- Develop a cohesive city economic development strategy and staffing model that complements key economic development partners
- Role & Staffing: Clarify the City’s economic development role and explore staffing that supports the City’s role. Review how we can enhance collaboration with Rochester's existing economic development ecosystem, including Destination Medical Center, Rochester Area Economic Development Inc., Small Business Development Center, Collider, the emerging biolab, Mayo Clinic Accelerator, Discovery Square, and others.
- Regulatory Commitment: Evaluate existing and future regulations and licensing to reflect community needs, support the City’s strategic priorities, and encourage investment in Rochester.
- Business Retention and Expansion: Develop a proactive business retention strategy focused on small, minority and locally-owned businesses.
- Equitable Economic Development: Implement recommendations from the Disparity Study with a focus on actions that will increase small, minority and locally-owned business participation that is more reflective of contractor availability. Continue to evaluate city procurement goals and policies to address contracting disparity.
- Implement a tourism strategy that enhances evening and weekend economic activity
- Events: Support free and inclusive cultural experiences that bring people together, strengthen Rochester’s evening and weekend economy, and foster community vitality. Continuously refine event offerings to ensure strong public engagement and activation of community spaces.
- Trails: Develop a strategy to plan, prioritize, fund, construct and maintain local and regional trail connections.
- Park Development and Investment: Complete an update to the Parks Master Plan that prioritizes park features and amenities that enhance positive user experiences for community members and visitors. Review parkland dedication to ensure sustainable park and trail investment and other financing options that allow investment in parks to support implementation of the plan. Review existing partnerships and policies with different associations to ensure community access, sliding fee schedules, and a balanced financial partnership. Evaluate programmatic gaps and solutions for meeting those gaps in new or existing facilities.
- Regional Sports and Recreation Assets: Develop final cost estimates and financing options for Phase Two of the Regional Sports and Recreation Complex. Evaluate utilization and renovation needs of existing assets such as the Rec Center, Sports Center located at RCTC, National Volleyball Center, and others to maximize community and visitor use concurrent with progress on the new complex.
- Marketing: Consider expanding destination marketing efforts through our Destination Marketing Organization. Evaluate the best approach to market sports centric tourism and passive recreation-based tourism, emphasizing Rochester's historic district.
- Chateau: Develop final strategy for needed renovations, programmatic evolution, and preferred approach to operations needed to support this goal.
- Optimize City services and assets to support Economic Resilience
- Bio Business Center: Evaluate the long-term future of the Bio Business Center for economic resilience or potential adaptive reuse.
- Economic Vitality Investments: Ensure that the Economic Vitality Fund investments targeted toward economic development support the Economic Resilience strategic priority. Focus partner investment efforts on economic diversification.
Action Plan Reports
The Action Plan outlines goals and tactics aimed at advancing the Strategic Priorities selected by the City Council. City teammates provide Action Plan updates to the City Council at City Council Study Sessions every six months.
Current Action Plan Goals
- Promote construction of owner occupied homes:
- Regulatory Environment: Continue to evaluate regulatory alignment around single family home construction to mitigate cost while still ensuring neighborhood quality. Initial areas of evaluation include boulevard trees, connection charges, and other items learned as part of the affordable single family home initiative in Northwest Rochester.
- Home Ownership Innovation: Explore condos and small-scale ownership models as alternatives to traditional single-family homes. Support efforts to construct multigenerational housing within newly constructed single family homes.
- Legislative Environment: Pursue state legislative solutions that align state and local priorities for housing with state investment in local infrastructure. Engage legislatively to reduce tax disincentives to platting lots.
- Ensure vital neighborhoods that support infill, adaptive reuse, and accessible housing
- Accessory Dwelling Units: Reevaluate ADU program requirements and barriers (e.g., connection fees, owner occupancy).
- Short Term Rentals: Evaluate existing short term rental requirements including geographic dispersion, tax classification, lodging tax contribution, and other areas while balancing economic and neighborhood impacts.
- TIF Policy & Accessible Housing: Align Tax Increment Financing (TIF) policy and related incentives to encourage the development of accessible housing. Create a framework for reliably classifying and tracking accessible units.
- Rental Inspections and Code Enforcement: Evaluate the potential for proactive code enforcement, integrated code enforcement, efficiency in rental inspections, tall grass and weeds policy, and other innovations.
- Lead Service Line Replacement: Continue implementation of the Lead Service Line Replacement Program to help homeowners replace lead service lines and reduce potential lead exposure in drinking water.
- Wastewater Lateral Replacement: Explore programs similar to service assured that take into account the complexities of sewer system liability.
- Housing Financing: Better understand micro- and macro-level financing challenges as it related to the purchase, renovation, and construction of housing. Identify relevant solutions that can be implemented locally.
- Support County and non-profit efforts to effectively provide resources to persons experiencing housing instability:
- Facilities: Support County and non-profit service provider efforts to align services and thoughtfully locate facilities.
- Public Safety: Focus on the City’s role as a public safety provider to create a safe and welcoming community for all to support Housing Access, Economic Resilience, and Inclusive Growth Management.
- Support Individual Housing Stability Efforts: Provide options to mitigate housing instability through utility programs, housing rehab, engagement in Any Path Home, Housing Coalition, HRA, and related efforts.
- Optimize City services and assets to support Housing Access
- City Parcels: Evaluate city parcels for disposition that supports economic resilience and housing access. Key parcels include the Regional Sports and Recreation Center (north outlot for residential, South outlots for commercial), various Riverfront properties, Badger Farms, Silver Lake Power Plant, and the Traffic Operations Building.
- Permitting: Focus on continuous improvement to streamline enterprise-wide permitting, inspections, licensing, development review, housing construction, and business navigation.
- Economic Vitality Investments: Ensure that the Economic Vitality Fund investments focused on housing support the Housing Access strategic priority.
- Integrate active transportation, transportation, and transit efforts to support Inclusive Growth Management
- Staffing: Work to build transportation planning capacity and coordination within the Development Services and Infrastructure Team. Utilize 311 and the community survey to better understand resident transportation needs and perceptions.
- Mode Shift and Travel Demand Management: Focus on coordination with Mayo Clinic to ensure that the goals of LINK Rapid Transit are realized. Develop a travel demand management framework in partnership with Mayo Clinic that can be extended to other employers.
- Transit Optimization: Evaluate and prioritize our existing transit services in the context of significant post-pandemic ridership decline, declining external funding, ability to influence Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and promote inclusive growth management. Ensure that this optimization is reflected in future Transit Development Plan updates and the forthcoming request for proposals for transit operations.
- ADA Transition Plan: Update the 2013 ADA Transition Plan to align with this strategic priority.
- Ensure strategic investments are integrated with inclusive land use planning to support development that is land, tax, and service efficient
- Infrastructure: Annually review and align electric, water, sewer, storm sewer, and transportation infrastructure to ensure that investments are maximized and construction impact is minimized. Prioritize investments in the East and West Zumbro Sewer Areas. Advocate for the state bonding request for the East Zumbro Sewer Area.
- Growth Areas: Regularly review and assess growth areas to inform land use and infrastructure investments.
- Annexation: Develop annexation priorities that align with existing market need and approved plans. Evolve existing or develop new orderly annexation agreements with surrounding townships.
- Financial: Discuss and evaluate tools to help the community understand the fiscal and service impacts of development.
- Services: Develop a plan to finance, construct, and operate Fire Station 6, provide final direction on the implementation of the Library’s Master Plan, and address deferred maintenance on existing police training facilities with a focus on shared training spaces.
- Maintenance: Consider ongoing and one-time investments to support the maintenance of existing infrastructure particularly for City facilities, public spaces, and streets.
- Support Infill and Transit Oriented Development
- Incentives and Policies: In addition to aligning the TIF policy, create additional financial and non-financial incentives to help prioritize infill and transit oriented development. Evaluate other policies that prioritize development in areas with existing infrastructure (e.g. parking minimums).
- Maximize Link Investment: Prioritize development in and around LINK stations including the West Transit Village and East Terminus. Ensure that existing and future development are effectively connected to the stations. Review the potential for an updated traffic study two years after the project is implemented to assess any future improvements needed.
- Optimize City services to support Inclusive Growth Management:
- One Water, One Team: Consider further integration of water reclamation, sewer collection, water treatment, water distribution, flood control, and stormwater services into one team.
- Integrated Utility Planning: Ensure ongoing planning and collaboration to ensure that power supply planning, sewer, wastewater, and water supply planning maximizes investments and ensures efficient future growth.
- Organizational Services: Align and integrate organizational services such as Finance, Information Technology, Communications, Facilities, Safety, GIS, Fleet, and similar functions across the enterprise. The focus will be on enhancing services provided to the public; making the best use of public dollars; reducing duplicative or low-impact work; increasing clarity and consistency across departments; and allowing departments to focus more on strategy and people.
- Toolkit Optimization: Move toward full use and integration of the change management, project management, and communications & engagement tool kits within the organization.
Responsible Environmental Stewardship
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation:
- Active Transportation: Encourage the use of active transportation options for both commuting and recreational trips. Create support facilities to help meet the needs of active commuters. Continue to refine the framework for the responsible use of private scooters and Lime Scooters including designated corrals in the Downtown area. Evaluate a variety of financial strategies to invest in trails including reviewing our park dedication ordinance to allow investments in both park and trail development.
- City Fleet Electrification: Identify resources and implementation strategies to electrify the City’s fleet while ensuring the financial viability of the Equipment Revolving Fund.
- Community Transportation Electrification: Work to encourage private electric vehicle charging infrastructure solution to make charging convenient. Monitor the implementation and adjust as public and private vehicle electrification infrastructure evolves.
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with building energy consumption:
- Power Supply Resource Plan: Monitor and support the implementation of the RPU 100% Net Renewable Energy by 2030 resource plan goal. Determine acceptable risk mitigation measures that might be necessary with the changing tax credit environment; evolving financial viability; and ability to build or contract enough locally produced renewable energy to meet the community’s needs.
- Energy Savings: Continue to explore energy efficiency and decarbonization projects that have a reasonable return on time and capital.
- Advanced Metering: Successfully complete the implementation of advanced metering. Facilitate training and education on how customers can best use the information to manage their energy footprint.
- Commercial Benchmarking: Continue to refine the data collection and dissemination for commercial buildings over 50,000 square feet.
- Commercial and Residential Energy Efficiency and Beneficial Electrification: Maximize programming and direct investments through RPU’s Energy Advisors in alignment with the MN Eco Act, Sustainability Division, and City partners to support carbon free options including geothermal, heat pumps, and energy efficient appliances.
- City Facilities: Integrate B3 and Energy Star standards during new construction or material renovation of City facilities to the maximum extent possible. Ensure that projects are designed in conjunction with the facilities team to ensure that building automation, energy efficiency, and other standards are reflected.
- Enhance and Effectively Maintain Rochester’s Natural Resources:
- Urban Forest: Implement options to maintain our urban tree canopy through accelerated pruning, empowering property owners to maintain trees, rethinking boulevard trees, and substantial tree planting initiatives.
- Air Quality: Ensure real-time air quality data continues to be publicly available, monitored, and is actionable.
- Water Quality: Finalize the Comprehensive Surface Water Master plan and prioritization of its recommendations.
- Drinking Water Supply & Water Quality: Finalize the RPU Groundwater Management Study and RPU Water System Master Plan. As we continue to better understand the regulatory landscape and our municipal water supply, explore the need and costs for additional water appropriation and treatment.
- Optimize City services and assets to support Environmental Stewardship
- Natural Gas Franchise Fee: Explore the implementation of a natural gas franchise fee to fund the adopted strategic priorities and foundational principles.
- Waste Management: Monitor Olmsted County’s development and construction of a material recovery facility (MERF). As county level waste and material management becomes clearer, discuss options to evolve organizational recycling, residential collection, organics, yard waste, and woody waste. Study peer-implemented best practices for single use plastic bags.
- Data Informed Decision Making: Launch a public-facing dashboard tracking emissions, waste, water, and city fleet.
Transformational Capital Projects
- Focus on Excellence in the Delivery of Transformational Capital Projects
- Timely and Effective Projects: Ensure that the following projects are delivered on time and on budget, with risks and challenges effectively managed and outcomes the community can be proud of.
- 18th Avenue SW Reconstruction: Reconstruct the road from Mayowood Road SW to 40th St SW to address deteriorating pavement and calm traffic.
- 4th Street Roundabout: Construct a roundabout in place of the current intersection to increase safety for all roadway users, act as a traffic calming device, and improve current traffic flow conditions at the intersection
- 6th Street Bridge, Roadway Safety, and Riverfront Improvements: Construct a bridge over the Zumbro River that connects East and West 6th Street South to improve access to neighborhoods, riverfront, and key destinations and redevelop the existing flood control system into an accessible riverfront space.
- Airport Runway Expansion: Reconstruct and upgrade Runway 2/20 and associated airfield infrastructure at Rochester International Airport to ensure safe, reliable, 24/7 operations for air ambulance providers, cargo carriers transporting medical supplies, and patient travelers. This multi-year project will replace aging infrastructure, enhance safety and efficiency, and maintain uninterrupted air access critical to the region’s healthcare and economic needs.
- Downtown Building Energy Transition: Transition from Olmsted County Waste to Energy Steam to a sustainable, renewable geothermal central plant system and thermal energy network to serve the heating and cooling needs of 5 downtown public Facilities (City Hall, Rochester Public Library, Mayo Civic Center, Rochester Civic Theatre and Rochester Art Center) as well as support for future private connection to the thermal energy network
- Downtown Waterfront Project: Redevelop underused riverfront land into a vibrant mixed-use district, positioning the riverfront-adjacent area as a vibrant, connected, and accessible space with interim site activations and improved public access to natural and cultural amenities.
- East and West Zumbro Trunk Sewer Projects: Increase sanitary sewer capacity and extend trunk mains into newly developable areas, enabling future growth and supporting the City's industrial, commercial, and housing development objectives.
- Economic Vitality Sales Tax Investments: Support investments that address the shortage of middle- and low-income housing, preserve existing affordable options in neighborhoods, and develop workforce programs that create more job opportunities for residents.
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software Conversion: Implement a new ERP system to modernize business processes, including tracking and issuing payments, human capital management, payroll, project accounting, work orders, capital assets, etc.
- LINK Bus Rapid Transit: Implement a 2.8-mile transit option along 2nd Street that will connect downtown Rochester, Mayo Civic Center, Mayo Clinic campuses, and the Downtown Waterfront Southeast area, enhancing mobility, easing congestion, and supporting the continued growth of Rochester.
- Maintenance Center: Establish a new Maintenance Center for Parks & Forestry that will strengthen collaboration between Parks & Forestry and Public Works teams.
- Martin Luther King Park Renovations: Enhance park facilities, including restrooms, a splash pad water playground, basketball courts, playground, picnic shelters, and community gardens.
- North Broadway Park and Ride: Construct a new park-and-ride facility to reduce congestion, lower emissions, and support better land use.
- North Broadway Phase 2: Reconstruct Broadway Ave N from Silver Lake Bridge to Elton Hills Drive NW to improve traffic operations and safety, upgrade transit facilities, increase accessibility, and improve access to recreational opportunities along the river.
- Public improvements associated with Mayo Bold Forward Unbound: As Mayo Clinic plans and initiates its transformative private Bold Forward Unbound, coordinate with DMC on public infrastructure improvements to ensure maximum public benefit with minimum public disruption.
- Regional Sports and Recreation Complex: Develop a regional sports destination that remains accessible to the entire Rochester community.
- RPU Power Supply Resource Plan Investments: Develop and enter into contracts for firm dispatchable generation, energy storage, wind and solar projects to help achieve greenhouse gas reduction goals.
- Silver Lake Dam Modification and Replacement: Dredge the lake, modify the dam, and implement trail connections to reduce long-term operation and maintenance costs associated with the dam, improve safety and accessibility, improve fish habitat, and enhance recreational opportunities.
- South Broadway planning: Redesign South Broadway Avenue between 4th and 9th Streets and upgrade the intersection to improve safety and mobility.
- Water Reclamation Plant: Upgrade equipment and update the treatment process to meet higher standards and reduce operational demands.
- West Transit Village: Develop a mixed-use community and Link Bus Rapid Transit hub to provide retail, housing, parking, and other park amenities.
- Willow Creek Trail & Safety Connection: Establish a trail and underpass beneath Highways 52/63 to connect Gamehaven Regional Park with the broader City trail system, improving access and safety for pedestrians and cyclists.
- Reporting: Use tracking tools and regular reports to ensure project timelines, budgets, and dependencies stay on track. Provide an integrated quarterly report reflecting the status of the projects above to the City Council.
- Neighborhood Impact: Deliver transformational projects in a context-sensitive manner using co-design, business forward, neighborhood engagement, and effective project communication.
- Selectively prioritize projects where planning now will ensure potential funding delivery post 2030
- Effective Planning: Explore early planning, engagement and financing strategies for Civic Center Drive Reconstruction, South Broadway Reconstruction and Phase 2 Bus Rapid Transit Planning.
- Connected Parks and Trails: Explore options for additional park and trail investments. Provide a specific evaluation of enhancing the Park Levy focused on additional investment and indexing with inflation.
- DMC 2.0: Begin discussion on evolving the Destination Medical Center legislation to consider what options might exist beyond the 20-year project duration.
- Optimize City services to effectively deliver and support transformational capital projects
- Optimize Services: Replicate an internally focused process similar to predevelopment for City projects.
- Talent Attraction: Recruit and retain employees that have strong implementation strengths, leveraging new technologies and approaches.
- Financial Management: Update the City’s financial policies to ensure project accountability and efficiency.
- Project Efficiency: Develop systems and strategies to ensure that to the maximum extent possible we “dig once.” Ensure that we effectively communicate construction and mitigate the impact to the maximum extent possible within the resources provided.
- Optimize Operationalization: Balance programmatic objectives on transformational projects with a long-term stewardship perspective.
- Visualize Project Impact: Evolve the existing project mapping framework to the multi-year Capital Improvement Plan
Glidepath: As project charters are developed and Action Plan updates are completed, clearly articulate an inclusive decision making strategy and specific points of community engagement. Articulate specific project milestones, City Council updates, and City Council approvals that allow for time for policy input and evolution.
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