# Thrive MSP 2040 *Metropolitan Council thirty-year regional guide for the seven-county metropolitan area of Minnesota, replaced by Imagine 2050 in 2025.* Thrive MSP 2040 was the thirty-year regional plan of the [[Metropolitan Council (Minnesota)]], the appointed regional body for the seven-county metropolitan area of [[Minnesota]]. The Council replaced it on February 12, 2025, when it adopted [[Imagine 2050]] under [[Minn. Stat. § 473.145]].[^1] The documented record on the plan itself is narrow. The project's at-issue record states that the plan's adopted forecast analysis reported allocations by community designation rather than by county. The same record states that the analysis contains no Dakota County allocation.[^2] Drawing on Star Tribune reporting, the record also states that five suburban counties, Scott among them, formally objected to the plan in 2014.[^3] The record does not establish the plan's adoption date or the Council's vote on it or on its successor. It does not show which governors, of which party, appointed the members who adopted either plan. It does not show why the designation units were chosen. The Council's announcement of the successor plan calls it "landmark" in its title. The same announcement describes the plan's reach: it binds all 181 cities and townships and the seven counties.[^4] The at-issue record states that the body exercising that authority has seventeen appointed members and no directly elected ones. It also states that the one plan governs three million people.[^5] ## What According to the project's Dakota County at-issue entry, the adopted forecast analysis of Thrive MSP 2040 published its allocations in six community designations: Urban Center, Suburban, Suburban Edge, Emerging Suburban Edge, Rural Center and Rural.[^2] It did not publish them by county. The entry rests on a single self-published Metropolitan Council source. That source is not among the citable documents in this record, so the forecast analysis itself has not been examined here.[^2] The entry observes that a regional plan binding seven counties reported its figures in a unit that matches none of them.[^2] ## Who The Metropolitan Council adopted Imagine 2050 as Business Item 2025-3, and the new plan replaced Thrive MSP 2040.[^1] According to the at-issue record, the Council has seventeen members, all appointed.[^5] Scott County was one of five suburban counties that formally objected to Thrive MSP 2040 in 2014. The record does not name the other four.[^3] The record quotes a Scott County commissioner: "Failure to do this has now resulted in a region that is not united."[^3] The record does not say what "this" refers to. ## When - 2014: five suburban counties, Scott among them, formally objected to the plan, as reported by the Star Tribune and recorded in the project's at-issue record.[^3] - February 12, 2025: the Metropolitan Council adopted Imagine 2050 under Minn. Stat. § 473.145, replacing Thrive MSP 2040.[^1] ## How The successor plan was adopted under Minn. Stat. § 473.145.[^1] The Council's announcement states that Imagine 2050 binds all 181 cities and townships and seven counties.[^4] According to the at-issue record, the binding takes a specific form. Each of those communities, including every city in Dakota County, must align its ten-year comprehensive plan with the thirty-year regional guide.[^5] The statute's text is not in this record. ## How many - Six community designations in the Thrive MSP 2040 forecast analysis; no county unit.[^2] - Five suburban counties objected to the plan in 2014.[^3] - Imagine 2050 binds 181 cities and townships and seven counties.[^4] - Seventeen appointed Council members govern a plan covering three million people, according to the at-issue record.[^5] ## In the at-issue record The project holds three at-issue entries that name Thrive MSP 2040. All three are anchored to the March 2025 presidential action *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos*. The anchor is the project's framing. It is not a source for the facts below.[^2] - *No county allocation* (rank 65). The forecast analysis reports allocations by designation and contains no Dakota County allocation. The entry rests on one self-published source.[^2] - *Successor plan* (rank 66). Imagine 2050, adopted February 12, 2025, under Minn. Stat. § 473.145, binds 181 cities and townships and seven counties. Every Dakota County city is among them.[^1][^4] The entry adds that the plan was adopted by seventeen appointed members.[^5] - *Objection on the record* (rank 83). Five suburban counties, Scott among them, objected in 2014. A Scott County commissioner is quoted. The entry rests on one news source.[^3] ## In the Minnesota record ### What - Thrive MSP 2040's adopted forecast analysis reported allocations by community designation, not by county, according to the project's at-issue record.[^2] ### When - 2014: suburban counties' objection to the plan.[^3] - February 12, 2025: replacement by Imagine 2050.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Metropolitan Council, *Business Item 2025-3, adoption of Imagine 2050* (Feb. 12, 2025) — adoption of Imagine 2050 under Minn. Stat. § 473.145, replacing Thrive MSP 2040. https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetings/Committees/Metropolitan-Council/2025/2-12-25/2025-3-JT-Adopt-Imagine-2050.aspx [^2]: Executive Office of the President, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (Mar. 2025) — the anchor of the project's at-issue entry AI-Dakota-065 (Dakota claims matrix, Sept. 2, 2025 edition). That entry, drawn from one self-published metrocouncil.org source, records that Thrive MSP 2040 published forecast allocations by community designation, not by county, with no Dakota County allocation. The order does not itself establish the plan's content. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^3]: Executive Office of the President, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (Mar. 2025) — the anchor of the project's at-issue entry AI-Scott-083. That entry, drawn from one startribune.com news source, records the 2014 objection of five suburban counties including Scott and the commissioner's quoted statement. The order does not itself establish these facts. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^4]: Metropolitan Council, *Met Council adopts landmark Imagine 2050 Regional* (newsletter, n.d.) — the Council's announcement; scope: binding all 181 cities and townships and seven counties. https://metrocouncil.org/News-Events/Planning/Newsletters/Met-Council-adopts-landmark-Imagine-2050-Regional.aspx [^5]: Executive Office of the President, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (Mar. 2025) — the anchor of the project's at-issue entry AI-Dakota-066. That entry, citing two metrocouncil.org agency sources, records seventeen appointed members, no direct election, three million people governed, and the requirement to align ten-year comprehensive plans with the thirty-year guide. The order does not itself establish these facts. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/