5 PCSR 01-12-1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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air., immuimausummsammannommAAlkliallinnallemanimmummorim SAINT PAUL PIONEER PRESS • 25.T. • • JANUARY 1995 N B t WEDNESDAY SECTION ]0 PAGES - County board ,.. .= ;.= CLUSTERING may consider .. . ` ♦ CONTINUED FROM 18 •- •• • e: The clustering option is expec- new zon�ig tool ted to be put to a vote of the county board this spring. "Clustering is a better option ■ Clustering new homes _1`� than eating up the landscape with common on East Coast '• 10-acre lots," commissioner Mary Hauser said. • JIM BROEDE STAFF WRITER ::: Commissioner Dave Engstrom Washington County may dangle acar- said, "It's bound to result in more affordable housing." Commissioner Myra Peterson rot to encourage developers to follow a said, "I think clustering makes trend sweeping the East Coast — cluster- sense even in locales where urban ing new homes in rural environs close services will be extended some together. day. That open space doesn't have Now, it's customary to spread out the to remain open forever." • homes •by dividing 40 acres into four : . The clustering ordinance would 10-acre lots. .- ; require the portion of land set Instead, county planners are calling I aside as open space to remain that for clustering the homes on lots as small ::- I way until the arrival of public as two acres, so the remainder of the r;; I sewer and water. land can be left as communal open space. ; "In some parts of the county," To make it happen, the planners urged :' i Harper said, "that might be forev- 1 the county board on Tuesday to consider .; , er." allowing developers ..who voluntarily'' ; Marine on St. Croix, a city of choose to "cluster" the opportunity;to' '• 602 residents on the east side of build 25 percent more homes than al- Washington County, is expected on lowed now on their land. -.i.. Saturday to become the first com- "I don't know of any county in Minne-^4�> munity in Minnesota to adopt clus- ard. sota doing this,"Washington County plan--;L- tering as, the dsevelopers would developers would have to ner Jane Harper said. "But clustering is. :, set aside half of their land as per- a trend out East, where the development, pressures are much greater." manent open space, and cluster Harper described clustering as an effi their homes on the remaining half. r.. But a developer has threatened cient and economical way to develop in;.:. rural areas. :;... to go to court to challenge the validity of the Marine on St. Croix • - "It cuts down on the amount of road`,, ordinance. • • • building and on the size of service areas-..22 ; Defenders of clustering say it ! for police and fire protection," she said,'; has passed court tests in other lo- "and at the same time it preserves vast•••; cales on the East and West coasts. amounts of open space." :_ .,• CLUSTERING CONTINUED ON 4B.1.--., . It,'-