Terms Used In Minnesota Statutes 473.851

  • area: means the area over which the Metropolitan Council has jurisdiction, including only the counties of Anoka; Carver; Dakota excluding the cities of Northfield and Cannon Falls; Hennepin excluding the cities of Hanover and Rockford; Ramsey; Scott excluding the city of New Prague; and Washington. See Minnesota Statutes 473.121
  • Local governmental unit: means any county, city, town, school district, special district or other political subdivisions or public corporation, other than the council or a metropolitan agency, lying in whole or part within the metropolitan area. See Minnesota Statutes 473.121
  • Regional recreation open space: means land and water areas, or interests therein, and facilities determined by the Metropolitan Council to be of regional importance in providing for a balanced system of public outdoor recreation for the metropolitan area, including but not limited to park reserves, major linear parks and trails, large recreation parks, and conservatories, zoos, and other special use facilities. See Minnesota Statutes 473.121
  • state: extends to and includes the District of Columbia and the several territories. See Minnesota Statutes 645.44

The legislature finds and declares that the local governmental units within the metropolitan area are interdependent, that the growth and patterns of urbanization within the area create the need for additional state, metropolitan and local public services and facilities and increase the danger of air and water pollution and water shortages, and that developments in one local governmental unit may affect the provision of regional capital improvements for sewers, transportation, airports, water supply, and regional recreation open space. Since problems of urbanization and development transcend local governmental boundaries, there is a need for the adoption of coordinated plans, programs and controls by all local governmental units in order to protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the metropolitan area and to ensure coordinated, orderly, and economic development. Therefore, it is the purpose of sections 462.355, 473.175, and 473.851 to 473.871 to (1) establish requirements and procedures to accomplish comprehensive local planning with land use controls consistent with planned, orderly and staged development and the metropolitan system plans, and (2) to provide assistance to local governmental units within the metropolitan area for the preparation of plans and official controls appropriate for their areas and consistent with metropolitan system plans.