MANKATO — The list of priorities in Mankato’s five-year strategic plan shifted a bit in the last month to reflect what city leaders believed when starting the planning process last October and what they heard from residents in the year that followed.
“The one thing we heard loudest from the community is ‘housing,’” said City Manager Susan Arntz.
The draft plan presented to the council last week — and expected to receive final approval Oct. 15 — now has housing in the top spot on the list of goals, up from No. 2. And the plan’s objectives related to the topic are ambitious, calling for city action to preserve existing affordable housing, end homelessness, provide better and safer rental housing, and create a diverse range of housing types.
The specific tactics toward achieving those goals will be developed by city staff in coming months and be integrated into annual budgets over the next several years. But the plan itself hints at some of the broader strategies.
The city will identify and monitor “naturally occurring affordable housing” — residential properties within the price range of middle-income households without being directly subsidized by the government. That sort of housing can easily be lost if it is allowed to fall into disrepair or if it is bought up by developers looking to transform it into high-end housing.
Areas featuring naturally occurring affordable housing would be targeted for city-financed neighborhood enhancements. Other methods of support are a housing trust fund, reducing barriers to access to housing programs, city code updates and more education on available housing resources.
When it comes to rental housing, the plan suggests rehabilitation funding for rental properties and changing the city code to provide more enforcement tools for ensuring better and safer apartments.
And the housing supply could be expanded through partnerships and incentives for housing developers, expanding the fledgling community land trust and tapping into federal programs to boost construction of affordable housing for seniors, people with disabilities, average-income workers and first-time homebuyers.
Providing more affordable housing is a key to ending homelessness as well, but the first step is creation of a year-round 24/7 homeless shelter, according to the plan. Other suggested measures are public education about homelessness, engagement with the homeless population to learn about their challenges and their suggested solutions and a broader street-outreach effort.
Even with the clear focus on housing, the strategic plan has numerous other goals including economic development, community safety, enhancing connections among community members, maintaining the city’s infrastructure and elevating the municipal organization as a productive and attractive place to work.
Each area of the plan lists several detailed actions to be taken. In the economic section, for instance, the plan calls for streamlining the development process for new and expanding businesses, supporting small businesses, developing the workforce and working with the private sector to increase the availability and affordability of child care.
In the community safety category, suggestions include increasing 24/7 staffing at Mankato’s fire stations, improving the commercial property inspection process, implementing more data-driven and evidence-based efforts to address violent crime and gun violence, targeting enforcement of traffic laws toward crash-prone parts of the city and reviewing whether street and intersection redesigns could reduce crashes.
The City Council was largely silent during the presentation by planning consultant Sara Singer Wilson and city staff — an indication the draft plan had hit the mark after hours of discussion with council members over the past year.
“You can tell a lot of work and thought has gone into this,” Mayor Najwa Massad said. “It’s excellent.”
The one suggested change came from Council member Jessica Hatanpa, asking the word “livability” be added to the goal with the somewhat nebulous title of “Community & Connection.”
The category includes efforts to connect citizens and city government to ensure residents know what the city is up to and city officials better understand the opinions and concerns of residents. But the category also includes “access to safe, well-maintained park and recreation assets for all,” the theory being that parks are a primary location where all types of residents interact and connect. Many of the tactics are focused on parks and recreation, including creating a Parks and Rec Department and a Parks and Rec Commission, building an inventory of park assets and development of a process for gauging and creating the services and amenities people want.
After the strategic plan is approved, the work really begins, according to staff. Or in some cases, the work continues.
“There’s a lot of things in here that we’ve already started on,” said Administrative Services Director Parker Skophammer.
Elements of the plan will show up in the 2025 budget and in each of the four annual budgets that follow, according to Arntz. When action items come to the council throughout the year, memos will cite if the measure was prompted by the plan or supports its goals. And her annual State of the City report will include a progress update on the plan’s goals.
As for the City Council’s role, Arntz was straightforward. “You control the pace and the purse,” she said of the financial support and oversight provided by the elected officials. “If we’re going too slow, you’re very good at telling us. Or if we’re going too fast … .”
Hatanpa, for one, was interested in tapping the accelerator. She suggested that when staff present final budget options to the council later this fall, they include a list of strategic plan goals that could be tackled if the property tax levy was boosted by an additional percentage point.
“Almost like seed money or starter money,” Hatanpa said. “… It would be great to accomplish some of this in 2025.”