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A new plan for St. Cloud
by Annie Baxter, Minnesota Public Radio
September 8, 2003

This plaza shows off some of the city plan's ideas with its landscaping, ornamental pavement, and space for public gathering. (MPR Photo/Annie Baxter)

The St. Cloud City Council is considering a document that will shape the town's future -- a comprehensive city plan. Citizens and planners have been working on the issues for a couple of years, and have developed a new vision for the city.

St. Cloud, Minn. — St. Cloud is a river town, but the city seems to have forgotten it.

Planning Director Matt Glaesman hasn't. He heads straight to the Mississippi to point out one of the ways the new city plan will change St. Cloud.

"For many years, urban environments, urban downtowns, have turned their backs on the riverfront," Glaesman says. "There's a renewal nationwide on bringing urban development and that connection back to the rivers, something we want to do in St. Cloud as well."

	A restored historic St. Cloud building

The city plan will guide development over the next 20 to 30 years.

Glaesman looks forward to a time when the open spaces around the river aren't just asphalt parking lots, and when people see the river as a real asset.

"The city right now is in the process of constructing the pedestrian ways at the riverfront, at the water level," Glaesman says. "We think that's an opportunity where folks would have the chance to come downtown. Whether they're working or living downtown, or simply visiting the downtown, they could sit, they could have their lunch, and enjoy the river views."

But this idea presumes an increased number of people coming downtown. As it stands, downtown St. Cloud does have some niche shops and cafes, but Glaesman says it's not living up to its potential.

On St. Germain, the main thoroughfare of the downtown area, Glaesman spells out the new vision for the street.

	Public art in St. Cloud

"We'd be looking at bringing back some kind of redevelopment that would be consistent with the objectives of a mixed use downtown, by incorporating possibly residential units into upper levels, by bringing back jobs or even entertainment," says Glaesman.

He adds that the new ideas about zoning and mixed uses go hand in hand with improvements in the outward appearance of the downtown area. A new design manual advocates for more historic restoration of older buildings. It also calls for embellishments such as landscaping, ornamental pavement, and public art.

Glaesman hopes these changes will draw people out of their cars and get them to interact with others in the community.

St. Cloud State University Professors Aspasia Rigopoulou-Melcher and David Wall share that desire to bring more life to the downtown area.

Both professors teach courses on city planning and community development. David Wall says the downtown has to compete with strip malls a few miles away. One of them, the Crossroads Mall, is a fortress of suburban big box stores surrounded by parking lots. He says it's almost impossible to walk there.

	Parking lot art

"I think if you had talked to people at the time that the Crossroads Mall was built, and Division Street was being developed, they thought it was great," Wall says. "It was new and it was different. They hadn't yet lived with it for years and years. They hadn't yet experienced the traffic jams and the congestion. We didn't fully understand all the ramifications of what the automobile was going to do to our lives."

Aspasia Rigopoulou-Melcher agrees. She adds that St. Cloud is a typical city insofar as it must overcome its suburban sprawl problems.

"They're growing pains, number one. Number two, it's similar problems that other cities all over the country are facing," she notes. "We've developed an environment that is automobile oriented. It's business oriented. It's not people friendly. And we need to change that."

Rigopoulou hopes the comprehensive plan will make those changes. But she adds that, at a time when fewer and fewer dollars flow from state and federal koffers into cities, it will be mostly up to the people of St. Cloud to bear the costs of urban improvements.

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