Politics & Government

UMore Park Public Forum Focuses on Sustainable Growth

Planners at UMore Park hope to build one of the "most sustainable communities in the world"

When BioRegional representative Greg Searle thinks about the future of UMore Park, he envisions a community that is not just "green," but sustainable in a way that is unmatched anywhere in the United States. He sees a community with open spaces, streets that are arranged to take advantage of solar energy and a power grid that creates more energy that it consumes.

That vision of Rosemount seemed to be a realistic goal to many of the participants of this week's public forum at the Rosemount Community Center. Nearly 80 participants, spanning local and state government, several universities, major business interests as well as local residents met to hash out a framework that could guide planners towards the goal of a sustainable community a UMore Park.

The group met for two days before unveiling the ideas in a public forum Thursday night. UMore executive director Carla Carlson said the hope was to solicit ideas from everyone and begin the long process of integrating the best of them into the eventual planned residential, business and recreational development at UMore Park.

To assist in the process, the UMore staff solicited the help of BioRegional, which was hired to help facilitate the discussion and manage the flood of ideas and suggestions that came out of the meetings.

BioRegional has helped to create Earth-friendly communities throughout the world and its best-known concept is the "One World" plan. As representative Greg Searle explained to the more than 200 people assembled for Thursday's public forum, if the entire world consumed resources at the rate people did in the U.S., it would require five planets to provide everything required.

The One World concept is a comprehensive plan to cut waste and create new sustainability without taking away from the lifestyle we currently enjoy. The goal is to create a community that could survive on the resources of one planet and that requires a comprehensive examination of every facet of life.

During the work sessions, participants were asked to focus on ten core principles required for a One World community: local and sustainable foods, culture and heritage, zero carbon emissions, zero waste, sustainable water, sustainable transport, sustainable materials,  land use and wildlife, health and happiness and  equity and local economy.

After two days the room was filled with white boards strewn with colorful pieces of paper. The ideas covered everything from shared transportation to telecommuting centers and houses that were powered in part by burning wood chips and other waste.

The overall concepts were recapped for the participants of the public forum. Then the crowd was encouraged to walk around the room and ask offer their own feedback about the ideas.

Rosemount resident Hazel Williams said that she was caught off-guard by the boldness of the plan. "I was expecting to see a much more traditional approach for UMore Park," she said. "I'm not sure I completely believe any of this could really happen, but it's exciting to think about it."

Planning on the UMore Park development continues along several fronts, as the University of Minnesota works to finalize details on at the same time plans for the first phase of residential development progresses.

UMore Development President Charles Muscoplat said ideas gathered at this week's forum will be used in the eventual community plan. He also said there is currently no firm timeline for the first residential or business contruction at UMore, but he wouldn't be surprised to see ground broken in late 2012 or early 2013.


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