The Albert Lea City Council unanimously approved the city’s new comprehensive plan Monday after almost zero public response during the hearing before the vote.

The action caps an 18-month process of formulating the plan — which included hiring a consultant, forming a steering committee, gathering community input and reviewing drafts.

The plan that passed Monday was the third draft. It is about 100 pages long.

Though some have questioned certain parts of the document or said that the plan was too rushed, only one person spoke out during the public portion in opposition of it.

Albert Lea Economic Development Agency Executive Director Dan Dorman, who has voiced much vocal opposition to the plan in recent meetings, was not in attendance.

First Ward Councilor Vern Rasmussen said the plan is one that has been brought forth by the community. The city has gone to great efforts to get input from everyone in Albert Lea.

The last comprehensive plan — which covers several aspects of the community including housing and the downtown to traffic flows and parks and recreation — was completed in the 1970s.

Rasmussen said he’s been involved intimately with the process of formulating the plan during the last 18 months, and he knows that many ideas in it have been brought up and discussed.

“This is a good choice for us to move ahead with,” Rasmussen said.

Community Development Director Bob Graham said the process of forming a new comprehensive plan started seven years ago with the Albert Lea Listens process that involved more than 600 residents. Another 300 people were involved with the Minnesota Design Team, and 400 people have been involved in the actual comprehensive plan meetings and presentations to service organizations.

A 34-member steering committee was formed to help guide the process, and several public meetings were held. The steering committee met 11 times.

In June, the first draft of the plan was completed, and there was a three-month comment period for the steering committee and the community, Graham said.

The second draft was submitted in October based on the comments received.

That draft was open for review again and additional editorial changes were made, resulting in the third draft of the document.

Graham said during the meeting that he thinks the adoption of the comprehensive plan would show the community that the council has confidence in the future.

He said the comprehensive plan guides the community in the policy of change. It’s essential for applications of grants and in city bonding reviews and ratings.

Many things relating to development and redevelopment in the community cannot take place without an adopted comprehensive plan, he said.

It represents the vision of the greater community, he said.

The only comment from members of the public came from Harold Kamrath, who asked how much it cost the city taxpayers to hire the consultant for the plan.

Graham said the price tag was $108,000.

A condensed version of the plan will be available for people to view in the near future. It will be representative of the plan and will include several graphics, Graham said.