Long-Range Plans
Each regional park or trail has its own long-range plan
Minnesota law requires each regional park implementing agency to develop a long-range plan for the acquisition and development of regional recreation open space located within their jurisdiction, in consultation with all affected municipalities. While the statute requires only one plan per regional park implementing agency, the Met Council requires individual plans for each regional park, park reserve, regional trail, and special feature. Long-range plans are critical in defining the specifics of acquisition, development, and operation of regional facilities.
Long-range plans include the park agency’s estimates of use and costs. The long-range plan process allows residents and adjacent and affected jurisdictions to help develop the plan for a regional park or trail. Collectively, these plans form the regional park implementing agencies’ part of the regional system plan.
The Met Council reviews long-range plan for consistency with the 2050 Regional Parks and Trails Policy Plan and other Met Council policy plans. In February 2025, the Met Council adopted Imagine 2050 which includes the updated 2050 Regional Parks and Trails Policy Plan. For planning processes initiated after March 1, 2025, the 2050 Regional Parks and Trails Policy Plan applies. Regional park implementing agencies developing or amending long-range plans should refer to section five of the Regional Parks and Trails Planning Handbook for details on plan requirements and amendments. For processes that had begun prior to March 2025, the 2040 Regional Parks Policy Plan applies. The long-range plan requirements associated with the 2040 Regional Parks Policy Plan may be found in chapter five of the policy plan.
Inconsistent plans will be returned with comments to the park agency, which must revise and resubmit their plans to the Met Council. For a park agency to receive a grant for acquisition or development, the proposed project must be consistent with a Met Council-approved long-range plan.
To inform park demand forecasts, and public engagement and equity analyses, the Met Council provide agencies contextual information such as demographic data for the region and their jurisdictions. The data is disaggregated by race and ethnicity, household income, ability, age, educational attainment, and gender. This information helps identify communities who may be underserved by the Regional Parks and Trails System.
Long-range plans and plan amendments adopted by the Metropolitan Council in 2024 and 2025 include: