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i 86 NC SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2005 ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS WWW.TWINCITIES.COM Hugo o seek tgi*ve downtown a make over BY ALEX FRIEDRICH dominate the scene. The rest is or Forest Lake, but it's still town is changing around them. cleaned up and expanded,"said town will develop,and planners Pioneer Press just a sparse,not-very-walkable important to the community," The burg was once just a rural restaurateur Mike Anderson, think that atmosphere can be strip of businesses and houses said Bryan Bear,Hugo's commu- dot on a rail line and as late as long a proponent of a redesign. nurtured with the right archi- It's tough for outsiders to along the highway. nity development director. 1990 had fewer than 1,500 resi- "It needs it." tectural style. know just when they're in But it's the social center for Residents had one of their dents. The area slated for the Awnings,sidewalks,building downtown Hugo. many residents, and for years last chances Tuesday to com- But Hugo lies just east of makeover runs roughly north- materials — it's all in the There's little in that smatter- folks have been trying to revital- ment on redesign plans, which Interstate 35 and is only 17 miles south from the post office by details. Agrarian or prairie? ing of buildings along U.S. 61 ize it. Their efforts may finally the City Council will discuss northeast of St.Paul.Since 1990, 150th Street to Nadau's Market Steep gable or Mansard roof? and Washington County Road 8 pan out at the end of the year, Monday. The final draft, Bear it has boomed with houses and by 140th Street- East-west, it Go with the French-roots feel or to call a town center — no when city officials have a plan to said,should win approval by the by the end of the year is expect- runs from the shore of Egg Lake not?It's all up for discussion. square, no concentrated cluster spill up downtown and help it end of the year. ed to have more than 10,000 peo- to the bend in County Road 8 at That's one discussion Arider- of stores,no feeling of cohesion. expand. Hugonians are trying to ple. the old LaValle farm. son says has taken too long and A feed mill, an old lumber yard "It's not as dramatic as the redefine their town center in Much of that growth has not The idea is to make down- stalled business plans. and a couple of restaurants downtown of White Bear Lake part because so much of the been near the city center.But it town a place to stroll. The car- He has long wanted to re- has poured traffic onto one of dependent sprawl businesses— locate his family's restaurant, the town's main roads—Coun- such as big-box megastores,cor- Carpenter's Steak House, an ty Road 8, also known as porate chains and auto dealer- 1890s-era blue-and-white build- Frenchman Road or 145th ships—would be close to Inter- ing near henchman and U.S.61. Street. It's the main way state 35. He has turned down offers on motorists drive into Hugo from One chief change is that the place, he said, because the Interstate 35 and the Twin 145th Street will be turned into city has asked him to hold off on We understand Parkinson's Cities,and it runs through town a cul-de-sac once County Road 8 selling.Instead,he said,they've into U.S. 61, the backbone of bypasses the city center. That discussed a land swap of sorts Hugo. will revert 145th into a residen- that would allow him to build a Traffic is so thick on County tial street but will cut off a busi- new restaurant on the shore of St. Paul neurologist Road 8 that next May the county ness or two that feed off that Egg Lake. will widen it. It also will divert traffic. But indecision by past Dr.Terrance D. Capistrant the road south by about a guar- It's good news to residents administrations has kept things ter-mile so it bypasses the town who say traffic is too loud or in the air for years.The current treated hundreds of patients center and instead empties near just too dangerous for their chil- one seems raring to go, but with Parkinson's disease. St. John the Baptist Church on dren. meanwhile the area around U.S.61. "It'll quiet (the street) right Interstate 35 is already growing. When he was diagnosed with That'll probably change life down,"said 51-year-old resident Anderson fears downtown may downtown,so city officials want Greg Granger."It'll be great." lose business to that area if it Parkinson's he understood to make the best of it. They're Among other changes, retail doesn't catch up. reconsidering how to use land would sprout up on the north "Let's get on with this," he the disease. to expand small business, give side of the new County Road 8, said."We don't want to lose this residents more recreation space and office space and housing opportunity." We understand a diagnosis and entertainment and make would rise on the south. sure Hugo doesn't lose its small- Some discussion about what Alex Friedrich can be reached at of Parkinson's disease can town character. to do downtown centers on what afriedrich@pioneerpress.com or be a frightening thing. While "I want to see downtown atmosphere the French-settled 651-228-2109. there is no cure,progressive treatments allow many people Advertisement -to maintain a happy, productive life. How to Avoid PoVi"cs Ton Mivw ph