Planning & Development

Core Investment Areas

During the drafting of the Imagine Duluth 2035 Comprehensive Plan residents expressed a desire for enhanced connections to vibrant, walkable neighborhood centers that became referred to as Core Investment Areas.

A Core Investment Area (CIA) provides people with essential amenities within a compact, walkable area.  Essential amenities may include:

  • Grocery or store selling fresh foods and staples
  • Developed park or open space
  • Pharmacy
  • Transit stop
  • Small restaurant, coffee shop, tavern
  • Post office or shipping center
  • Gas station
  • Bank or credit union
  • Elementary school
  • Day care
  • Medical clinic
  • Barber or hair salon

The Imagine Duluth 2035 plan included a list of areas for which the City intends to create CIA plans.

A Core Investment Area Plan will:

  • Gather input from residents, business owners, and other stakeholders on community elements that are working and what changes they’d like to see made.
  • Analyze the transportation systems in the area to determine to what extent they serve all users, regardless of age or mobility, and propose improvements.
  • Review utility infrastructure for needed upgrades to serve existing needs and future development/redevelopment.
  • Consider parcel layouts with regard to anticipated land development/redevelopment and propose consolidations or subdivisions.
  • Propose changes to City ordinances or the expanded implementation of current ordinances to create the environment for a successful CIA.
  • Recommend additional resources needed to incentivize private sector participation in the development/redevelopment of the CIA.

Core Investment Area Plans:

For information about Core Investment Area Plans, please contact:

Kyle Deming, Senior Planner
kdeming@duluthmn.gov, 218-730-5580