The Anoka City Council last week approved plans for a luxury housing development as well as a makeover of a nearby Rum River bluff.
The Rum River Shores housing development is to include 44 houses priced from $400,000 to $650,000.
"We want to offer the full spectrum of housing in our city," Mayor Phil Rice said. "We have a lot of people who love Anoka, won't leave it, but would like to have the opportunity to be in a home like this or a development like this and there's very little of that in Anoka."
The plan for the Rum River bluff calls for regrading the steep, 30-foot bluff. Proponents say the work is needed in the face of erosion. But it has drawn criticism because it will involve cutting down a number of 150-year-old bur oak trees.
Rice said now is the time to do the work to prevent further erosion of the bluff. "If you don't do anything, you're going to lose trees anyway," he said.
LYDIA COUTRÉ
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