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• Avenues, serve a vital local role in giving residents easy access to nearby St. Paul, <br />Minneapolis and Roseville for work and shopping. Built to encourage vehicle rather than <br />pedestrian traffic, Larpenteur and Snelling also function as significant barriers between <br />neighborhoods, fragmenting city identity. Yet these major thoroughfares offer enormous <br />potential to become the keys to a stronger civic identity, a sense of arrival and welcome, <br />connection and community. In-depth study of these corridors is needed in order to <br />formulate corridor framework plans to guide public and private development aimed at <br />realizing this potential. <br />Becoming a healthier, more active and livable community. <br />The open agricultural research fields in Falcon Heights contribute to the community's <br />rural feel that residents have cited as one of its most prized qualities. This asset offers <br />high motivation and potential for active living and for implementing a number of healthy <br />community "best practices". On the other hand, the two busy highways constitute major <br />obstacles to pedestrian and bicycle travel and offer a considerable challenge to the city in <br />implementing some changes that could make the community a healthier place to live. <br />Another challenge is lack of essential neighborhood retail businesses residents would <br />walk to if they could. It has been years since Falcon Heights has had a grocery store or <br />deli within its boundaries. Small businesses that provide necessities close to home -this <br />is the only kind of business expansion residents said they would like to see in the <br />community. <br />Becoming a sustainable, energy efficient community <br />"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without <br />compromising the ability offuture generations to meet their own needs. " <br />- The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development. <br />The climate crisis and rising cost of energy present all cities with an extraordinary <br />challenge. Local action is a critical part of global solutions to these problems. <br />Individuals, businesses, public institutions and local governments all have an important <br />role to play in making wise choices that ensure the health and viability of our <br />communities for future generations. By establishing policies that balance social, <br />economic and ecological needs, encourage wise stewardship of natural resources and <br />incorporate environmental responsibility into future development, Falcon Heights can <br />remain a community where people want to live and work for generations to come. <br />Maintaining the property tax base. <br />Falcon Heights' geographic boundaries include the east portion of the University of <br />Minnesota's Twin Cities campus and the Minnesota State Fair. This unique land use <br />composition creates an interesting community that is appreciated by residents and visitors <br />alike. However, it results in 66% of the city's land area being both tax-exempt and <br />statutorily out of the City's land use control. In addition, one quadrant of Falcon Heights <br />• central commercial core, the Snelling/Larpenteur business district, was acquired in 2000 <br />by TIES (formerly Technology Information Education Services), anon-profit <br />Falcon Heights Comprehensive Plan 2008 Draft -January, 2008 <br />Section I: Background, Page I-3 <br />