Cities along rail line plan for big growth

Just south of the site of the future train station in Big Lake are hundreds of acres of potato fields and worlds of possibilities.

For Northstar commuters, this is the end of the line. For Big Lake and other stops along the line, it's just the beginning.

"There's so much potential here, now that Northstar has put Big Lake on everybody's radar screen," said Chuck Heitz, a Big Lake City Council member for 21 years who remembers when only 960 people lived in this city, 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

"In the spring, we're going to bring in developers, movers and shakers -- and I suspect the other Northstar cities with train stations are thinking of doing the same."

The cost to build the Northstar line is $320 million.

But the economic impact of the line, scheduled to open 2009, on the region could actually be worth closer to $1 billion.

Anoka County Administrator Steve Novak, a proponent of the line for a decade, envisions $100 million developments in several of the cities with stations along the line. And those cities hope to lure business and build a tax base that will pay dividends for decades.

"These cities have the unique opportunity to generate economic growth," Sen. Norm Coleman said in a telephone interview last week from Washington. "This goes way beyond ridership."

In Fridley, where a mix of residential, commercial and industrial development already surround the train station site, developers are exploring ways to take advantage of new possibilities while businesses such as Medtronic contemplate shuttle lines to get train riders to and from work, said Scott Hickok, Fridley's community development director.

The Coon Rapids station site, tucked behind the Riverdale shopping center, is likely to attract new housing and, possibly, lure a major employer, said Coon Rapids City Manager Matt Fulton. Elk River and Anoka also are making plans.

All are eagerly awaiting the completion of the Twins' new ballpark and its downtown Minneapolis station that will connect the Northstar line to the Hiawatha light-rail line, allowing riders from Big Lake to connect to trains to the airport or the Mall of America. Eventually there will be extensions to St. Paul and Duluth "and most of this could take place in less than a decade," said Tim Yantos, executive director of the Northstar Corridor Development Authority and Anoka County Regional Rail Authority.

Big opportunities

But the most intriguing possibilities may be in Big Lake. The Sherburne County city of 9,200 was supposed to be just another whistle stop along a line expected to end in St. Cloud. Politics and economics cut the line in half, with Big Lake, for now, the final stop.

"The goal is to go to St. Cloud, but ending the line, for now, in Big Lake presents us with additional opportunities," said Scott Johnson, Big Lake city administrator.

Even with the additional population of 8,000 living in neighboring Big Lake Township, Big Lake was never considered a Northstar destination point for commuters who live outside of this part-rural, part-suburban community.

That changed when it became one of the line's end points. If people from St. Cloud want to commute by rail to Minneapolis, they'll drive to and from Big Lake.

But Big Lake also wants to lure folks from the Twin Cities and from beyond St. Cloud. Heitz, head of Big Lake's Transit Oriented Development Committee, talks about the city's extensive parks and trail system, of the chance to play a round of golf -- with a cart -- for only $25, of the gorgeous lake two miles from the train station, a short shuttle ride away.

He said the family that owns the potato fields has already told city officials that the farmland can be purchased. Already he envisions a retail market to the south of the station, with a smattering of retail along Hwy. 10, to the north.

A planning specialist -- Steve Grittman of Northwest Associated Consultants of Golden Valley -- was brought on board nearly two years ago by Big Lake. He looks at the hundreds of acres of available flatland and sees "opportunities that aren't even perceived" by Big Lake residents.

Building support

Getting the community to come on board may take time. A Nov. 20 open meeting at City Hall attracted only a half-dozen citizens, said Katie Larson, Big Lake's senior city planner. But after last week's authorization of federal funding of $156.8 million -- which will pay for half of Northstar's expenses -- a meeting this Wednesday is hoped to draw a significant crowd.

"We're rural-suburban, not really one or the other, but somewhere in between," Larson said. "From my perspective, this is really exciting. For others, change can be difficult. I can appreciate that not everybody has come around yet."

If a change in attitude has not fully reached Big Lake, folks in Washington think Minnesotans who have yet to climb on board will fall in love with the trains.

Five years ago, potential riders focused on the environmental values of trains, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said in a phone interview from Washington. For a middle class struggling with gas prices, it's now an economic issue, she said.

"It's easier, cheaper, better than driving through congestion and parking," she said. "It's not a bad deal."

It's a great deal, say Northstar boosters like Heitz, who dreams of the day people will take a train from Big Lake to a Twins game, or to the Mall of America, for $6.

"This," said Anoka County's Novak, "is only the beginning of a good story."

Paul Levy • 612-673-4419