9/24/04
Blaine is doing a good job of packaging itself
Once just a rural Anoka County Township, the city of Blaine continues to be in the spotlight of growth, development and excitement.
A combination of wise planning, a good location, plenty of developable land and the positioning of high profile recreation venues have attracted developers.
President George Bush chose the city’s National Sports Center to deliver his campaign speech during a swing through the state’s heartland on Thursday, Sept. 16.
A few weeks ago, the Metropolitan Council announced that during the past three years, Blaine has led the seven-county area in attracting the greatest number of new people with 5,020 and counting.
The city hosts international soccer tournaments, drawing visitors from all over the globe.
It is the home of the National Sports Center and the new Tournament Players Club, which draws 150,000 people to the renowned 3M Championship tournament.
Blaine may some day become the new home of the Minnesota Vikings professional football stadium, headquarters and practice fields, thanks to the impressive package the city and the Anoka County administration has put together. It is the only complete offer on the table. That possibility has sparked imaginative planning for a whole complex of industrial and commercial development around the proposed site.
A new addition is a National Youth Golf Center designed to get more kids interested in golf. In addition, Blaine has 55 parks within 600 acres of land, and more than 510 acres of land, hiking and biking trails.
Mark Vander Schaff, the Metropolitan Council’s Director of Growth Management, says the Metropolitan Council has approved significant increases to the city’s urban area to accommodate thousands of new homes for the next 15 years. A city once known for its sod farms, now has local land use planning being called a model for future development.
Experts put Blaine’s population at somewhere between 53,000 and 55,000 people. It could go up to 80,000.
This progress is being driven by a city council and staff that is bent on making the city a place where people will want to live the rest of their lives. The city is concentrating on having plenty of starter homes, homes for young families and homes for retirees. The reasoning is that the longer people live in the community the more they take ownership and become involved in the city’s life.
With this kind of growth comes challenges to transportation, recreation, and public safety systems. Efforts are under way on all fronts to relieve the congestion on Highway 65.
Five years ago, the city along with the Metropolitan Council drew up a land use plan and a transportation plan for the northeast portion of the city. This blueprint is enabling the city to manage its growth through an orderly process. The latest result is the 1,000-acre Lakes Development with its commercial and residential objectives.
The city council and its staff is to be commended for its foresight in putting together a plan for a city that is getting deserved attention in the Twin Cities area. --
Don Heinzman
HometownSource.com
ECM Publishers, Inc.
4095 Coon Rapids Blvd.
Coon Rapids, MN 55433
