City of Mahnomen Develops Comprehensive Plan

Headwaters Regional Development Commission is assisting the City of Mahnomen in completing a comprehensive plan that will identify a clear and compelling vision of the community’s future and its comprehensive goals and strategies. Similar to a good business plan, an effective comprehensive plan includes careful analysis of demographic data that includes information on current conditions and trends affecting the community.

The City of Mahnomen is interested in addressing the core issues of land use, housing, infrastructure, and economic development. The comprehensive plan will also provide the foundation for minor updates to the zoning ordinance that are needed to manage growth and development in the city.

Mahnomen is facing several growth management issues because of changing demographics and new development. The city is experiencing change in part because of the Shooting Star Casino and Event Center built in 1994. The casino has provided new jobs and attracted new visitors to the community, which in turn have spurred new housing and commercial development.  New growth on the eastern edge of Mahnomen includes investments by the White Earth Tribe in single family and multi-family housing and a Veterans Service Center.

The industrial park will be the site of the Mahnomen Baked Chips plant and the site of a proposed new White Earth Tribal and Community College building. Available land in the industrial park and a recent water system improvement project provide additional opportunities for economic development.

The comprehensive plan will serve as a useful planning guide on a day-to-day basis for the city. The plan will also serve an educational function by making citizens more aware of their community, how it is structured, how it is changing, what its major problems are and what needs to be done to remedy those problems. It will be a statement of community intentions, setting forth major policies concerning desirable future development on behalf of the common good.

Lake of the Woods County Growth Management

Lake of the Woods County is known as the “Walleye Capital of the World” due to the high quality of walleye fishing on Lake of the Woods.  The County is also a resort community and has many popular tourist destinations, including fishing, hunting, and other forms of recreation.  The amazing natural resources and tourism attractions are drawing people to the County.  Lake of the Woods County has seen an increase in development along TH 172 and nearby shoreland areas, from the City of Baudette to Wheeler’s Point.

So how does the County encourage development while managing growth in a responsible way?

The HRDC is currently assisting the County in answering that question.  The growth management project involves three important pieces:

1. An addendum to the Land Use component of the Lake of the Woods Comprehensive Land Use Plan.  The addendum will identify the future desired condition for the growth corridor and will include a future land use map.
2. Amend the Lake of the Woods County Zoning Ordinance.  The changes will reflect the policies in the Land Use Plan Addendum and will also integrate the Rainy/Rapid Rivers Shoreland Management Ordinance.
3. Draft revisions to the Lake of the Woods County Subdivision Ordinance in order to meet the County’s policy objectives as well as state statute.  The free standing Subdivision Ordinance will be eliminated and instead merged into the Zoning Ordinance.  This will provide clarity on the part of the County administration as well as the developer or person wishing to subdivide.

Success for this project will be recognized when Lake of the Woods County clarifies land use policies along the growth corridor in such a way that can be easily understood and supported by residents, County officials, and people looking to develop in Lake of the Woods County.  Success will also be measured by successful implementation of amendments to the Lake of the Woods County Zoning Ordinance and revisions to the Subdivision Ordinance to match the policy objectives.

For more information on the Lake of the Woods Growth Management project, please contact Matthew Dyrdahl of the Headwaters Regional Development Commission.