Star Tribune Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:03:30 GMT
Lake Elmo development study won't limit housing units
The council voted to include higher-density options -- from 600 to 1,600 -- for the downtown development. A long and emotional debate in Lake Elmo ended late Tuesday when the City Council chose not to limit the number of housing units included in a key study of downtown development. "This has always been about what the future will bring," said Council Member Anne Smith, who favored studying a range of development plans that would add from 600 to 1,600 new units to the Old Village area by 2030. "We can make this city something special." The council voted 4-1 to include the higher-density development options in the study, with Council Member Steve DeLapp dissenting. "It's like putting a little Woodbury against our downtown, and nobody wants that," he said. Lake Elmo is expected to more than triple in population, from 6,800 people in 2000 to about 24,000, by 2030. The population boom is the result of a compromise reached a few years ago between the city and the Metropolitan Council. Lake Elmo officials fought to preserve the east metro suburb's rural character by refusing higher-density developments. The Minnesota Supreme Court sided with the Met Council, which argued that Lake Elmo had to accept its share of development to prevent leapfrog sprawl in outlying areas.
[[keywords: Housing;Living;Metro;]]
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