Implementation support

Imagine 2050 is a comprehensive plan for the region. As chapters within the regional development guide, the Met Council prepares and adopts metropolitan system plans for transportation, including highways, transit, and airports; wastewater services; and regional parks and open space. As required by Minn. Stat. §473.856, the Met Council issues system statements to each city, township, and county in the region when the Met Council updates or revises the comprehensive development guide as part of the 10-year regional planning cycle.

System statements are individualized reports for each community in the region that identify and explain the specific implications of the metropolitan system plans for each local government. Each individual system statement details the community’s forecasted growth, how each regional system impacts that community, and whether there are planned changes to any of the systems affecting the community. System statements do not provide new or different information from Imagine 2050, but rather, system statements repackage the information making it more concise and useable for each city, township, and county.

The issuance of a decennial system statement initiates a local government’s obligation to review and, as necessary, revise its comprehensive plan within three years. For this decennial planning cycle, comprehensive plans are due to the Met Council by Dec. 31, 2028.

Pursuant to Minn. Stat. 473.856, a system statement “shall contain information relating to the unit and appropriate surrounding territory that the [Met] council determines necessary for the unit to consider in reviewing the unit's comprehensive plan.” Further, the statutes indicate that the system statement includes the following:  

1. The timing, character, function, location, projected capacity, and conditions on use for existing or planned metropolitan public facilities, as specified in metropolitan system plans, and for state and federal public facilities to the extent known to the [Met] council; and
2. The population, employment, and household projections which have been used by the [Met] council as a basis for its metropolitan system plans. 

In addition, the system statement provides procedural information on the system statement definition, next steps, and the dispute resolution process should a community disagree with any element of the system statement. After system statements are issued, local governments are directed to contact their Sector Representatives with any questions or if there are elements with which a local government disagrees. Typically, disagreements are resolved by working with staff.  

If a community and the Met Council are unable to resolve disagreements, a community may request a hearing to determine whether the system statement should be amended. The request must be made within 60 days of receipt of the system statement and is conducted by either the Land Use Advisory Committee or the State Office of Administrative Hearings. If a hearing is requested, it must be held within 60 days after the request or at a mutually agreed-upon date. Minn. Stat. 473.857 further details the time frames under which a hearing report and final determination by the Met Council must be made. If no requests for a hearing are made within 60 days of system statement receipt, the system statement is considered final. Communities may commence their local planning process and may avail themselves of the Met Council’s technical assistance to aid in that process.

System statements will be issued in September 2025 to meet statutorily established deadlines. 

The objectives, policies, and actions identified in the Land Use chapter will be advanced in collaboration between the Met Council and local governments. The Met Council recognizes the breadth of policies and actions to be considered and addressed by local governments in the 2050 comprehensive planning cycle and is committed to providing support for that work through an array of resources. Minn. Stat. §473.191 specifically authorizes the Met Council to provide services and assistance with comprehensive planning.

Each comprehensive planning cycle, the Met Council updates and expands the resources offered in response to areas of greatest need for support, new planning areas, and consistent with regional priorities. Input from local governments on what resources are most helpful informs the right mix of technical assistance, tools, and resources. Once the comprehensive planning work is underway, new resources and tools may be developed to address emerging needs and information gaps. Improvements to guidance or technology will also be made as needs are identified.

The Met Council offers multiple forms of planning assistance to local governments as they update, amend, and implement their local comprehensive plans. These general types of planning assistance include the various programs and initiatives described below. 

The Met Council is launching a new program to provide direct planning assistance as enabled in the Metropolitan Land Planning Act (Minn. Stat. §473.191) for some of the region’s smallest cities and townships with limited resources and capacity to update their comprehensive plan. Local governments that meet Met Council-identified eligibility criteria will have the opportunity to receive a significant level of direct professional planning assistance from the Met Council to update their local comprehensive plan. Planning assistance will focus on the technical aspects of the comprehensive plan update and in meeting minimum requirements to be consistent with the local vision, goals, and priorities identified by city or township leaders and their community members.  

Met Council staff will be collaborating with local governments to inform program development. The program will be available as early as 2026.  

The Sector Representative program ensures that every city, township, and county in the region has a designated and ongoing individual contact at the Met Council. Sector Representatives are experienced and knowledgeable professional planners familiar with the Met Council and its programs as well as with local planning processes. They provide planning and technical assistance on an ongoing and as-requested basis to cities, townships, and counties across the region and are the main point of contact for local staff’s planning needs.  

Sector Representatives serve as a liaison for local government staff with Met Council staff in areas including wastewater, transportation, housing, and others. They keep abreast of local governmental and agency activities and participate in meetings, technical advisory committees, and other working groups to connect the regional and local perspectives. Sector Representatives also foster cooperative relationships with governmental units and other organizations in the region to achieve local and regional goals. Sector Representatives are available to assist local governments in completing some of the statutorily required elements of local comprehensive plans.  

Visit the Council’s website to see the current Sector Representative map 

The Local Planning Handbook is a guide that explains what specific information – including detailed tables, maps, data, and other materials – are required in local comprehensive plans for the Met Council to fully evaluate whether a plan:

• Conforms to regional system plans. 
• Is consistent with Met Council policy.
• Is compatible with the plans of adjacent and affected jurisdictions. 

The Local Planning Handbook guides cities, townships, and counties through the comprehensive planning process and provides a multitude of resources to assist. It serves as a single location for local governments to navigate the comprehensive planning process.  

The Local Planning Handbook clearly identifies minimum requirements and provides tools to make meeting them easier. Tools and resources are developed both internally and in collaboration with local governments, partner agencies, and organizations to provide an integrated planning process, wherever possible. The Local Planning Handbook includes data, evaluative tools, administrative process guidelines, sample planning templates, model ordinances, best practices resources, local examples, and more. The Local Planning Handbook also provides information and resources about optional elements that a local government may consider including in their local comprehensive plan.

The Local Planning Handbook’s Community Pages will continue to be a key feature providing each city, township, and county its own web page with individualized resources including:

• Checklists of minimum requirements
• Mapping tools and resources
• Funding opportunities, if applicable
• Other resources

The Local Planning Handbook will be updated to reflect guidance and respond to new policy direction in Imagine 2050. This resource will be relaunched for local governments when decennial System Statements are distributed in September 2025.  

Local planning staff are encouraged to contact their Sector Representative if they have questions about the Local Planning Handbook tools and how to use them.

Explore the Local Planning Handbook 

Imagine 2050 introduced new regional priorities around climate, natural systems, and equity and will provide new tools and resources to help local governments planning so the region achieves the desired outcomes. Examples of tools already available for use include:  

• Climate Vulnerability Assessment
• Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory
• GHG Strategy Planning Tool
• Solar Resource analysis
• Growing Shade
• Extreme Heat Mapping
• Flood Risk Assessment
• Natural Systems Framework
• Equity Considerations Dataset

Regional partners and local governments may have additional tools and resources they recommend or need as planning tools, which the Met Council can evaluate for addition to the Local Planning Handbook toolkit. 

PlanIt, a training and development resource provided for Thrive MSP 2040, will be refreshed to assist local governments to meet the planning requirements in Imagine 2050. The PlanIt Program activities focus on a range of planning topics including water resources, transportation, affordable housing, equity, climate, natural systems, and engagement with community, local government, and regional partners.

• Webinars
• Workshops
• Online technical resources
• Policy-specific conversations
• Planning Certification Maintenance (CM) credits

The PlanIt program will launch again as early as 2026 through 2027. 

Planning Assistance Grants

Minn. Stat. §473.867, subd. 2, authorizes the Met Council to establish a planning assistance fund to provide grants and loans to local units of government. The primary purpose is for reviewing and amending local comprehensive plans, fiscal devices, and official controls, as required by the Metropolitan Land Planning Act. The Met Council has provided noncompetitive grant funding to identified eligible communities in previous decennial review rounds to update local comprehensive plans.  

The Met Council identifies funding levels, eligibility criteria, and the application process for eligible and interested local governments. Many of the previous grant recipients have limited staffing so that even relatively minor comprehensive planning processes can be a large burden. Planning grants, along with the Met Council’s technical assistance programs including the Sector Representative program, the Local Planning Handbook, PlanIt and others, facilitate the local planning process to ensure that the region continues to coordinate planning across all jurisdictions.

The Met Council will communicate with local governments about grant and planning assistance opportunities, procedures, and deadlines for Imagine 2050. Planning grants will be made available as early as 2026. 

Livable Communities Act Programs

Established in Minn. Stat. §473.255, the Livable Communities Act (LCA) provides grants for development in the region that creates more housing choice, supports living wage job creation, and connects jobs, housing, and regional amenities. LCA grant programs each have a different focus, and currently include:

• Housing, Jobs, Efficient Growth: Livable Communities Demonstration Account (LCDA)
• Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)
• Pre-Development
• Policy Development
• Cleanup/Investigation: Tax Base Revitalization Account (TBRA)
• Affordable Rental Housing: Local Housing Incentives Account (LHIA)
• Affordable Home Ownership  

Under LCA’s Policy Development program to advance equitable development patterns, funding assistance may be available to update local ordinances and meet the requirements of Minn. Stat. §473.865, which requires local official controls to be amended within nine months following amendments to comprehensive plans.

More information on LCA Programs is available on the Met Council’s website 

Local governments may also seek Met Council grants in the areas of transportation, water quality and wastewater, parks, rental assistance, and brownfield cleanup.