by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
The recently released Sartell Comprehensive Plan is indeed “comprehensive,” a detailed and in-depth study that combines history, city needs and wants, and even visionary hopes.
The plan was presented to the Sartell City Council in a public hearing at its last meeting by Sartell City Planner/Developer Anita Rasmussen. The council will consider adopting the plan at an upcoming meeting. City staff has worked on the extensive plan since 2014 with much input from neighborhood meetings, the Central Minnesota Builders Association, the school board, businesses and various venues for public suggestions, such as open houses – actual and virtual.
Rasmussen noted what the comprehensive plan does and – just as importantly – what it’s not meant to do. It provides legal justification for land-use decisions; it gives a vision of the city that can help developers and businesses. It does not prioritize goals and strategies; it does not spell out specific regulations; it does not take into account budget considerations, but it could help shape budget priorities for the future.
Council members said they were impressed by all the work that went into the massive plan. Council member Amy Braig-Lindstrom said she would prefer to have updated photos in the plan. Council member Pat Lynch praised the “tremendous amount of work” that went into the plan and all of the good things in it, but he said he wonders if the plan is perhaps almost too comprehensive, with too much information in it. It might be better, he said, if the plan could be tailored down somewhat and that things could be added to it along the line. The plan, Lynch explained, should at least spell out which should be the city’s most pressing priorities. Many things mentioned in the plan, Lynch added, are probably beyond the power of the city to bring into being. Braig-Lindstrom agreed with Lynch’s comments but added there should be more in the plan about a library. She noted she likes the plan’s emphasis on arts, culture and civic engagement.
Four audience members, all of them avid and long-time supporters of a branch library in Sartell, criticized the comprehensive plan, mainly because they said it should contain more than just a paragraph about a potential library in the city. (See related story.)
The plan
The Sartell Comprehensive Plan is a meticulously updated and expanded plan from the one approved in 2013.
Even a cursory overview of the lengthy document will give readers an idea of the many changes and growth patterns in the city just in that relatively short span of time.
The plan attempts to address every aspect of quality-of-life issues for city residents, businesses and visitors. It includes exhaustive analyses of such topics as public safety, parks, recreation, trails, transportation, infrastructure, education, environmental concerns, green spaces, orderly annexation, zoning, efficient energy usage, the “Town Square” downtown concept, the community center, culture, public arts and more.
The document also has suggestions for amenities that could become part of the city, such as a long section about the potential for developing arts and culture.
To see the Sartell Comprehensive Plan, go to the City of Sartell website at www.sartellmn.com. Then scroll down and to your right you will see “View City Council Agendas, Minutes, Packets and Videos.” Click on that line. Scroll down again and on the line for July 11, 2016, click on “Packet Information:” in the second box to the right. The plan is in there; scroll down until you see it.
