Strategic Plan 2022

Consultation has concluded.

• Input Presentation

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  Over the past three months, staff and the consultant gathered inputs for the strategic plan update. The inputs will be presented to the City Council for the March 14, 2022 work session. There are five inputs gathered into the strategic plan update:

  1. Environmental Scan
  2. Community Survey 2020
  3. Commission focus group
  4. Internal stakeholder survey
  5. City Council individual interviews

  The memo and packet items are available online. Members of the public are welcome to attend the meeting.

• Staff/Commission Input

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  To gather internal feedback from staff and commission members, a survey and focus group were conducted.

  
  

  SURVEY: Feedback was collected from city staff and commission/task force members from a survey open from February 1 - 17. The survey asked:

  1. How would you rate the overall quality of services at the City of Savage?
  2. What services, if any, need improvement?
  3. How would you rate the overall quality of life in Savage?
  4. What one improvement, if any, could have the greatest positive impact on quality of life in Savage?
  5. Over the next few years, please indicate how much of a priority each of the following should be for the City of Savage.
  6. Would you recommend the City of Savage as a place to live? Why or why not?

  
  

  FOCUS GROUP: A focus group for commission members was hosted on February 16 evening. There were 15 commissioners in attendance. The group split into 2 groups and discussed these questions:

  1. When you think of what you like best about the city, what comes to mind?
  2. When you think about your community compared to other suburban communities, what comes to mind about the advantages of Savage?
  3. What are the disadvantages of living in this community compared to other places?
  4. If you could change things about your community, what would they be?
  5. Of the important roles that the city plays in helping to create a good quality of life, what are the most important to maintaining or creating a high-quality future?
  6. If you had to choose three things for the city to focus efforts and resources over the next five years, what would they be?

  Thank you to the commission members and staff that shared their feedback!

  
  

  Next steps: A summary of the survey and focus group will be presented at the March 14, 2022 City Council meeting.

• Resident Input

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  What services should the city improve? This question and others were asked in the 2020 Community Survey. This survey provides a statistically valid sample of opinions of residents of Savage on the quality of life and services in Savage.

  Key findings from the survey were:

  Residents enjoy a positive quality of life in Savage.

  89% of people who took the survey agreed that the quality of life in Savage is good/excellent. Overall, our residents feel safe, they like their neighborhoods, and 9 out of 10 said it was a great place to live and raise a family.

  
  

  Mobility and transportation are improving and continue to be a focus area.

  Two-thirds of residents gave high marks to the overall quality of the transportation in Savage. Some of the largest improvements were seen in evaluations of street repair, street cleaning, snow removal, sidewalk maintenance, and ease of travel by bicycle.

  
  

  Overall economic health is good but is still on their minds.

  8 in 10 community members agree the overall economic health in Savage is positive. 75% of respondents gave high marks to the overall quality of business and service establishments in Savage. However, only 18% believed the economy would have a positive impact on their income when compared to 2018, and less than 1/3 of people rated the vibrancy of the downtown/commercial areas as favorable.

  
  

  Citizens applaud the services provided by the City.

  89% of respondents rated the overall customer service by city employees as excellent/good. This is higher than the national benchmark. 82% rated the overall quality of services provided by the City as excellent/good. When asked to rate the City’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic up to the time of the survey, 9 in 10 indicated the City had done an excellent or good job at maintaining essential City services and about 8 in 10 felt similarly about the overall response from the City.

  
  

  One thing the City can improve on.

  When residents were asked what is one thing they would like the City to improve on, roughly 1 out of 4 said to focus on mobility and transportation issues. Specifically, residents want more biking and walking trails that connect between neighborhoods and shopping areas. They also expressed a need for better traffic controls and traffic flow management.

  
  

  These findings will be an input into the report presented to the City Council on March 14, 2022.

• Strategic Planning Starts

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  The City contracted with Rapp Consulting Group to coordinate the strategic planning process. City leadership held a kickoff meeting on December 7, 2021. The consultant reviewed:

  • Timeline (January 2022 through May 2022) of strategic planning process
  • Examples and what to expect
  • Meet the consultant and ask questions

  Next steps are for staff to begin the stakeholder engagement process.

  
  

• What Was Accomplished Before?

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  In 2019, city leadership and key stakeholders identified six short-term focus areas:

  1. Quality housing that inspires pride in living for all.
  2. Attract and retain innovative business.
  3. Being a welcoming organization with strong, empowered leadership.
  4. Becoming a regional leader in multi-modal access with metro connectivity and river crossing.
  5. Establishing Savage as an exciting destination.
  6. Creating an inviting and vibrant community with a consistent identity.

  This year these focus areas will be updated. Before we do that, are you wondering what was accomplished with the previous focus areas? Take a look at the accomplishments report, or read the highlights below.

  1. Quality housing that inspires pride in living for all.

  • The city plans to complete an update of the City’s Zoning Ordinance in 2023.
  • Over 400 units of housing were added in Savage, including:

  • 54 units of workforce housing
  • 190 units of market rate multifamily
  • 92 units of senior living
  • 83 units of single family homes

  
  

  2. Attract and retain innovative business.

  • Offered $197,946 in Small Business Recovery Grant programs through COVID-19 federal funds.
  • Partnered with the State of Minnesota and HydraFlex business who moved to Savage using the State’s Minnesota Investment Fund (MIF) in 2018.
  • Staff conducted 15 business outreach meetings in 2019. Staff stopped conducting these meetings in 2020 due to the pandemic.
  • Received a grant from the Scott County Community Development Agency (CDA) to study the downtown floodplain to project future development options.
  • Introduced the C-4 zoning district in 2021 which provides more flexibility for businesses along Highway 13.
  • Mitigated environmental concerns and redeveloped 7369 Highway 13, which is now assessed at $2,000,000.

  
  3. Being a welcoming organization with strong, empowered leadership.

  • The Savage Police Department hosted three community conversations on race and one listening session on race during 2019-2020.
  • Staff attended citywide inclusivity training in 2020 and 2021.
  • Convened a Race, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) Task Force to create an action plan for 2022.
  • Hosted 5 staff trainings for leadership and managers including strategic planning sessions, strength training, difficult conversations, emergency situation training, and job descriptions training.

  
  4. Becoming a regional leader in multi-modal access with metro connectivity and river crossing.

  • Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA) included a bus stop in downtown Savage for the 495 route in 2019.
  • Staff engaged with the State legislature to introduce a bill to lift the State ban on studying the Dan Patch Line.
  • The Dan Patch Line was included with a larger section of rail as a priority 1 in the Statewide Rail Plan.

  
  5. Establishing Savage as an exciting destination.

  • The city will build a unique all-inclusive playground at Community Park in 2022.
  • Planning a “destination” playground and facilities for 2023.
  • Conducted a placemaking study with the Musicant Group in 2021.
  • Developed a plan to make the Savage Library more useable by expanding meeting space in 2022. Financing options are currently being developed.

  
  6. Creating an inviting and vibrant community with a consistent identity.

  • Enhanced city identity with new gateway signage program, including new signs on CR 42/Dakota and McColl Dr/Dakota intersections.
  • Conducted a placemaking study with the Musicant Group in 2021.
  • Installed 3 artistic bike racks in 2020. The city received a grant from the Lions Club in 2019 to help pay for the bike racks.

  
  

• Welcome!

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