South St. Cloud Residents Want Guidelines for Future Development

ST. CLOUD -- Residents in a South St. Cloud neighborhood believe the time is now for them to renew their push to revitalize their part of town.

Mary Mathews is a member of the South Side University Neighborhood Association. She says they worked with the city to create a master plan back in 2009, some of those action plans have been implemented, but the design guidelines have been lying dormant and still needs council action.

Mathews says they are focused on a mix of preservation, enhancement, and redevelopment.

We want a neighborhood that reflects the university and that reflects the urban center of St. Cloud.  We think there's a lot of opportunities here for redevelopment, reinvestment, and renewal.

She says the core neighborhood has a lot of potential.

It's the old center of the town, and because it is so close to downtown we think that there's a real vibe there that we can build upon.  We really would love to see some younger people in there and that may require reinvestment in some of the old homes, perhaps eliminating a few of them along with way if necessary.

Mathews says they are open to some commercial development too. She says she'd like to see some gateways into the campus area as well.

The South Side University Neighborhood is from University Drive to Division Street and from the campus area to 9th Avenue.

Mathews says she and her husband have lived in the neighborhood for 46 years and love to see new young families moving in.

The St. Cloud City Council discussed the design guidelines at their work-study session on Monday. The Planning Commission will take up the issue at their meeting on Tuesday.