Small Communities Planning Program

The Small Communities Planning Program offers a high level of comprehensive planning assistance to support some of the smallest communities in the region with their 2050 Comprehensive Plan updates. Participating cities and townships will work collaboratively with program staff from the Met Council’s Local Planning Assistance team to update their local comprehensive plan. Program staff will focus on the technical work of collecting information, data, and maps, and producing and writing the plan. Local governments with input from community members will lead the community vision, priority setting, and strategic direction to guide the community through the year 2050.  

Eligible communities were identified based on selection criteria adopted by the Met Council. The criteria aimed at selecting those communities in the region which might have the most limited staff and financial capacity to fund and manage a comprehensive plan update process. Met Council has resources available to serve 29 eligible communities. Participation in the program is voluntary.

Communities eligible for the new 2050 Small Communities Planning Program meet one of the following three criteria:

1. Current population (2024) is under 500 AND adjusted net tax capacity per capita (2024) is less than or equal to 175% of metro median net tax capacity per capita; or
2. Current population (2024) is between 500 to 999 AND adjusted net tax capacity per capita (2024) is less than or equal to 150% of metro median net tax capacity per capita; or
3. Current population (2024) is between 1,000 and 2,500 AND adjusted net tax capacity per capita (2024) is less than or equal to 125% of metro median net tax capacity per capita.

Map and list of eligible communities.

The program work will proceed under a written agreement between each participating community and the Met Council, with a collaboratively defined workplan of schedule, roles, responsibilities and deliverables.