Planning Commission Approves St. Cloud Capital Improvement Plan

(KNSI) – The St. Cloud Planning Commission approved the final draft of the Capital Improvement Plan at Tuesday’s meeting.

The plan prioritizes large infrastructure projects for the next six years and then lists jobs that will be needed but can’t officially be slotted into a specific time at the moment. It also includes investments that likely won’t be made for at least another decade.

This year’s CIP was approved later than usual, but Community Development Director Matt Glaesman explains that won’t be a problem for budgeting.

“We really kick off the process mid-year, so May June, July. There’s still time to certainly get this to [city] administration, who is involved throughout the process. But this final form of the document is going to be in plenty of time.”

A bulk of the projects expected in the coming years will take place downtown and near new development around Tech High School on the south side. Glaesman says there will also be several investments in public safety facilities.

“You really get to see the blips in that bar chart that show the expenditures by type of expenditure. That fire department blip in the public buildings category is because of a number of those growth areas that need a fire station.”

A mix of new buildings and upgrades to existing ones are planned, costing over $20 million in 2025. A station is preliminarily planned north of the airport to serve the east side. The area has not yet been annexed by the city. A link to an online copy of the CIP is here.

The plan is updated annually. The process of writing the next CIP starts in November. Glaesman encourages people to get involved.

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