Integrated Resource Planning

APA Minnesota supports:

Integrated renewable energy, local foods, and resilient planning practices which support Minnesota’s interdependent resources.

• Integrating planning efforts across resources and disciplines.
• A requirement for state-supported water-related planning efforts which include outreach to community planners and local officials for consideration of land-water relationships
• The incorporation of natural resources elements in comprehensive plans, including surface water and groundwater, natural landscapes, native plant communities, greenways, parks and trails, as a complete and interconnected system that is essential for a high-quality and sustainable living environment.
• Recognition and encouragement of renewable energy resources and opportunities in long-range plans and ordinances to better integrate land use decisions.
• Removing regulatory barriers to small-scale renewable technologies where they are compatible with urban land uses, as well as barriers to larger-scale renewable technologies in rural areas.
• Incorporating local food production, including urban agriculture, in land use plans and projects.
• State policies and programs that promote increased resilience to extreme rainfall and drought by preserving the natural functions of floodplains, keeping or restoring living cover on the landscape, and keeping natural drainage patterns intact.
• Integrating resiliency, hazard mitigation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, into local comprehensive, land use, and strategic planning documents to ensure Minnesotans that their communities are protected from high impact and extreme weather events to become sustainable and resilient.