"I view (Chaska) as a color palette, and we're going to add another color to it," Ringwald said.

Peter Calthorpe leads the planning company, and has worked on previous Minnesota projects, including a comprehensive development study of the St. Croix River Valley. "They're bringing in a top designer, which will help us work outside of the box," Ringwald said.

The 550-acres in Chaska Township are slated for residential development in the city's 2020 comprehensive plan. The neighborhood, with the working title "The Heights of Chaska," would hold 3-5 homes per acre. The development plan would occur in stages between 2005 and 2015.

The Metropolitan Council is sponsoring Calthorpe's work. Typically, the cost to hire consultants for similar work would cost at least $100,000, Ringwald said. "This is a really big grant, and a great opportunity for us," Ringwald said. "I'm ecstatic about it."

Typically, the city approves developments piece by piece. "This will give us the ability to look at the whole area, with the streets and general concepts regarding lot layouts as one total project," said City Administrator David Pokorney. "Rather than (developers) showing us their plan, we'd show them our plan."

Because the land is currently in Chaska Township (with about a dozen landowners owning a majority of the parcels) the council has control over its annexation into Chaska.

Calthorpe's research will draw from cross-sections of the community, including landowners, residents and business owners. Public workshops to discuss the new community could began as early as next spring, said Bob Mazanec, Met Council project manager. "The firm brings not only technical expertise, but they're also very good for public involvement," Mazanec said.

Calthorpe will also conduct market research and employ transportation engineers, Ringwald said. Pokorney anticipated that the planning process would take at least a year.

Other cities receiving Smart Growth planning and funding dollars include Brooklyn Center, Maplewood, Ramsey, St. Paul and St. Anthony Village. The residential and retail sites include plans for development and redevelopment.

The program attracted 24 applicants. It was "pretty stiff competition," Mazanec said.

To be eligible for the program, cities were required to have sites at least 100 acres in size, with a potential for a "walkable environment that is or can be accessible by transit."

The Met Council intends to use the six sites as templates for other regional developments. Ramsey, with an undeveloped or "greenfield" site is the most similar to Chaska, Mazanec said.

"Chaska is a progressive community with a nice track record for doing new and different things," Mazanec said. "What we're trying to do is change people's minds about conventional suburban development and show other ways to do business," Mazanec said.

Chaska's current status as an outer-ring suburb also made it an attractive site to the council. "It's a fast-growing community right on the edge, so it's a perfect place to try this," said Julius Smith, Metropolitan Council representative and Chaska resident. "(Chaska) has also demonstrated a willingness to listen, and that's important," Smith said. "I'm pleased Chaska is going to do this, and it's going to be a neat example of what can be done."

The Smart Growth initiative isn't Smith's first experience with intense neighborhood planning. He was general counsel and vice president for the Jonathan Development Corporation.

Construction of Jonathan, a planned community in north Chaska, began in the late 1960s, and included many of the same neighborhood-design concepts that Calthorpe brings to the table.

Pedestrian friendly

One goal of the Smart Growth initiative is to create pedestrian friendly neighborhoods that aren't necessarily geared toward the car. "Everybody thinks its a radical change. It's not a radical change. It's more of how you accent (development)," Smith said.

A few of the neighborhood design concepts promoted by Calthorpe have already been used for Chaska's new elementary school community near the Hundertmark Road and Victoria Drive intersection.

A development objective in the Chaska Township neighborhood includes a new elementary school as its core. "But after Victoria," stressed Pokorney, alluding to the Victoria/Chaska school district dispute over siting of the last elementary school.

Other concepts for the Heights include building pedestrian friendly trails and streets, and constructing a variety of housing styles and price ranges.

"People in the $300,000 houses are not filling (Chaska's industrial park) jobs," Ringwald said. "So we need to provide workers, which is really consistent with what we're trying to do with the comprehensive plan."

Filling out Chaska Township is important to bring economic vitality to Chaska's historic downtown, Ringwald said. "I see (the Chaska Township development) as a way to link and extend the development patterns and economic impact to downtown," Ringwald said. The project will be "adding people, adding vitality, adding a lot into the mix."

"This goes a huge way to ensure the future health of the community," said Mayor Bob Roepke. "This is something beyond special."