Norwood Young America
Norwood-Young America is a community of 3,600 residents located 35 miles west of the Twin Cities in western Carver County. Bounded by five natural lakes, its growth boundaries present both an opportunity and a challenge. The city envisions a green corridor that would literally embrace the community as it moves forward, protecting its natural resources. It hopes to engage the community in planning for its growth areas, and has recent experience in doing so, having merged two cities to become the city of Norwood-Young America.See what Norwood Young America Community Development Director Chelsea Alger has to say about her community’s plans for its future and how CGO has made a difference.
CGO Project Overview
Recognizing the value of natural resources as a community amenity, NYA embarked on a Legacy Greenways Project to master plan a connected open space system encompassing five shallow lakes in their future growth area to protect them from impairment and create a community-wide greenway system. This plan, completed in 2010, will allow them to link existing trails to an extensive county system. Additionally, the City updated the planned unit development ordinance regulations to provide a means of implementing goals and objectives contained in several plans including the Legacy Greenway Plan, Comprehensive Plan, Parks/Trail Plan and a master plan for future development.
Professional planning staff placed in the community through the CGO program partnered with City staff to engage the public, elected/appointed officials and developers in detailed discussion regarding Low Impact Development, Open Space Development, Traditional Neighborhood Design and Smart Growth strategies. The community members and staff compared the specifics of the various alternatives and identified areas in the community where these strategies make sense and further the implementation of the Legacy Greenway Plan along with other local and regional plans.
This process was used to promote a conversation about achieving objectives of multiple plans and policies to maximize public investment in infrastructure as well as developing an understanding of the value of these approaches. The resulting planned unit development standards provide an incentive for alternative design and development approaches while providing the City with the flexibility and confidence to work with potential developers to achieve community goals.
Project Goals
- Mixed use development
- More efficient land use
- Increased transportation options
- Natural resource protection
- Leadership development
Project Objectives
- Complete Legacy Greenway plan
- Provide implementation steps for objectives in the Plan
- To update existing planned unit development regulations to provide a means of implementing goals/objectives contained in several plans including, but not limited to, the Comprehensive Plan, a greenway plan, a parks/trail plan, and a master plan for a future development area
- To use the PUD update process as an opportunity to engage the public, elected/appointed officials, and developers in discussion regarding the how-to’s of LID, OSD, and TND and a range of land use tools/alternatives.
- To use the PUD update process to educate local elected/appointed officials and promote a conversation about achieving objectives of multiple plans/policies simultaneously as a means of both maximizing the public’s investment in infrastructure and the private sector’s investment in re(development).
Project Deliverables
- Completed Legacy Greenway Plan
- Updated planned unit development ordinance that provides incentives for alternative design/development approaches
- Developed leadership’s understanding of the value of these approaches as well as capacity to implement
Maps of Norwood Young America
Several maps showing Norwood Young America’s geography are provided below. The maps are 11” x 17” (but can be printed at 8-1/2” x 11”) and in PDF format.