Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Connected at the hip. That’s how Washington County Commissioner Dennis Hegberg likes to refer to the new county service center and library in Forest Lake and area communities.

After years of planning and dreaming, the new North Service Center at 19955 Forest Road N. in Forest Lake is now a reality and Saturday’s grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony was a time to be proud.

The 50,000-square foot facility saw the opening of the service center earlier this fall followed by the library in late October. Now called the Hardwood Creek Library, it replaces the former library location at Forest Lake City Hall and is roughly four times larger at 25,000 square feet.

The name Hardwood Creek is fitting for the county branch library, Hegberg said on Saturday. It draws from its name from the adjacent bike trail of the same name and the Headwaters Development which is the high point of the Hardwood Creek area.

“It connects communities,” Hegberg said. The new library is designed to serve all of northern Washington County — Hugo, Scandia, May Township and Forest Lake.

The location of the new government center is a linking that brings valuable government services to one place, the commissioner said.

“It was a visualization that took place over many years,” he said. The goal was simple, he said, “bring government to the people.”

And that job is ongoing, Hegberg added.

A new transit center hub is being constructed to the east of the library and bus service for commuters is coming to the facility, he said.

Along with various forms of housing, the Headwaters project, under the lead of developer Leonard Pratt of Pratt Homes, will eventually include a community center, sports complex, athletic fields and a number of commercial developments, including a bank and service mall or retail center.

Time for praise

Saturday’s event was also a time for praise and thanks.

Hegberg said the project would never have been possible without the cooperation of the Doherty family more than a decade ago when Kay and the late Tom Doherty sold the airport land and adjacent property to the former township.

Without the Doherty’s decision to sell the land, the project might be much different today, Hegberg said. The new library loft has been named in memory of Tom Doherty.

Although the county purchased the land needed for the government services center from the city of Forest Lake, the city donated the land that carries the library structure.

Hegberg also had praise for past legislative support for the project that came from then State Rep. Ray Vandeveer and then State Sen. Michele Bachmann and Eighth District Congressman Jim Oberstar.

After years of planning, the dream has been realized, Hegberg said. “Today that dream has come forward.”

Time for praise

Mayors Stev Stegner of Forest Lake and Fran Miron of Hugo also spoke positively of the project.

Miron, who farms in Hugo and is a Forest Lake High School graduate, spoke to the vision and planning that went into the project. It wasn’t long ago, he said, that the site was an open farm field.

The project will help bring unity to the area, Miron said.

“We’ve come together in a positive way with a positive focus,” Miron said. “It took real vision and real leadership.”

Stegner said the library is the final touch to a project that is designed to serve the public. With a library and government service center under one roof and a transit center just steps away, the future needs of area residents will be met.

He expressed great joy in the opening of the new library, something he often utilized as a youth and later as a parent.

“We have something for everyone at the library,” Stegner said.

Paul Ryberg, chair of the Washington County Library Board, said area residents should be proud of the new facility and pleased with what it has to offer. He also urged area residents to remember the pioneers of years past who worked to bring libraries to their communities.

“This is your library,” he said. “You made a difference. You done good.”

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