Minnesota Suburb Divided Over New Urban Plan

The small town of Chaska is on the verge of becoming 1,000 homes bigger. And while the population is sure to increase greatly, the size of the town itself will face only a slight expansion. That's because the new housing development is being designed in the New Urbanist style. Compared to the rest of the suburban town, housing density will be high in Clover Ridge, the new development. Another stark difference will be the inclusion of mixed land uses, siting retail on the first-floor and housing above. This is an exciting prospect to some residents who foresee a needed boost in the local economy. But many other residents are opposed to what they see as an unwelcome change.

"Residents of the new neighborhood are divided into two camps: Those who love the ideals of new urbanism but worry after years of delays that the neighborhood won't fulfill them, and those who think the kind of urban density envisioned doesn't belong in Clover Ridge."

"The main dispute is over the neighborhood's most radical venture, still unbuilt: A Minneapolis affordable housing provider, Central Community Housing Trust, recently proposed a 115-unit apartment complex called Clover Field Marketplace, with 10,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor."

"The new urbanism idea 'intimates to us that there's something wrong with suburbia,' resident Bill Thompson told the city Planning Commission reviewing the Marketplace project. 'We like the quietness. We like the lack of traffic.' "