Central Minnesota launches ambitious 2-year planning effort

BRAINERD -- For the next two years, a couple hundred people in central Minnesota will be arguing -- with civility they hope -- about how to fix transportation, housing, land use and the economy.

They'll be talking about people's property rights, the role of government, the common good and more. And in the end, they hope they will have a plan that communities in a five-county area -- Crow Wing, Cass, Todd, Morrison and Wadena -- will put into effect to make life better.

It's an ambitious and unusual effort that could mean putting affordable housing near job centers, for example, or coordinating transit plans over a large area or even treating waterfront property rights differently. Whatever it means will come out of a serious conversation that started at The Lodge in Brainerd on Wednesday.

The effort is taking place under an $825,000 grant from the federal Housing and Urban Development Department, one of 45 such grants around the country to get communities to create regional, sustainable plans for their future.

The idea was born out of concern at HUD and other federal agencies that in an era of scarcity, there is a greater need for collaboration and sharing of resources, said Cheryal Lee Hills, the executive director of the Region 5 Development Commission and the project's coordinator.

The project represents unusual collaborations at several levels. HUD, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation are involved at the federal level. People from townships, cities and counties are involved at the local level and across county lines. The process will bring transportation, housing, land use and economic development planners together.

The University of Minnesota will be heavily involved as well, lending expertise from a variety of centers and academic departments.

"What we are doing now isn't good enough," Phil Hunsicker, of the 1000 Friends of Minnesota, who leads the land use planning work group, said on Wednesday. "Change needs to happen."

So what the 200 people gathered in Brainerd -- high school students, real estate agents, business owners, government officials, health care professionals and more -- heard was a work plan for the next 24 months.

Four groups of 25 to 35 residents each will tackle four topic areas -- land use, transportation, housing and economic development. For the coming six months or so, each will get together to discuss what's working and what isn't in central Minnesota and what the uncertainties are about the future. What will gas prices be? Will there be manganese mining?

They will hear experts from the university and elsewhere talk about possibilities. Ultimately, each group will draft plans that the remaining larger body of 100 or so residents will review and respond to.

Regional planning doesn't always get the best review from local government officials, particularly in central Minnesota, where local officials have outspokenly guarded their prerogatives. But there was plenty of township and city representation in the room Wednesday to at least see what the fuss is about. And the winds of collaboration are blowing, for reasons involving scarcity of resources these days if nothing else.

There was a sense in the room that there are substantial needs in central Minnesota. Housing has suffered and the economy has become increasingly dependent on tourism, but people also worry about the quality of the water and the woods that draw visitors.

"I wish we had done this 10 or 15 years ago," one participant said.

In the end, there's always the chance that an $825,000 plan will sit on the shelf, and Hills said she realizes that. Those involved need to ask, "How does this help the person on the street," as she put it.

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