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LAKE ELMO/ST. CROIX VALLEY

Blueprint for Growth

The final design study shows how six communities might look if they were developed to be more pedestrian- and transit-friendly.

MARY DIVINE STAFF WRITER

This computer-generated photo shows how Lake Elmo Avenue and Minnesota 5 could become a gateway to Lake Elmo Village with the addition of street-facing buildings, pedestrian improvements and landscaping.  Adding a signal and median at this iintersection would improve safety for pedestrians crossing the highway and encourage residents and visitors to walk around the village core.

In the computerized photo of downtown Lake Elmo, Lake Elmo Avenue has been extended north of Minnesota 5 and leads to a pretty village green and expanded City Hall.

A woman walks across the intersection of the Old Village area in a well-marked crosswalk with a stoplight, next to banners, flowers, trees and businesses that face the street.

The sketches and photos in the final St. Croix Valley Development Design Study demonstrate how six targeted communities might look if they were developed in a way that is more pedestrian- and transit-oriented.

The 55-page report, prepared for the Metropolitan Council by the urban design firm Calthorpe and Associates of Berkeley, Calif., will be unveiled today at the Washington County Government Center in Stillwater.

The council hired the firm last summer to propose design options and develop plans for growth along Minnesota 36 and the St. Croix River Valley. The study focused on Lake Elmo and five other communities: North St. Paul, Oak Park Heights, Stillwater, St. Joseph Township, Wis., and New Richmond, Wis.

Bikers and walkers fill almost all the ``after'' photos; all the businesses face the streets. In the photos of North St. Paul, under a banner featuring the city's trademark snowman, a couple chat at a table outside a coffeehouse at the corner of Margaret Street and Seppala Boulevard.

The design study's goal was to demonstrate the possibilities of more pedestrian-friendly communities throughout the region and give local officials and residents a better visual representation of ``smart growth,'' said Peter Calthorpe, owner of Calthorpe and Associates.

``We tried to create generic examples even though we used specific communities -- examples that would be relevant in rural areas, small towns and larger towns,'' he said. ``The same principles apply in all areas although the density varies dramatically.''

Calthorpe said the communities, which helped design the plans, have responded positively. ``I think that this is a community that is very open to new and fresh ideas,'' he said. ``It's a community that wants to see more in the future than just more urban sprawl.''

Although snow and ice aren't visible in any of the photos, Calthorpe said the plans are not ``just something we cooked up in California.''

``I like to point out in Sweden, where the climate is even worse, more than 50 percent of all trips are either by foot or by bike,'' he said.

Metropolitan Council Chairman Ted Mondale said the cost of the development design study was ``the best $100,000 the Met Council has ever spent.''

``I think we hit a home run,'' he said. ``Usually in government work, singles are pretty good. This really represents a new way for the council to work with local communities. We're shifting away from telling them what to do and moving toward showing them and helping them make choices. We didn't tell them what to do. We helped them figure out what they want to do -- that's the lesson here.''

The plans will help ensure that development that occurs around the proposed new St. Croix River bridge will remain consistent with the goals and policies of the council's regional blueprint. The council will work with the communities in Minnesota on grant requests to continue the work started by Calthorpe, Mondale said.

The proposed changes to downtown Lake Elmo coincide with the redevelopment plans developed during the past three years by the city's Old Village Commission, said Chuck Dillerud, the city's planner.

``The details may not be realized exactly as shown, but it's good to have as a suggestion as to how things could be done . . . how to make those dreams a reality,'' Dillerud said.

The city has already tried to convince the Minnesota Transportation Department that it needs traffic-calming measures such as crosswalks and a stoplight at Minnesota 5 and Lake Elmo Avenue, Dillerud said.

``If the Met Council supports this, that certainly should add some influence to the effort to try to do something about it,'' he said.

The Lake Elmo photos show a new Lake Elmo Chrysler-Dodge building and the removal of the car dealership's parking lot in order to extend Lake Elmo Avenue to the north.

But Lake Elmo Chrysler-Dodge just built a building two years ago, said owner Mark Schafer.

``I personally don't have plans to tear it down,'' Schafer said. ``(But) I am supportive of the redevelopment of Lake Elmo and interested in any proposal that they might have.''

Mary Divine, who covers Washington County, can be reached at mdivine@pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5443.