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AB • STAR TRIBUNE • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
Editorials
Editorials represent the institutional voice of the Star Tribune.
They are researched and written by the Editorial Department,
which is independent of the newsroom.
Staffribune
MICHAEL J. KLINGENSMITH, Publisher and CEO
SCOTT GILLESPIE, Editor, Editorial Pages
Thriving Eagan plans
s uburbia's next phase
Like many second-tier suburbs, Eagan was inspired by freeways,
designed for cars and populated primarily by drivers in the 20th cen-
tury. To its credit, the still -growing south -metro city of 68,000 is now
asking a 21st -century question: How does a car -centered community
become a people -centered one?
That question isn't exclusive to Eagan, or even to suburbs. But it's one
that Eagan's leaders are taking seriously in away that other Minnesota cities
would do well to notice. They have launched a strategic planning exercise
called Eagan Forward, whichbrought more than200 civic -minded residents
together on Jan. 28 to consider how they can shape the city's next 20 years.
Eagan is by no means a troubled place. Last year, USA Today rated
it the nation's fifth -best place to live, and it ranks fourth in metro -area
employment. But like a number of the municipalities that sprang out of
cornfields and truck farms surrounding Minneapolis and St. Paul a half -
century ago, Eagan is at an important juncture in its history. Rebecca
Ryan, a nationally recognized futurist hired as Eagan Forward's consul-
tant, said it's time to chart "Eagan 3.0, " the redevelopment phase.
"Eagan 1.0 was getting the interstates drawn where they were," Ryan
explained in an interview, referring to I-494 on Eagan's northern border
and I -35E traversing it. "Eagan 2.0 was this amazing decade -over -decade
growth, growth, growth, when Eagan cut itself out of whole cloth. Now
we're at 3.0, because all the available land is used up, and this is no lon-
ger a bedroom community. It's becoming a city unto itself."
Cities don't just serve families with kids and minivans. They're also
home to elders who no longer drive, hipsters who'd rather not drive, and
health -conscious people who love to walk and bike. They are places not
just for work and sleep, but also for fun, learning, gathering, and expe-
riencing fine dining and the arts. They're destinations.
Many of the 200 participants on Jan. 28 volunteered to serve on one or
more of eight "study action teams" charged with recommending ways
to achieve goals such as keeping seniors engaged, becoming a more wel-
coming community, attracting new non -chain restaurants and develop-
ing a new community arts center.
The politically charged words "density" and "smart growth" are absent
from the description of six strategies Eagan Forward seeks to pursue.
Neither is mention made of the Metropolitan Council and its Thrive
MSP 2040 plan, which has come under conservative fire for favoring
transit -oriented, higher -density development. But by listening to resi-
dents' survey responses, Eagan Forward has come up with a compatible
vision. It calls for adapting the city's retail nodes into denser "urban vil-
lages" served by walkable, bikeable corridors as well as roads.
The regional planning that has been a Metropolitan Council hallmark
is too important to minimize. But Eagan is showing that there's consid-
erable value in local efforts that invite citizens to play a part in planning.
One of Eagan Forward's six strategies is "use citizens to put the plan to
work." That could be the key to the entire project's success.