Title
RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE LINCOLN PARK SMALL AREA PLAN AND HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT (LINCOLN PARK SMALL AREA PLAN AND HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT)
Body
CITY PROPOSAL:
RESOLVED, that:
(a) The city council adopted the Comprehensive Land Use Plan on June 26, 2006, via Resolution 06-0491, which outlined the desired arrangement of land uses for the next 20 years and identified sub-areas of the city to be studied in more detail; and
(b) The city planning division has prepared and recommends approval of the Lincoln Park Small Area Plan (SAP), a land use plan for one of the sub-areas identified in the Comprehensive Land Use Plan; and
(c) The purpose of the Lincoln Park Small Area Plan is to conduct a more detailed study of the neighborhood and business district area along West Superior Street than was provided for in the Comprehensive Land Use plan through an assessment of current demographics, land use, zoning, transportation, development opportunities, and environmental characteristics that will form the basis for the plan recommendations and implementation strategy; and
(d) The city planning division in conjunction with the Minnesota Department of Health has prepared and recommends approval of the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) conducted on the SAP. The purpose of the HIA was to explore how the SAP might impact the community's health, positively and negatively, and make recommendations to the SAP to promote positive impacts and reduce negative impacts ; and
(e) The city planning commission has reviewed the SAP and the HIA, and conducted public hearing on May 12, 2015, at their planning commission meeting, and recommends adoption of the Lincoln Park Small Area Plan and the Health Impact Assessment recommendations.
Statement of Purpose
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: This resolution adopts the Lincoln Park Small Area Plan (SAP) and Health Impact Assessment (HIA). The recommendations in the small area plan and the health impact assessment are the result of an 11 month planning process which enlisted the assistance of a 30 person advisory committee including neighborhood residents, business owners, as well as public agencies and Non-profit service organizations to work with the city planning staff. In addition there were three public meetings that involved more the fifty residents in the process and solicited input regarding neighborhood needs and improvement.
The purpose of the planning process was to identify and develop recommendations that will allow for development opportunities both commercial and residential, transportation (motorized and non-motorized) options, while retaining but also enhancing the character of the Lincoln Park business district and surrounding neighborhood. Each goal has specific recommendations. Many require ongoing partnerships between the City, non-profit organizations, businesses, and neighbors. The recommendations continue the City’s policy of strengthening neighborhoods through land use changes, neighborhood stabilization, and economic development.
The SAP recommendations support the establishment of land use and zoning to better reflect existing land use, redevelop and revitalize the core commercial area, promote business development policies and loan/grant programs to meet the needs of existing as well as new businesses, and to acquire and clean up blighted and underutilized sites for business development.
As the area continues to grow commercially, the plan recommends providing a variety of residential housing types to meet the needs of the current population and for the future workforce These include the promotion of housing assistance products and programs for housing rehabilitation to homeowners, encourage housing development near and within the business district and work with building and zoning officials for enforcement of existing regulations but also to encourage the revising codes to accommodate new housing options.
The plan recommends promoting safe and comfortable travel both motorized and non-motorized within the study area. This can be achieved by monitoring traffic operations, reviewing parking needs, and repairing and replacing road pavements, and road reconstruction of high volume pedestrian and vehicle traffic areas. Non-motorized recommendations include development of an access management policy along Superior Street to mitigate driveway placement over the cross city trail, improving sidewalk conditions within the neighborhood, providing recreational trail opportunities and developing greenways in designated areas.
The Minnesota Department of Health, in collaboration with City planning and economic development staff, conducted an HIA on the SAP to explore how the plan will impact the neighborhood's health. HIA is a tool used to identify and address the potential health benefits and health risks of a decision made in a field outside the health sector; in this case, the adoption of a new long-range plan for the business district and surrounding neighborhood of Lincoln Park. Through the HIA process, the advisory committee tailored recommendations to help promote health in the small area plan.
The HIA findings and recommendations are based on extensive literature review, conducting analysis of local data using geographic information systems (GIS), summaries of data and analysis from existing local studies, and input from community members and topic area experts from local agencies and organizations. In order to promote the positive impacts of the SAP and reduce the negative effects, the HIA proposes a number of recommendations which have been grouped as follows: quality housing, safety and social cohesion, access to healthy food and living wage job opportunities. Each group was then subdivided by the sections of the SAP (land use, economic development, housing and transportation). The HIA analyzed each recommendation using these criteria to determine how they may affect health outcomes of residents. These HIA recommendations have been included in the SAP immediately following the recommendations for the major areas of study Land Use, Economic development, Transportation and Housing.
On May 12, 2015, the Duluth city planning commission held a public hearing on the plan and voted unanimously (8-0) to recommend that the city council approve it.
The motion to approve requires affirmative votes of at least two-thirds of those members constituting a quorum.