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Council adopts City of Hastings Comprehensive Plan 2025 after public hearing; staff to supply annual updates
Summary
The Hastings City Council voted unanimously to adopt the City of Hastings Comprehensive Plan 2025, a land-use plan intended to guide future zoning, housing and annexation decisions and to support grant applications.
The Hastings City Council adopted the City of Hastings Comprehensive Plan 2025 by unanimous vote (Resolution 2025-10) after a public hearing and extended discussion about data currency, housing, annexation and economic development.
Chad Binger, director of Development Services, introduced the item and turned the presentation to Mason Herman of Marvin Planning Consultants. Herman described the plan as “a picture in time,” noting that it catalogs demographics, facilities and land use and that it documents community engagement used to guide policy. He said the plan’s future land use map provides flexible categories intended to make rezonings and housing development smoother for staff and property owners.
The consulting team and staff emphasized the plan’s relationship to housing policy, annexation guidance and revisions to zoning regulations. Herman and Binger said the plan will support grant applications, including Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, and will be used to update zoning regulations.
Council members asked whether the document’s data — often drawn from the 2020 decennial census and annual American Community Survey estimates — could be refreshed. Binger and Mason said the core demographic base is the 2020 census and that staff will provide annual updates and plan a closer review at five years; they said staff intends to perform the annual updates in-house. Binger told the council the city plans to "do annual updates to you and the planning commission" and to reassess more substantially at five to seven years.
The plan includes policies aimed at encouraging "missing middle" housing (gentle density within existing neighborhoods), updated future land use categories (residential tiers, three commercial categories, flex districts for the hospital area, industrial and parks/recreation) and annexation criteria to guide when the city will add land.
The planning commission considered the final draft on March 4 and recommended adoption (vote noted in the packet). Councilmember Huntley moved adoption of Resolution 2025-10; the motion was seconded and the resolution passed 7-0.
Council members asked staff to report back annually on building permits, annexation, housing starts and HEDC (Hastings Economic Development) activity so the council can monitor whether the plan’s assumptions remain valid or require earlier revision.
