Economic Factors May Impact Lakeville's Comprehensive Plan

The city of Lakeville last updated its Comprehensive Plan in 2008.

The document is kind of the city's bible for long-term development, but since 2008, when it was formally adopted, Lakeville has seen many changes, including a slowing growth rate and a struggling housing market.

“Things have changed, there’s no question,” said David Olson, the city's community and economic development director.

And while the Comprehensive Plan is long-term in nature, projecting decades into the futurem short-term demographic and economic factors can impact the plan’s execution. For instance, the 2008 plan projects that by 2030, 32.6 percent or roughly 8,000 acres of undeveloped land in Lakeville will be devoted to low-density residential housing, such as single-family home and townhome developments.

Nevertheless, in recent years, residential shifts have occurred that are in conflict with the plan. According to Olson, Lakeville’s projected population for 2010 was 59,500, but the actual population in 2010 was 55,940. Simultaneously, housing development has slowed.

“The economy has been especially hard on the housing market,” said City Administrator Steve Mielke.

In 2004, Lakeville added 900 single-family housing units, whereas in 2011, the city experienced added 120 single-family housing units, said Mielke.

The economy also impacts planning and management on a regional scale. At a State of the Region event on Jan. 18, Metropolitan Council chair Susan Haigh said that 75 percent of housing stock that the region will need in 2040 already exists.

However, Mielke remains confident that potential changes to the plan in 2018 will likely affect the pace of development, not which specific development projects are built.

“We haven’t altered our full growth expectations,” said Mielke. “Long term, the town still builds out to its full capacity.”