Implementation roadmap
First 100 Days
One audit. Three ordinance packages. A clear calendar. Measurable public-safety and financial baselines. Then execute.
East Bethel is entering a period of increasing development pressure. Growth itself is not the problem. The risk is allowing a series of individual development decisions to gradually turn a rural community into conventional suburban development without a clear decision by residents or the City Council to do so.
The Comprehensive Plan is supposed to prevent that. It identifies where urban growth belongs, where rural land should remain rural, how mixed-use areas should develop, and how infrastructure should be sequenced. But those policies only protect the city when they are translated into clear, enforceable ordinances.
My first priority would be to close the gaps between the Comprehensive Plan and the development code.
The goal is straightforward: direct growth to the areas planned for it, preserve rural and agricultural land, require mixed-use development to actually deliver its commercial and housing mix, prevent PUDs from creating development rights that were never intended, and ensure new development does not create long-term costs that existing taxpayers are forced to absorb.
This is not an effort to stop development. It is an effort to guide development to meet the expectations of our East Bethel community.
East Bethel should be able to grow without becoming another extension of suburban development moving north from the metro. That requires clear rules before the next major project arrives, not negotiations after an application is already on the table.
The first 100 days would therefore focus on one Comprehensive Plan conformance audit and three coordinated ordinance packages designed to make the City’s long-term growth strategy enforceable.
Weeks 1–4: One 2040 Plan Conformance Audit
I would begin with one Council motion directing staff and the city attorney to compare the adopted 2040 Comprehensive Plan with the city’s current zoning, subdivision, and other official controls.
The product should be a clear implementation matrix: 2040 plan policy / current official control / conflict or gap / recommended fix / ordinance package assignment.
The 2040 Plan already identified major implementation work, including new Mixed Use, Medium Industrial, and Coon Lake districts, along with zoning and subdivision updates. The purpose of the audit is to confirm what was never fully adopted and identify what needs to be corrected. It should not become another open-ended vision process.
I would ask for a 45–60 day deadline. The result should be a redline list and implementation schedule, not a new planning document.
Package 1: Rural and Agricultural Conformance
This package comes first because rural land can be permanently fragmented while policy work waits. The goal is to align development limits, subdivision design, lot-split controls, and long-term land protection with the adopted Comprehensive Plan.
Primary objective: preserve rural land without preventing reasonable development.
These changes should move as one coordinated ordinance package and one hearing process rather than a series of isolated projects.
Package 2: Mixed-Use and Growth-Area Rules
This package addresses the risk of housing arriving first while the commercial, employment, and connected-development pieces never materialize. East Bethel already has the core MXU and PUD tools; the goal is to make those rules produce complete development areas over time.
Primary objective: each approved MXU Master Development Plan must carry its own required land-use mix. A developer may not rely on unrelated land elsewhere in the MUSA to satisfy its commercial or high-density housing obligations, and a PUD may change design but cannot erase those obligations.
These enforceable land-use rules should move before a complete architectural design manual. Use, mix, phasing, and street standards can be adopted first.
- Complete the MXU District
- Limits on PUD Flexibility
- MXU Project-Level Land-Use Requirements
- MXU Land-Use Allocation Table
- Residential-Only Development Limits
- Master Development Plan Requirements
- Commercial / Residential Phasing
- Connected Street Requirements
- Urban Infrastructure Standards
- Recorded Development Obligations
Package 3: Citywide Review Standards
The third package improves how major projects are reviewed across the city. It builds on tools East Bethel already uses—concept review, natural-resource review, staff findings, and fiscal analysis—but organizes them into one predictable framework.
Primary objective: identify long-term impacts and unresolved policy questions before detailed engineering locks in the project.
If staff capacity allows, this package could move with Package 2. It should not delay the rural and agricultural work in Package 1.
2050 Policy Direction and the Implementation Calendar
The 2050 Comprehensive Plan direction and the ordinance schedule should not become separate ordinance projects. I would bring them forward with the initial conformance audit as Council-level direction.
The Council should establish early policy direction on rural preservation, where growth belongs, infrastructure sequencing, housing locations, commercial and industrial development, and open-space priorities. It should also adopt a realistic calendar showing when the audit and each ordinance package will return for action.
Establish a Financial and Contract Baseline
The Council should begin the term with a clear picture of major recurring contracts, service costs, capital obligations, fund balances, debt, and the largest drivers of levy growth. The purpose is not simply to cut spending. It is to understand what the city is paying for, what outcomes are expected, and where long-term obligations are developing.
Analyze Emergency-Service Demand
East Bethel should understand the emergencies our community is actually experiencing before deciding future service levels. I would ask for analysis of calls for service by type, location, time of day, and priority; response times and service availability; and the roles played by law enforcement, fire, medical response, and other emergency-service partners.
The objective is to make sure the city is funding the right combination of services for the public-safety demands residents face, while working collaboratively with the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office, our fire department, the county, and other partners.
Adopt an Infrastructure Sequencing Policy
Infrastructure should follow the adopted growth strategy. Requests for utility or MUSA expansion should be evaluated against the citywide plan, long-term operating costs, tax-base return, development phasing, and impacts on surrounding rural land.
Establish a Public Council Work Plan
Not every initiative can be first. I would support a public Council work plan that identifies the highest-priority policy projects, assigns responsibility, and gives residents a realistic schedule for when major items will return for action.
What the First 100 Days Are For
The goal is not to manufacture activity or overwhelm staff with disconnected projects. It is to establish the facts, set Council direction, protect the areas most vulnerable to irreversible change, and create a sequence that staff and the Planning Commission can execute well.
One audit. Three ordinance packages. A clear calendar. Measurable public-safety and financial baselines. Then execute.