Neighborhood Meeting Policy for Development Projects

The residents of Blaine may have noticed that some of the more recent land use applications within the city have garnered a lot of attention, and more specifically, a lot of attention from residents immediately adjacent to certain developments. The Blaine City Council has directed staff to generate a neighborhood meeting and notification policy to help residents navigate questions regarding developments happening around them and to provide yet another means to voice their opinion on such applications prior to them formally being heard by the Blaine Planning Commission and Blaine City Council.

Key points of the policy are as follows:

• Neighborhood meetings will be required for certain land use applications that are proposed immediately adjacent to residential neighborhoods. The applications requiring the meetings include property rezoning, comprehensive plan amendments, multifamily residential projects in single family neighborhoods, and in some instances, conditional use permits.

• The developer who is proposing the development is responsible for holding the meeting and promoting their project. City staff typically will not attend and the public is encouraged to engage with the developer directly.

• Neighborhood notification areas for neighborhood meetings and public hearings will remain at the state required 350 feet from property lines of the proposed development. These areas may be extended based on the size and neighborhood of the project.

There are more specifics within this policy and the Community Development staff would be happy to respond to any questions. The city hopes this provides more opportunity for open communication on development related issues.

Please contact Lori Johnson, City Planner at LJohnson@BlaineMN.gov with further questions.