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Commencing interim zoning regulations pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 462.355, Subd. 4, for the purpose of protecting the City's planning process pending the adoption of the Great River Passage amendment to the City's Comprehensive Plan, for that area of the City commonly known as the Island Station Power Plant.
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WHEREAS, presently, the City and its planning commission are, pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 462.355, Subd. 2, in the process of updating the Parks and Recreation Chapter of the City's Comprehensive Plan through the potential adoption of the proposed Great River Passage Master Plan ("Master Plan" or "Plan") whose purpose will be to provide direction for future land uses and development along the 17-mile stretch of the Mississippi River within the City's boundaries; and
WHEREAS, the City's work on the Master Plan began in 2010 and although work on the Plan is nearing completion, the Plan has yet to be reviewed and finalized by the planning commission so that it may recommend to the City Council and the Mayor that the Plan be approved and formally adopted as an amendment to the City's Comprehensive Plan; and
WHEREAS, the proposed Master Plan states specific goals and objectives for four separately defined subareas or "reaches" of the Mississippi River as it passes through the City including that reach described in the Plan as the "Valley" which extends from "the Fort Road Bridge to Downtown;" and
WHEREAS, within the Valley's reach the Master Plan recommends "creating gathering places" and notes that gathering places can be created by "repurposing existing iconic places" and, as a specific objective to that end, the Plan provides "as part of a public-private partnership, transform the vacant Island Station power plant into a gathering place that is a magnet for non-profits and environmental organizations, artists, adventure sports enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and nature-based commercial adventures;" and
WHEREAS, upon adoption of the Master Plan as a...
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