It appears Lake Elmo will keep an elementary school within city limits.
The Lake Elmo City Council on Wednesday night approved several key measures needed for Stillwater Area Public Schools’ proposed new elementary school in Lake Elmo to proceed. The district plans to build a new 148,000-square-foot elementary school on a 47-acre parcel on the northwest corner of Lake Elmo Avenue and 10th Street North — kitty-corner from the Cimarron Park mobile-home community.
The council voted 4-1 to approve a zoning change — from agriculture to public facilities — and a change to the regional sewage treatment system boundaries to include the proposed property, among other measures. Council Member Katrina Beckstrom voted against the proposed changes.
“The school district has had an elementary school in Lake Elmo for 100 years, and we’d like to keep one for another 100 years,” Superintendent Mike Funk told the council before the vote.
The population center of the district has been moving “further and further south,” he said. “The center used to be (Minnesota Highway) 36. Now it’s just north of (Interstate) 94.”
The current elementary school, built in 1920 and located in the city’s Old Village area, is already near capacity and enrollment is expected to grow by more than 200 students in the next 10 years; Lake Elmo is one of the fastest growing cities in Minnesota.
District officials last summer entered into a $4.5 million purchase agreement for the land at Lake Elmo Avenue and 10th Street North contingent on the passage of the district’s $175 million bond referendum in November; the land is owned by Tom Kindler. The referendum passed in November with 57% support districtwide and 70% support in Lake Elmo precincts.
Lake Elmo resident Hannah Reyes, who teaches first-grade Spanish immersion at Lake Elmo Elementary, said the proposed site is ideal for a new school because it is at the “heart of where the biggest growth of population is happening in our district” and provides access from several directions because of the main roadways that connect there.
“A school is more than academics,” Reyes told the council. “It’s a community. … The students, families and community of Lake Elmo deserve to have their elementary school located in Lake Elmo. To vote ‘yes’ means to provide a school for our community for another 100 years.”
Lake Elmo resident Ryan Knudson also encouraged the council members to vote “yes” on the measures.
“What we are voting on is whether to keep the school in Lake Elmo or not. That’s it,” he said. “If we don’t approve this, the school district will probably go somewhere else.”
His wife, Cassondra Knudson, told council members to consider the “legacy of Lake Elmo” while voting. “We should keep the school in Lake Elmo where it has been for 100 years,” she said.
Lake Elmo Elementary Principal Stephen Gorde said the new school would be a “a world-class facility that will serve generations of children to come in Lake Elmo.”
People who spoke against the site expressed concerns about the loss of trees, an increase in traffic on 10th Street and the site’s proximity to the Oakdale Gun Club. City officials said those concerns will be addressed during the conditional-use permit process for the property.
Former Lake Elmo City Council Member Susan Dunn said the council should deny the amendment to the city’s comprehensive plan — a document she said took years to develop and is meant to guide development in the city until 2040.
“The question is not if we need a school or how fancy it should be?” she said. “The question is, ‘Is our comp plan a moving target?’ There have been over 10 amendments to the comp plan already. Is it a moving target or are you going to hold fast?”
Dunn said the school district should consider sites within the existing metropolitan sewer service area.
“The school should be in our city center,” she said. “I was not aware our city center was moving south. There are 4,000 acres in the MUSA. We couldn’t find 15 to 20 acres around the Old Village? It’s about education and environment and where the heart of our city really is. The school is the center of the city.”
The city’s Planning Commission voted 3-2 last month to recommend that the City Council deny the zoning change — from agriculture to public facilities — and not approve the change to the regional sewage treatment system boundaries to include the proposed property.
Beckstrom, the council member who voted against the measures, questioned how the school district’s plan was consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan.
“This parcel is not within the MUSA,” she said. “It’s an island upon itself. How is this consistent with (the city’s land-use) goals?”
But Mayor Charles Cadenhead said plans are “living, breathing” documents that sometimes change. “They don’t have to change, but they can change — if there is a will. It’s a guide. We have to put a lot of thought into this process. This was not something that was knee-jerk. We’ve had lots of discussion with the school district. I think that this is for the public good. It’s not that the city center is moving south; it’s that the population is moving south. Building a school (at the new site) means more kids in Lake Elmo can attend school in Lake Elmo.”
Funk said after the meeting that he was pleased with the outcome of the vote.
“We look forward to continuing to partner with the community of Lake Elmo as we work together to meet the needs of our students,” he said.
