By Bill Lindeke
The city of Falcon Heights is moving ahead with a new 10-year update to its comprehensive plan, as required by the Metropolitan Council. The city held a public visioning session in late February to gather ideas and themes for the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. According to city administrator Sack Thongvanh, who is overseeing the consultants doing community engagement for the plan, the early results look promising.
“We have focused on the amenities of the city and focused on what we do well,” Thongvanh said. “We learned what people agree on and what things need to be improved within the city. We talked with the community about visioning and had a map where people could put stickers on things they thought were good ideas.”
One key interest so far in the process has been improving street safety on busy roads in Falcon Heights. For example, Thongvangh identified the corner of Snelling and Larpenteur avenues as a concern.
“A common theme of the outreach was that the intersection of Snelling and Larpenteur should be more pedestrian and cyclist friendly,” Thongvanh said.
According to Minnesota Department of Transportation counts, more than 55,000 cars pass through the intersection every day, making it by far the busiest corner in Falcon Heights that features sidewalks.
Thongvanh expects that a draft will be ready for public and governmental feedback by summer. At that point, Falcon Heights will have to submit its plan for review by neighboring communities such as St. Paul and Roseville, before submitting it to the Met Council for approval.
Along with the consulting firm, the city’s Planning Commission is taking the lead on deciding whether or not to seek additional feedback from the community about what should be in the plan. Anyone interested in commenting or adding their ideas into the mix of the comprehensive plan process can email Paul Moretto at paul.moretto@falconheights.org.
