Brooklyn Park Sets New Community Goals
Brooklyn Park city leaders recently approved new community goals, capping a year-long process by which the city engaged with residents about what they want to see over the course of the next several years for the growing suburb, which is one of the top-ten largest cities in the state of Minnesota.
“A strategic plan really sets the direction for everything we do,” said Zach Kramka, an assistant to the city administrator who oversaw the process. “That rolls down into council, commissions, and staff, where we do annual planning as well. But we need to make sure the things that we are undertaking align with the values of the community.”
The public engagement reached 800 community members, Kramka said, resulting in 4,000 pieces of data.
“At the beginning of this we made a commitment that we would read everything that was submitted, and I can absolutely say that did take place,” he said. “There was a process to kind of theme all those comments and use all those themed pieces to then form the new language.”
Kramka said the city embarked on a similar process in 2017, which resulted in Brooklyn Park 2025, a comprehensive set of goals.
“If you were to look at the current community plan and compare it to BP 2025, there’s a lot of holdover,” said Kramka. “I think that is really insightful, that people want to make sure they feel safe, they want to take pride in where they come from, and have beautiful amenities in the community and that was true in 2017 and certainly remains true today.”
City council approved the new plan, called Jewel of the North, in March.
