Back in August I talked about how plans to build 45 low-income housing units adjacent to the overpriced and atrocious looking homes in the Cobblestone Lake development caused a public uproar from the residents of that area. The residents who were bitching honestly believed that because they paid so much for their homes (some homes were at one time listed for ~$1,000,000) that preexisting plans to put in Community Development Agency (CDA) for seniors and low-income working families shouldn’t happen because they believe their shit doesn’t stink.
After raising their questions at various public meetings about the topic, the Apple Valley City Council decided to approve the senior housing and hold off on the low-income housing development until a later date. That later date has come and the Apple Valley City Council has ignored the whining residents and approved all units to be built. While the article doesn’t speak at all to the residents that were at one time quite displeased with the plans, they do quote our fearless leader, Mayor Mary Hamann-Roland, who was paraphrased as saying, “the townhomes will be a welcome addition to housing in Apple Valley.”
Now, I wasn’t there and I don’t know exactly what she said or what she might have meant to say, but from reading the article it would appear that she really believes that people want the CDA townhomes to be built. Based on the original reaction to the plan, I can guarantee you that not everyone believes this to be the great idea that the majority of our City Council does. While I’m all for it, as it was part of the plan long before yuppie wannabes who moved into closely packed homes the size and price of castles started complaining about their children’s safety, I wonder if the majority of those people have changed their minds and have come down off their high horses to face reality.
Are you a Cobblestone Lake resident who was originally against the plan and who now supports it? Perhaps you were for the addition of only the senior housing but not the low-income workers housing? Perhaps you don’t live in the Cobblestone Lake development and really don’t care either way? Please let us know how you feel about this plan and the actions of the Apple Valley City Council in ensuring that the needs and desires of the community are being met; I’d love to hear what you think.
Related posts:
- Apple Valley Central Village: A City Council Nightmare?
- Apple Valley City Council Gives Themselves Pay Raise
- 153rd St, Legacy Park, and Apple Valley Central Village: Apple Valley, MN
- Apple Valley to Allow Further Degradation of Central Village Plan?
- Apple Valley Founders Circle Put on Life Support
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November 29th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Wow, this is a strange coincidence! The patron saint of the poor is Saint Nicholas! Saint Nicholas is also the patron saint of wine porters, merchants & vendors! Oh, and prostitutes! Great news Cobblestone Lake residents! You may be getting some prostitutes! Neat!
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=45
November 29th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Bill, the big problem with the Dakota County CDA is that they DON’T pay property taxes. CDA not only affects city taxes but Apple Valley school taxes They also scue property values. Burnsville is the perfect example of an over abundance of government housing and commerical section 8 housing. That is why the Burnsville school district has 38% diversity. To reduce the percentage to 20, because Lakeville does’nt want the 18% of our diversity, Burnsville has decided tp create an arts magnet school using the “performing arts center”. So these Apple Valley residents are “bitchen” ? Maybe for the wrong reason. Burnsville residents are getting screwed in more ways than one. Crappy schools equal poor home sales.
November 29th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Bill, you know Our Mayor Mary, as she ran her last campaign, is crazy. She hasn’t a clue about what her subjects want.. she doesn’t even have a clue about what a small time worthless subrub mayor should be doing. When you talk to her you hear happy talk about God knows what… maybe her latest junket to Washington on our dime.. This is, afteralll, a $10 grand a year job,, in othewords part time.
The infamous WaterPark mayor who doesn’t believe that elected officals need to pay for city attractions. She’s also the mayor who as seen to it that NO ONE can park anywhere near the athletic fields at the middle school on the side of the SHE lives on.. the other sides are fine..
She’s a worthless.. look at how “well planned” this town is afterall.
November 29th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
I understand Mayor Mary is a good “friend” of Burnsville’s Mayor Lizzy and they just LOVE govenment housing AND they appear to think the same way. Geez Apple Valley residents, your on your way to be like Burnsville.
November 30th, 2008 at 7:16 am
The Star Tribune has an article about this topic here.
December 1st, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Bill, I appreciate hearing your views about Cobblestone, even though I generally disagree with them. I am indeed a ‘yuppie wannabe’ who owns a house there, and I personally love the layout and the tacky colors and all the goose-feces-covered paths around the lake.
I was at the time it was originally introduced, and still am, in favor of the senior housing but opposed to the low-income housing in Cobblestone. It just doesn’t make sense to have a townhouse development located at the edge of the Twin Cities, next to a retail development that is empty but for fantastic sams and target. The City is forcing the development of this area far ahead of its time and what the market would dictate, saying that people need to live close to jobs that don’t exist, and would be close to transit that doesn’t exist at the 157th street station. Using the “this is in high demand” argument doesn’t fly for me – there will always be a sizeable percentage of people who will take an available government subsidy, even changing their lifestyle to receive it, regardless of whether they truly are in “need” it.
I’m more mad at Tradition development (the company who developed Cobblestone and Spirit) than I am at the city. I expect my city leaders to be clueless and to have only their personal interest in mind when deciding whether to object to projects this. This deal was nothing more than a sellout by Tradition development to get, shall I say, a “bailout” of their bad investment on a piece of land at the edge of town. Tradition likely paid top dollar for the land, hoping that Cobblestone would be completely developed by 2007, but the housing and commercial real estate market crashed. Oh look, here’s a way to sell the land and get it developed, at a time when nobody is building anything.
December 1st, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I always find concerns about crime in the suburbs (the mid- or outer-ring, at least) to be somewhat silly, to be honest. Most crime around here is caused by bored teenagers anyway, who come from every socioeconomic group. The idea that certain parts of Apple Valley would be more dangerous because of low-income residents is absolutely laughable.
December 1st, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Tim, B.S. Go talk to any of the officers in Apple Valley, they’ll tell you that the area around AV High School (where I live), the subsidized housing, is where they spend most of their time. The community center has seen it’s share of problems from wanna be gangbangers.. there’s domestic abuse calls over there all the time, there’s been drug busts.. I see more than my share of multiple unit calls in that neighborhood.
Talk to Burnsville police about the concerns around the area around 11 and 13, down by the river…
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:16 am
Sank, it’s not that there aren’t areas of AV, Burnsville, or wherever that get more police calls. But the odds of it affecting someone who isn’t directly involved aren’t that great. Furthermore, most of what happens there, happens in the rest of the suburbs too. It just happens there in greater numbers due to the density.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:47 am
I would disagree..
I would suggest that in the last 10 years I’ve noticed some distrubing changes in Apple Valley. Granted it’s affects those who are involved more often. .but when you’re out walking the dog and you see groups of kids verbally assaulting women on the street, vandalism at Westview and Hayes Community Center, and reports of a a couple kids being jumped in the bathrooms or gym at the community center for makeing the wrong eye contact.. it does affect everyone who lives around this stuff.
Not to mention driving past houses where there are police actions going on once or twice a month.
We’ve also seen a marked increase in vandalism at Westview.. and at Ceder Park.. You don’t find the same sorts of issues on the East side of Apple Valley to any degree.. It’s a problem! The good news is.. these folks don’t tend to stay in these properites for more than a few months at a time so the problems ebb and flow depending on who is living there.
Which was a good thing in the case of the Level 3 offender who was camped out in that neighborhood for a year.
December 10th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
i’m a resident and i’m still against the low income housing. i don’t want it here. our home values, not just ours in the pretentious area will suffer as a result.
July 12th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
how can you blame the residents in cobblestone for not approving the cda project. I was considering building a home in cobblestone in the late summer of 2009 but i have mixed thoughts on if i even want to go through with it. I am scared that the cda townhomes are going to drive all the values of the houses down. Have youi seen what it has done to the burnsville parkway and nicollet ave, all the shops are gone and all the residents have lost their property due to the decrease in value and the want to live in that area. I guess who ever wrote this article probably lives in a apartment and has never invested in a half million home. Its a shame what is happening. Well I guess you wont get my tax money on my overpriced cookie cutter home!!!