Jennifer Kern
Staff Writer

The 620 acre development, known as Headwaters at Forest Lake, was approved by the Forest Lake City Council on Monday and will eventually bring 1200 additional homes to the local community.

According to Doug Borglund, community development director and zoning administrator, the city has never attempted an effort like the Headwaters project; to map out an entire neighborhood.

ìThis is a significant opportunity for a community to do so,î noted Borglund.

The development has been planned by Pratt Development, of Vadnais Heights, for over a year. Located in the southern portion of the city near US-61, Headwaters will include a variety of housing styles including townhomes, special needs housing, single family units and senior housing.

Retail space and parks will be part of the development as well. Other major local projects will integrate with Headwaters ó such as the Washington Countyís north service center and library (with construction scheduled to begin in 2006) and the cityís planned Community Center facility.

Those buildings will be located near US-61 and the rest of the development will stretch to the west.

The centralized feature at Headwaters will be a parkway that will run through the middle of the entire development.

The parkway is what will connect the various parts of the community, explained developers.

Council approved the preliminary plat for the first phase of the project at its regular meeting on a 4-1 vote, with Council Member Dick Tschida opposing.

The first phase primarily includes public buildings, retail locations and some housing.

Prior to the vote, Council Members Susan Young and Judy Bull both admitted nervousness over the size of the development.

ìWe are taking our community and truly elongating it,î said Young, ìThis will probably be the scariest vote Iíll make as a council member.î

Both though, also expressed having confidence in city staff that have worked with the project. They also praised communication efforts made by Pratt Development with the city.

ìI think this will truly be an asset to this community,î expressed Bull.

Tschida, who provided the sole opposing vote on Headwaters, also commended Pratt Developmentís work.

ìThis project looks beautiful on paper and it makes a lot of sense,î he mentioned.

Tschida felt, however, that not enough detailed support information on the project had been made available for him to warrant a vote in favor of Headwaters. In particular, he addressed that the property covered in the development currently has a variety of different owners.

ìMy concern is ëWho is going to pay for this?î said Tschida. ìIím not sure the public would agree if the burden were on their back.î

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Forest Lake Times
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880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
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