I missed this article, Dave. Can you suggest actions those of us who don't
live in Roseville might take? Every threat like this affects us all.
Gail O'Hare
St. Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 12:00 PM
Subject: Stpaul Digest, Vol 12, Issue 19
1. Roseville lake/development (David Shove)
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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 16:50:49 -0600 (CST)
From: David Shove <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [StPaul] Roseville lake/development
To: St Paul Issues <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 07:19:30 -0600
From: Amy Ihlan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Twin Lakes Group <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Fw: Star Tribune Article
Dear Twin Lakes Group,
For your information -- here is an editorial I wrote on Langton Lake,
which ran in Wednesday's Star Tribune North section.
Amy
----- Original Message -----
From: Amy Ihlan
Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2004 6:59 AM
Subject: Star Tribune Article
This article from startribune.com has been sent to you by Amy Ihlan.
Plan threatens rare and valuable nature
Roseville's Langton Lake Park is a beautiful spot of surprising peace and
quiet only a stone's throw from Interstate Hwy. 35W. Walking through the
park on a recent evening, I heard an owl hoot in the snowy dusk from
somewhere near the path. Henry David Thoreau wrote of the hooting of owls
at Walden Pond: "It is a sound admirably suited to swamps and twilight
woods which no day illustrates, suggesting a vast and undeveloped nature
which men have not recognized."
To borrow Thoreau's words, Langton Lake Park is a rare example of
"undeveloped nature" rapidly disappearing in our urban environment. A
stroll around the lake is a genuine walk in the woods, even though the
south end of the park is bordered by trucking yards and loading docks, now
visible through the bare winter trees.
Sadly, the park's remarkable tranquility and seclusion is threatened by a
proposed redevelopment including a big-box retail and shopping center just
south of the lake. A new parkway drawing retail traffic directly off I-35W
will skirt the edge of the narrow wooded buffer that currently protects
the park. New three- and four-story condos will overlook the shore of
Langton Lake.
If the developers' plans become reality, Langton Lake Park will never be
the same again. Originally donated as a wildlife refuge, the park provides
home and shelter to more than 150 species of birds and animals. The only
recorded sighting of a yellow-throated warbler in Minnesota was in the
park's woods, and bald eagles have recently been seen near the lake.
As a unique natural space and wildlife sanctuary, Langton Lake Park is a
precious community asset. It is not only valuable for people and wildlife
but also immeasurably valuable in itself -- an irreplaceable piece of
undeveloped nature in a first-ring suburb. It would be a very great shame
to sacrifice such a priceless natural resource for more big retail sprawl
and all of the giant asphalt parking lots, traffic congestion and air,
noise and light pollution that go with it.
The future of Langton Lake Park is only one of many environmental issues
the Roseville City Council must deal with in considering the developers'
proposal. TCE, a known carcinogen, has been discovered in area
groundwater. Further testing is needed to determine the source and extent
of the contamination, to evaluate any possible public health risks and
develop strategies for cleanup. And unsupportable levels of traffic
generated by the retail center will pose serious problems for nearby
neighborhoods.
Roseville's city government has a moral obligation to protect our
neighborhood and natural environments. This is a golden opportunity for
exercising some vision and common-sense planning. Roseville already has 82
square feet of retail per resident, more than four times the Twin Cities
metro-area average. The last thing Roseville needs is another new shopping
center -- not to mention that the developers are asking for more than $40
million in public subsidies to build it.
The city needs to face the fact that the costs and adverse environmental
effects of a big-box retail center can't be justified. A sustainable
redevelopment plan with less environmental impact -- on traffic in
neighborhoods, on wildlife habitats and on the quiet beauty of Langton
Lake Park -- is what's needed in the Twin Lakes area.
The Twin Lakes redevelopment will be a clear test of Roseville's
commitment to careful environmental stewardship, neighborhood quality of
life and community values. The city should not miss this chance to
preserve Langton Lake Park and make it an even more valuable public asset.
Instead of allowing developers to turn the park and lake into "amenities"
for their new shopping center, why not insist on a plan that adds parkland
and greenspace to protect the park's fragile wildlife habitats? Otherwise,
a precious piece of natural space will be lost forever.
Amy Ihlan is a Roseville City Council member. She is teaching
environmental ethics as a visiting professor in the philosophy department
at Macalester College this semester.
--fwd David Shove
Roseville
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