to the local governments in the planning area.

Who can I contact about the Land Use Planning Process?

Scott Smith
St. Louis County Planning
227 West 1st Street
Duluth, MN 55806
218/725-5005
smiths@co.st-louis.mn.us

Brian Ross, Project Manager
Biko Associates, Inc.
2634 Vincent Ave., North
Minneapolis, MN 55411
612/588-4904, fax 612/588-2637
bross@bikoassociates.com

Richard Sigel
Lake County Land Use
601 Third Avenue
Two Harbors, MN 55616-1565
218/834-8321, fax 218/834-8365
lakcolu@mr.net

Description of the Land Use Planning Process

Phase One - Background Studies and Organizing Decision Process
The first phase of the North Shore Land Use Planning process includes conducting background research, soliciting opinions from the general public, generating initial publicity for the public meetings, and organizing the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee will be the decision-making body for the Land Use process. Steering Committee decisions throughout the process will bebased on stakeholder input, background studies and mapping, and informed discussion at the Steering Committe meetings.

Phase Two - Visioning, Goal Creation, and Setting Alternative Land Use Policies
The second pahase begins with the initial round of public meetings, which will involve visioning sessions with public meeting participants, followed by issue identification and prioritization. The process then splits into two sequential efforts. The first effort will require the Steering Committee to identify those goals and policies (consistent with the visioning and issue prioritization efforts) that should be addressed in the Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW). An identical process (beginning after the EAW is complete) will address those goals and policies that do not need to be included in the EAW.
After the visioning and issue prioritization efforts, the Steering Committee will develop goal language, and alternative sets of policies. Survey results, public comment, and comments by constituencies to Steering Committee members will shape the Steering Committee decisions on goals, policies, and the range of alternatives.

Phase Three - Identify Preferred Alternative and Implementation Priorities
In the third phase, community residents select between and comment on the alternatives, and identify priorities for implementation tools that support the policies. The Steering Committee will use the public comments and priorities to craft a series of recommended strategies (tools) for meeting the preferred policies and goals. Final decisions by the Steering Committee will be incorporated into the EAW (for the EAW issues), and into the draft Land Use Plan (for both the EAW and non-EAW issues). The Steering Committee will present both the EAW-related goals and the non-EAW goals in a final public meeting.

Final Plan
Based on the final comments at the public meeting, the Steering Committee will direct the consultant to make final changes to the Land Use Plan and make recommendations for implementation workshops, program design, or other implemental efforts.

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