Meeting Planned to Discuss the Future of St. Cloud’s East Side

ST. CLOUD -- If you want your voice to be heard on future development in East St. Cloud, Saturday morning you'll have your chance. The East Side Boosters are hosting a visioning session from 9:00 a.m. until noon at the East Side VFW.

Board Member Joan Jaye says they don't want to dwell on the past, but rather focus on making positive changes for the future.

Right now we believe that the pieces are starting to fall into place, and it's time for implementation.  But, we don't want to implement an old plan without getting input from the southeast side residents, the northeast side residents, business owners and property owners.  We're going in with no agenda.

Jaye acknowledges that a lot of the discussion Saturday will probably center around developing East St. Germain Street.

City Planning Director Matt Glaesman says developers have been interested in the east side, but they are not ready to make their plans public yet. He says getting feedback from residents will go a long way toward moving those projects forward.

Jaye also notes there are a lot of positives on the east side, like 12 city parks including Wilson and Riverside Parks and Clemens and Munsinger Gardens.

The East Side Boosters were initially incorporated in 1940 and were very active until the early 1970s, they reestablished themselves from about 1998 until the early 2000s, and now want to become more active again.