The following statements summarize the goals of the City of Hopkins which have guided the preparation of this Comprehensive Plan and to which the City will refer in establishing spending and action priorities.
- Protect the residential neighborhoods.
Hopkins is primarily a residential community, and its people are its strength. The City has established neighborhoods with well-maintained homes, mature vegetation, and decades of personal commitment. However, the effects of time, physical deterioration, changing tastes, market competition, and, not least, the influence of traffic and nearby businesses may erode the quality of these neighborhoods, and irrevocably change the nature of the community population. A primary goal of the City of Hopkins is to work to protect these residential areas.
Strong, well-maintained neighborhoods protect people's investments in property and foster a positive economic development climate. Improved communication between neighborhood areas and the City, schools and businesses will enhance the entire community.
This goal is supported by all Comprehensive Plan elements. - Improve Downtown Hopkins.
It is rare to discover a distinctive, pedestrian-scale commercial area set in the heart of a small suburban community, but Hopkins has one. Downtown Hopkins and Mainstreet give the city a strong central focus and sense of place or identity that many other communities find very difficult to recreate. Major improvements have been made Downtown in recent years through public-private cooperative efforts. These efforts should continue with more emphasis on the private sector and less public financing involvement.
Efforts should be made to retain existing downtown businesses and attract new businesses to Mainstreet. The City should continually monitor the downtown business climate.
Both the Comprehensive Plan and Strategic Plan support this goal. - Improve deteriorating and/or obsolescent industrial or commercial areas.
The City should continue to encourage the improvement of industrial and commercial businesses to ensure that the limited amount of non-residential land in Hopkins can be used to its full potential. A specific focus should be on redevelopment of properties along portions of Excelsior Boulevard. - Bolster the image and character of the community.
Hopkins retains many of the freestanding, small-town characteristics that were developed over its 100-year history. These features are a valuable asset, one that many communities today are either trying to recapture or create. Over the past decade, Hopkins has made a number of major improvements, all of which support a stronger community image. These efforts should continue. The City should develop a public relations strategy that might include a periodic sampling of resident and non-resident perceptions about the community.
The Community Image and Land Use Plans address this goal. - Build civic involvement, commitment, and pride.
The best city plans have no benefit unless the local population is concerned about its community and has leaders (elected and otherwise) with vision and wisdom. Hopkins has the ingredients for successful community support as a result of its small-town character, strong residential neighborhoods and Downtown civic focus. The City should continue to emphasize the importance of youth and families. Efforts should be undertaken to foster awareness of the importance of youth to the community and to support families. - Maintain fiscal health and an acceptable balance between service quality and property tax rates.
Residents and business people have traditionally supported this aim. Demonstrating responsibility in fiscal matters, while having obvious local benefits, would also aid the City in its public relations with prospective residents and business owners. Continued pursuit of new and expanded businesses and industries is the best way to meet this goal. The City should continue to foster stability and growth of existing businesses while encouraging targeted business to locate in Hopkins. An effort should also be made to develop and implement new business financing programs for redevelopment and rehabilitation.
All plan elements support this goal. - Improve County Roads
In 1995, the City of Hopkins assembled a corridor study for Excelsior Boulevard (County Road 3). Implementation of the planned upgrade of the roadway is well underway and will continue into the early 2000s. The City should continue to improve the link between Mainstreet and Excelsior Boulevard and efforts should be initiated to improve Shady Oak Road. Along major routes, community entrances should be marked with signage, special paving, landscaping, lighting and other improvements.
