Planning and Land Use
The City of St. Francis with the help of our City Planners at Hoisington Koegler Group, Inc (HKGi) have completed the City’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan. This long-range plan that will help define and guide future growth and development of the community.
While rooted in the reality of the community’s past and present, the Vision is an aspirational statement that seeks to describe how the community will look, feel, and function in the next 20 years. The Vision provides an over-arching framework that permeates the plan and informs supporting policy and strategy decisions.
Guiding Principles support the Vision, by helping to define the character, values, and priorities of the St. Francis community in 2040. They will act as an ongoing tool to measure the appropriateness and effectiveness of future initiatives and results.
The Comprehensive Plan established a Vision and Guiding Principles for the City.
St. Francis 2040 is organized into the following sections:
- Land Use
- Water Resources Management
- Parks and Open Space
- Transportation
- Water Supply
- Surface Water Management
The Guiding Principles will be woven throughout to establish Goals and Policy Statements to serve as a guide for future decision making.
Implementation
St. Francis 2040 will culminate in a number of Strategies and Action Steps that will lay out how to effectively implement and achieve the Goals and Policies established in the document. Implementation will be an on-going process, so the document will be set up in such a way so that it will be revisited and assessed through metrics, enabling local decision makers to adapt future policy as needed. Part of the implementation includes updating the City Zoning Code and Zoning Map.
Several changes were made to the Zoning Code including the updated format and introducing topics such as Mobile Food Units, Accessory Dwelling units and Short term rentals. The public was invited to speak on concerns or changes at the public hearing on January 20, 2021. Additionally, the City Zoning map was updated and invited the pubic to speak on February 17, 2021. Planning Commission further discussed the Map with recommendation for approval on March 17, 2021. Council approved the Zoning Map as recommended by Staff on April 5, 2021
The City has established a goal to strengthen the Bridge Street corridor as a key destination in St. Francis. The City grew up around the Rum River and Bridge Street is the community's downtown. The intent of these guidelines is to provide guidance for future development of public and private development in the Bridge Street corridor to enhance the area's role as the heart of St. Francis.
