Natural Resource Based Planning
Natural Resource Based Planning
Planning, when done well, is among the most powerful tools available to communities.
A solid plan, based on good natural resource information, guides rational land use decisions, and allows the community to consider
innovative tools for resource protection with fewer chances for legal challenges to their planning authority.
The plan also sends a clear message as to what the community values and wishes to preserve, and if well crafted,
results in few surprises to developers, local officials, or residents.
Natural resource-based planning is a process that puts the community's natural resource base at the forefront.
By identifying natural resources at the beginning of the planning process, your community can determine where
development is most appropriate. This way, communities can avoid the unintended consequences of the typical planning
process, such as open space becoming the 'leftover' pieces, water resources being degraded, and compromising community
character.
Authorities of cities and townships to do planning
Over the past five decades, the Minnesota Legislature has given communities the authority to develop plans and exercise a variety
of growth management authorities. Legislation enables planning at the township, city, county, and regional scale.
Key authorities include:
- Land use and subdivision planning and regulation (counties, cites, and towns)
- Creation of planning commissions/agencies, preparation and adoption of comprehensive plans for future development,
and the establishment of procedures for plan implementation (counties, cities, and towns). As well as the adoption of official controls to further
the purpose and objectives of the comprehensive plan, including zoning, subdivision regulations, and official maps.
- Engagement in joint-planning studies with municipalities located within their boundaries (counties)
- Establishment of jurisdiction over planning in areas outside municipal corporate boundaries (counties)
- To be consistent with or at least as restrictive as county zoning ordinance (townships)
Local decision makers may be reluctant to exercise their authorities due to fear of lawsuits or accusation of 'takings'. Minnesota courts, however, have
repeatedly reinforced a community's authority to plan (including the use of moratoriums on development) and apply land use regulations and controls.
THE KEY STEPS IN NATURAL RESOURCE-BASED PLANNING ARE:
- Identify natural resource issues of importance to your community, such as water quality and wildlife habitat.
- Conduct a natural resource inventory (NRI)
- Develop a natural resource assessment (NRA) to identify priority natural resources for conservation and areas suitable for development.
- Develop a comprehensive plan, which outlines your community's priorities for conservation and growth.
- Implement the plan. Be sure your community commits adequate funding to implement the strategies identified in the plan.
- Monitor your community's progress
Traditional, development-oriented planning starts with areas 'suitable for development' based on logistic factors like proximity to roads, utilities, and other infrastructure. It
is common for the whole community to designated 'suitable' with different uses/densities allowed in particular areas. Natural resources are not factored into the plan, unless they
are barriers to development (for example, wetlands or steep slopes).
Alternatively, natural resource-based planning starts with a community's natural resource base and works 'backward' to development potential. The foundation of the natural resource-based
plan is a natural resources inventory, which tells the community what it has to work with. Because all natural resources cannot be protected, they must be prioritized based on the community's
values and goals. The community then develops plans and regulations that direct development to the areas most suited for it, minimizing impacts to priority natural resources through the location,
design and engineering of new development.
Watershed Based Planning
Natural resource-based planning truly places the community in the driver's seat regarding its future.
Of course, community involvement at all phases is a key part of the natural resource-based planning process to ensure your planning
investment has good support.
DNR Community Tools for Local Units of Government
Northland NEMO (Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials) is an educational program for local land use decision makers addressing the
relationship between land use and natural resource quality. NEMO provides information about the effects of increasing development and
other land use changes on the environment, and what local officials in communities can do to protect their natural resource amenities while
accommodating growth.
What about environmental review?
While environmental review is an important tool at the site level, it needs to be used in combination with good natural resource
based planning. Too often, the environmental review process is considered a 'firewall' against natural resource destruction by development because it is
required under Minnesota Rules Chapter 4410.
But many communities find that once a development proposal has gotten to the point of environmental review, it's too late to protect the vital
assets they value most. Instead, a solid plan and an integrated set of strategies based on a natural resource inventory and assessment is a
much better, more proactive way for a community to be in the driver's seat regarding their destiny. For more on the environmental review process
see Implementation Tools or the Environmental Quality Board website.
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