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ECONOMIC REVITALIZATION PLAN

Prepared for the Americas Best Communities Competition

By

The People of Chisago Lakes Minnesota

November 2015

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

Community Participation 3

Long Term Vision 4

Short Term Activity 5

Appendices

Olive & Company Branding and Marketing Strategy Chisago County Broadband Survey

KPMG Economic Analysis Community Technology Center Feasibility Study KPMG Targeted Business Attraction Study

Eutectics Energy Opportunity Assessment

Urban Land Institute Minnesota - Navigating Your Competitive Future

Bennett Community Consulting Retail Market Review

Blue Zones Walking Assessment

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CHISAGO LAKES - AMERICAS BEST COMMUNITY! EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Chisago Lakes five cities, eleven recreational lakes, one Wild and Scenic Riverway, a beautiful rural countryside of small farms, orchards, wetlands, ponds and forests. Homesteading Swedish immigrant farmers melding with New England loggers who moved west to the white pine forests. Today, long-time Chisago Lakes residents blending with recently arrived families seeking to share the areas high quality, small town life. All working together, with a shared vision, committed to creating a vibrant future. Community Participation The Americas Best Community (ABC) competition has afforded Chisago Lakes an opportunity to define a shared future across the five unique cities and surrounding townships within the Chisago Lakes School District. The Chisago Lakes ABC initiative is building on the work completed through the Chamber and Community Foundations FutureWalk process where over 600 residents were interviewed about their community aspirations.

More than 100 community members have participated in the ABC process; working diligently and with passion, meeting regularly, collaborating, compromising and setting a direction that will result in our community becoming one of Americas Best Communities, regardless of the results of the competition. Community members own sense of Chisago Lakes has been reinforced and recognized with gratitude.

Our community members, volunteers and leaders have done an amazing job in building and supporting their teams, facilitating discussion and seeking guidance from experts; they have then localized that knowledge to create long-term strategies and short-term tactics that will move our community forward. This process has helped to recognize and welcome emerging leaders within our community; they will have a positive impact well into the future.

It has been very exciting to see the ranks of our participants grow, with project teams adding members throughout the process. Rather than suffering from group process and planning fatigue, progress is happening and people are increasingly energized. With a common vision, a plan and a community coalition in place, we are finding it easier to attract willing partners to help move our community supported initiatives and projects forward.

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Long Term Vision and Goals Through this process, we have identified our shared values.

Ultimately, the people of Chisago Lakes want to enjoy the connectedness and safety of small town life, preserve and enhance the existing beautiful and natural environment and have bountiful choices of employment and lifestyle. They want to live, in the words of one of our leaders where people want to vacation.

We

Enjoy our quality of life and cherish our natural beauty, resources, recreational opportunities and environment

Seek a balanced economy and appropriate development Support our quality schools and increased access to higher education for all ages Appreciate our small town lifestyle and work together for shared community benefits Encourage the self-sufficiency of the area and support our local businesses Recognize the need and desire for quality broadband communications Support and recognize the intrinsic value and economic impact of arts and culture

The desired outcomes we seek, essentially our long-term goals, are integrated across four focus areas:

Arts, Culture and Tourism Establish an area brand and identity Establish and maintain collaborative marketing Preserve historic sites and structures Promote venues for arts and culture Maintain a community calendar Create and maintain a list of community assets Protect our communitys natural beauty, resources and environment

Broadband Ensure quality broadband throughout the area Provide more public WiFi hotspots Increase technology sophistication of local business

Economic Development Stimulate new, high quality local job opportunities Attract people and investment to Chisago Lakes Beautify Highway 8 and fill vacant storefronts

Quality of Life Live in a happy, healthy community Facilitate collaboration across communities and organizations Make higher education more available Enhance community engagement Leverage shared community facilities Create a comprehensive trail system Create and support social connections Promote physical connectivity, walkability and healthy lifestyles

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Short Term Activities Our four focus teams are now deployed to pursue successful development and implementation of the projects that follow. We believe that these projects, over time, will propel us towards our desired outcomes. Some can be accomplished in a year or less; others are multi-year projects that will need to be pursued well into the future. Sustaining our momentum through accomplishment and celebration will be critical to our long-term success. Our projects are:

Chisago Lakes Branding and Marketing Initiative Create a shared brand and marketing strategy, available to all area businesses and organizations.

Broadband

Ensure that businesses and people are connected wherever they are at home or on the go. Community Technology Center

State of the art broadband and equipment in a dynamic setting.

Workforce of the Future Design programs that will improve our childrens career options, close to home or around the world.

Energy for Economic Development

Make Chisago Lakes more competitive by reducing the cost of energy and stimulating new investment

Targeted Business Attraction

Attract quality job opportunities to provide more options for our commuting and emerging workforce and retail/service firms to serve residents and enhance visitor experience.

Healthy Community

Enhance the health, happiness and longevity of Chisago Lakes residents through Blue Zones or other similar health framework.

Trails

Complete the Swedish Immigrant Regional Trail, create the Chisago Lakes Water Trail and improve walkability throughout.

Continued Community Engagement

Host the Minnesota Design Team in 2016 Participate in the Blandin Community Leadership Program in 2017

Our teams are actively moving these projects forward. The $100,000 implementation grant will be allocated among these projects to supplement local funding commitments.

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ECONOMIC REVITALIZATION PLAN DETAILS

Community Process

Long Term Vision

Short Term Strategy

Outcome Measures

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THE COMMUNITY PROCESS Creating and committing to the Chisago Lakes Economic Revitalization Plan has been an exciting community process, encompassing many people and many meetings, plus countless emails, phone calls and conversations over coffee. FutureWalk The Chisago Lakes Chamber and Community Foundation embarked on a FutureWalk initiative prior to the ABC competition announcement. Through this process, now over 600 Chisago Lakes residents have responded to the question, What are your desires for the Chisago Lakes Area in the future? The following is a summary of surveys to date.

Trails - more walking trails, bike paths, sidewalks, trails along roads, paths for strollers, hiking paths, connect all the communities, finish Swedish Immigrant Trail, able to walk to town, connect to Ki Chi Saga Park, senior housing connected to trails, trails to schools, safe routes to schools. Also snowmobile trails, dirt bike trails, 4-wheel trails, water trails and dog parks. More restaurants and retail shopping - Clean and charming downtown, organic food in restaurants, vibrant downtown, upscale restaurant, unique shops, more variety, restaurant by the lake, more tourist activities, sports gear shop, family restaurants, winery tours, wedding venues, big resort with spa facilities, micro-brewery, tourist destination, downtown theme, good signage for visitors, outdoor outfitter, farmers markets, art center, community gardens. Schools of Excellence - We want great schools, drug free schools, larger facilities, new Lakeside Elementary and Taylors Falls Elementary, more funding, more volunteering, state of the art schools, education for all ages, modern, small class sizes, no portables, good schools draw families to our area, safe schools, more arts, science, math, technology and writing, visible school spirit, marching band, diversity, improve ball fields and ice rink, more access to turf field. Higher Education Facility community or tech school in our area. Economic Concerns more jobs! - We want higher paying jobs, new businesses, jobs for kids, business center, improve our tax base, high tech jobs, fill the business parks, sustainable industry, resorts, more industry, less commuting. Some ideas: music store, kayak, canoe, paddle