In May of 2007, the City of Albert Lea contracted Hoisington Koegler Group Inc. to write a 20-year comprehensive planning and vision document.

The plan was prepared based on the leadership of a 34-member steering committee comprising community business and industrial leaders, and city, county and economic development staff.

From June of 2007 to December of 2008, the consultants met 11 times with this leadership committee to discuss strategic objectives and get direction. On Sept. 18, 2007, the first of a series of public workshops was conducted. More than 140 members of the community participated as we discussed and debated challenging and important statements about community growth, environmental health, transportation and mobility, housing, economic development, downtown and more.

In November of 2007, the consultants held a three-day work session in Albert Lea to develop policy framework and a series of illustrations and initiatives that supported the vision and addressed the issues raised at the first public meeting. These sessions included site visits to various areas within the community, discussion with city, county and economic development staff and members of the steering committee, and concluded with the second public open house to critique and discuss the concepts.

A final community open house was held in June of 2008 to present a complete draft of the plan. KSMQ Public Television has also aired two programs regarding the process and plan concepts have been shared with various small groups in the community. The plan is still available in the Albert Lea Public Library and online for public comment.

Socially and culturally we have a long history of planning, starting with the formation of the community by private development companies. The city was laid out with a definite pattern and included spaces for government, parks, housing, commerce and industry. These spaces are still used today for Central Park, the downtown, and the courthouse. Housing lots were established at the beginning and land was not sold on an acreage bases or with random street layouts. Original trails provided the basic through street system and these corridors continue to serve us.

The establishment of the community as a home-rule charter city set the stage for zoning and land-use regulation in 1934 and the first city comprehensive plan was adopted in 1948. This was followed by downtown plans, watershed plans and comprehensive plans for the city and county in 1972. A joint city-county plan was adopted in 1982 and the city and county planning commissions have met jointly over the years as needed for policy development. The “Future Visions 2010” project was completed in 1990 and a “Growth and Sustainability Plan” was approved in 1996. After the Farmland Foods fire in 2001 the community was brought together through the Albert Lea Area Listens process to hear their vision, hopes, and desires for the community. These were also reflected in the Minnesota Design Team visits.

A Comprehensive Plan is a dynamic guide to the future. It is not a set of rules but instead a framework for how we make decisions. It guides our investment in public infrastructure, directs our response to development requests within and outside our community, supports and shapes our development laws, lets us dream but recognizes reality, prioritizes projects and ideas, makes us accountable, and is the basis for all legal land use regulations such as the Zoning and Subdivision ordinances.

New elements in the plan include a central greenway system of road and park from Fountain Lake to Ninth Street and continuing southwest to County Road 17. There is also the concept of an Eco-Village on the north side of the community along a westerly extension of Plaza Street. Another concept is to develop Front Street as a Boulevard with bikeway connecting to the Blazing Star Trail. The plan includes the existing trail system and its development goals and encourages a total park system plan that is already underway. Some previous planning elements not strongly recommended at this time include the Bath Road (County Road 20) interchange with I-90 and any development reaching out toward the cloverleaf. The basis for not including the cloverleaf area is that this is a 20-year plan and development is not expected to reach that area within 20 years.

The draft will be presented for public hearing at City Council at 7 p.m. Dec. 22 p.m. in the Council Chambers. The plan affirms the work of many planning commissions and city councils for the last century and also suggests new and continuation of recent concepts in development. It also promotes the vision generally held by the community that it desires a cleaner, better appearing community with good architectural and site design and more cultural and recreational opportunities. The plan presents opportunity and encourages the development of policies and ordinances related to these issues.

I would like to close by saying that I have enjoyed serving as your mayor and working positively toward a greater and stronger Albert Lea. As I leave the mayor’s office, I will continue to encourage Albert Lea to seek opportunities and strive for excellence.

Albert Lea Mayor Randy Erdman’s column has appeared monthly. Because his term ends at the end of this month, this is the final installment of the Positively Albert Lea column.