A Growing St. Croix Valley Needs Places to Grow Together
The St. Croix Valley is growing, and with that growth comes an important question: What community infrastructure do we need to grow well?
Rec centers are part of the infrastructure that makes a community vibrant, healthy, and resilient. That is the long-term plan for the Valley Community Center Partners, who formally coalesced to fix the gap in family amenities in the St. Croix Valley.
A Community Resource Designed for a Growing Region
Valley Community Center is envisioned as a shared community resource serving Lake Elmo and the broader St. Croix Valley, bringing together services and spaces that people can use throughout their lives.
Key priorities include: A Public Pool, Versatile Gathering Space, Child Watch & Indoor Play, Multi-Purpose Gymnasium, Individual & Group Fitness. For a rapidly growing Lake Elmo and eastern St. Croix Valley where no equivalent resource exists, this is a much-needed amenity. Through extensive community engagement, professional studies and data collection efforts, key priorities and amenities have been identified to ensure that a Community Center meets the diverse needs of our growing population.
Other Minnesota communities are making similar investments.
Just this week, the City of Chanhassen broke ground on its new Community Center after years of planning, listening and community input.
The facility will bring together a multi-use fieldhouse, ice rinks, indoor walking track, indoor playground, fitness and activity spaces, dance studio and flexible community gathering rooms. The City describes the project not simply as a recreation facility, but as a gathering place where neighbors meet, families connect and kids grow.
Chanhassen's experience demonstrates that a community center can be considered part of a community's broader civic infrastructure, and that residents can help shape the vision.
In Moorhead, the community center is helping transform an entire downtown.
Moorhead offers another compelling example. The city's new $40 million library, community center and entrepreneurship center is the anchor of a much larger effort to reimagine its downtown.
The 12-block redevelopment is expected to involve approximately $300 million in public and private investment, with new housing, restaurants, businesses, public spaces and other civic improvements surrounding the new community hub.
The community center and library are helping create a new heart for its downtown.
This is a Galvanizing Opportunity for Lake Elmo & the Greater Valley.
Currently, the VCC has a purchase option for the old Lake Elmo Elementary school site. A future recreation center at the old Lake Elmo Elementary location will continue the legacy of Stillwater Area Public Schools and elucidate the school district’s mission to develop curious individuals who are active, engaged leaders in an ever changing world.
Lake Elmo is at an important point in its growth, and VCC is proposing improved access to shared public resources while retaining the heirloom vibrancy of the Lake Elmo Village. As the Village evolves, there is an opportunity to think about community infrastructure not as individual projects, but as pieces of a larger civic vision. But the need for community infrastructure doesn't stop at a municipal boundary. The Valley Community Center’s mission is intentionally regional, because this is a regional need. The communities of Lake Elmo, Stillwater, Bayport, Oak Park Heights, Afton and more each play a role.
Imagine a walkable village environment where civic, recreational, cultural and community uses come together. A place where people could:
Bring their children to learn to swim
Meet a friend for a fitness class
Watch a youth basketball game
Let children play indoors
Attend a community event
Participate in a local program
Connect with neighbors
Access community resources
Walk between civic destinations
Spend time in the historic Lake Elmo Village beyond simply coming and going
That is the kind of place that can help a rapidly growing community like Lake Elmo, feel like a community.
Building the Community Before We Build the Center
The proposed Community Center is intentionally being developed as a community conversation. We want residents, businesses, civic leaders, community organizations, and regional partners to help shape what this resource can become and how it can best serve the Valley.
Collectively, we're going to have a tremendously important impact on the future of the St. Croix Valley. We’re thrilled for what’s ahead. Thank you for being part of this journey!
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