Aging suburbs: Apple Valley plots a change

A suburb built for young families is beginning to talk about a retrofit for the world that's approaching: one that is filled with seniors.

And it could become a pilot program that spreads nationwide.

"In order for us to thrive, we must welcome all generations," Apple Valley Mayor Mary Hamann-Roland told a group of participants Tuesday, as an extensive three-day workshop was launched at the city's senior center. "We want to honor our elders."

The share of Dakota County's population consisting of seniors, once just 5 percent, is about to soar close to 30 percent, projections show. And aging is happening faster in Apple Valley than in the county as a whole.

Thus the effort this week to talk about how better to accommodate seniors.

The initiative, affectionately called "Vitalocity!" was developed with the goal of making the city more age-friendly through social and physical infrastructure. On its opening day, a team of experts in senior living and care, along with strategic partners, began brainstorming a road map for how to make that vision a reality.

All across the metro these days officials are thinking about what a graying world means. Carver County for instance in 2007 created an Office of Aging, whose aim in the county's words is to prepare "for a massive number of older baby boomers and to change the face, fabric and culture of aging in the county."

In Apple Valley's case, a consortium that includes Minnesota-based Ecumen, plus the two firms Kendal Corp. and BusinessLab, gave presentations outlining the services they each provide and what they could bring to the cooperative as plans progress.

Kathryn Roberts, former director of the Apple Valley-based Minnesota Zoo, is now CEO of Ecumen, a 150-year-old nonprofit that provides housing, meal and transportation services to seniors. She said Tuesday's workshop was two years in the making.

A group of leaders met in Colorado Springs in 2012, she said, and decided to pilot the initiative in the Twin Cities suburb.

"We knew there was an appetite for making Apple Valley the most age-friendly it could be," Roberts said. "So we asked ourselves, 'What could each of us do to make it happen?' "

Several seniors in the community who recently moved to the city praised the number of resources already available for community engagement — particularly at the Apple Valley senior center, which teaches introductory courses in cooking, yoga and technology.

"If we have these components, we believe we can be a community for a lifetime," Mayor Hamann-Roland said.