Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan

A comprehensive plan is prepared in accordance with the Metropolitan Land Planning Act. When reviewed and approved, the draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan will serve as the main blueprint for future growth and development. The Metropolitan Council will review the draft plan to ensure that it conforms to regional planning assumptions and requirements. A comprehensive plan addresses:

• Land use
• Transportation
• Water resources
• Parks and trails
• Housing
• Resilience
• Economic competitiveness
• Implementation

Woodbury’s commitment to orderly growth ensures that new residents and businesses are welcomed while sustaining the quality and affordability of municipal services and infrastructure demanded by the community. The draft plan: 

• Continues to consciously manage the timing, location and characteristics of growth.
• Looks to the year 2040 when the city will be close to fully developed.
• Promotes development standards that ensure aesthetic beauty, grow the tax base, provide effective infrastructure and enhance the natural environment within the community.

See Chapter 3: Vision and Guiding Principles  and Chapter 4: Land Use.

To oversee the update of the plan, City Council appointed a resident task force consisting of current and former members of various city advisory commissions and several residents at-large. The task force facilitated an extensive public participation process focusing on:

• Establishment of guiding principles (summer 2016)
• Technical land use and infrastructure components (spring 2017)
• Drafting the plan (2017-18) 

The task force met 20 times prior to City Council approving the draft plan July 25, 2018.

Task Force Members

See Chapter 1: Purpose and Introduction.

The draft plan commits to the city’s “One Water” vision. Woodbury recognizes the connection between surface water, groundwater, and drinking water and the importance of considering impacts to all water resources when making decisions. The draft plan commits to providing abundant, safe drinking water that meets state and federal guidelines. The draft plan also commits to protecting and improving the water quality of lakes, wetlands and streams, and to maintaining the natural communities within and dependent upon these water bodies.

See Chapter 11: Water Supply and Chapter 12: Surface Water.

Woodbury will continue efforts to attract, retain and expand a diversified business sector, in turn providing a variety of jobs, strengthening the community’s tax base, adding to the high quality of life, and providing residents with options to both live and work in the community.

As many current commercial spaces complete build-outs, future job growth will chiefly occur through redevelopment as well as the development of the northeast area of Woodbury. With more than 400 acres of adjoining land guided for “Places to Work,” the northeast area offers a unique opportunity to diversify the city’s job and tax base. This diversification will occur by creating a business environment that will ultimately provide office/showroom, warehouse, distribution and light industrial business that are currently under-represented within the city’s tax base.

Specifically, the draft plan re-guides the land use of a variety of parcels away from “Places to Work” to “Mixed Use”, “Gateway,” and/or “High Density Residential” that provide for job growth in a modern office setting. Previous comprehensive plans tended to silo places to work, places to shop, and places to live, whereas the draft plan promotes the concept that mixed use areas, ancillary retail and housing choice support places to work. From an infrastructure perspective, most of the next 5 million square feet of commercial and industrial uses will be in the northeast area of Woodbury and this land is already within the urban service area. As such, the bulk of the long-term infrastructure planning needed to promote job growth is complete.

See Chapter 4: Land Use and Chapter 6: Economic Development.

The draft plan continues the city’s commitment to the preservation and enhancement of the natural environment. Woodbury’s parks and recreation system provides a wide variety of recreational opportunities that are accessible to residents through a combination of neighborhood and community parks, open space areas, trails and recreation facilities. The draft plan provides the framework for maintaining, building and improving Woodbury’s parks and recreation system. It includes recommendations for park land acquisition, park and trail development, and natural resources protection and restoration. Specifically, the draft plan identifies future park search areas, priority park acquisition parcels and desired locations of future trails.

See Chapter 8: Parks, Recreation and Open Space and Chapter 9: Natural Resources.

The draft plan encourages the development of diverse housing to accommodate people of all ages, income levels and family statuses. The draft plan identifies areas for residential growth in a range of types, styles and affordability while maintaining high-quality building standards and amenities.

Woodbury’s vision seeks to offer housing choices to people in all stages of life from first homes to dwellings that allow graceful aging. The vision further recognizes that Woodbury neighborhoods vary from rural estates to traditional single-family neighborhoods to places with a mix of housing styles and densities. To achieve its vision, Woodbury establishes a variety of residential land uses and has planned for the infrastructure needed to ensure that both existing and future neighborhoods continue to be served by affordable, high-quality water, sewer and transportation systems.

See Chapter 4: Land Use and Chapter 5: Housing.