2006 Parks, Trails and Open Space Plan - City of Lakeville

Chapter
2
Community Characteristics
Land Use Development Pattern
Regional Location
Lakeville is located in the southern-most portion of the Minneapolis-St. Paul
Metropolitan Area within Dakota County (see the regional map which follows).
Convenient access to the southern metropolitan area via I-35W and I-35E has been
stimulating rapid development of Lakeville’s residential and commercial areas. In prior
years, Lakeville has been a freestanding growth center servicing the surrounding
agricultural activities. However, close proximity to the metropolitan community gradually
attracted diverse community development including residential subdivisions, the Airlake
Industrial Park and commercial businesses tying Lakeville into the larger Twin Cities
Metropolitan Urban Area.
Existing Land Use
Residential development in the southern metropolitan area today extends to Lakeville,
establishing it as an outer ring suburb. According to the Metropolitan Council, Lakeville
is at the edge between the predominately rural and predominately urban service areas.
While the community still maintains a traditional downtown community and developed
residential areas, extensive new development has occurred in the last two decades that
has changed the City’s status as a freestanding community to an integral part of the
Metropolitan Council’s 2030 Framework. As shown on Map 1, the 2030 Framework
Planning Areas include two main categories, Urban Planning Areas and Rural Planning
Areas. These areas are further divided into Developed Areas and Developing Areas
within the Urban Planning Areas and Rural Center, Agricultural, Diversified Rural and
Rural Residential within the Rural Planning Areas. Lakeville is designated as
Developing Area.
Existing land use patterns within Lakeville are generally reflective of the City’s Municipal
Urban Service Area (MUSA) boundaries, shown on Map 2, ranging from rural land uses
and remaining vacant land to the full variety of urban land uses. The City will continue
to promote infill development of the existing MUSA prior to expanding its MUSA in an
orderly and staged manner.
The current land use breakdown for Lakeville is shown in Table 1. Lakeville contains
approximately 24,180 total acres. Nearly half of those acres, about 14,200 acres, are
within the MUSA. As of 2005, the largest percentage of land in Lakeville, 29 percent of
the total acres, is vacant or has an agricultural land use designation. This percentage
has reduced by about 13 percent from 1998. The next largest existing land use is low
density single family residential, which has consistently been the second highest use of
the land in years past.
City of Lakeville, Minnesota
Chapter Two
2006 Comprehensive Parks, Trails, & Open Space Plan Page 5