On Saturday, October 4th, Maplewood is running a "Nature in the Neighborhood" workshop, with a focus on south Maplewood. The city's press release reads:

Nature in the Neighborhood Workshop

The City of Maplewood and its partners present Nature in the Neighborhood: A Workshop and Field Trip. Join us October 4, 2008, 9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., to explore natural resources in a suburban neighborhood and learn how homeowners can protect and enhance backyard habitat. Call Maplewood Nature Center (651-249-2170) to register. $10 fee, includes lunch.

The workshop will focus on a neighborhood in south Maplewood but the information will be applicable to much of the metropolitan region. It includes classroom sessions, field trip and lunch. Dr. Kim Chapman from Applied Ecological Services (AES) will present sessions on neighborhood ecology and enhancing backyard habitat. Sarah Strommen from Minnesota Land Trust will present a session on conservation easements for private landowners. On the field trip, participants will visit the “grand canyon” of Fish Creek and a tour a home on Snake Creek where the owners are enhancing backyard habitat.

This workshop is made possible by a grant from Embrace Open Space. Workshop partners include City of Maplewood, Ramsey County, Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District, Applied Ecological Services, and Minnesota Land Trust.

Embrace Open Space is a collaborative that serves as a catalyst for greater citizen and elected leadership to conserve and steward natural areas and parks, lakes and rivers in the eleven-county Twin Cities area.

There is also an informational flyer that you can easily download and print out for yourself or to share with neighbors.

This workshop extends the city's efforts from earlier this year regarding Natural Greenway Corridors, which has been part of our comprehensive plan update process. At a joint commissions meeting on March 18th, we learned about the city's greenway corridors and the idea of preserving and enhancing those corridors across public and private land. This workshop and field trip takes the discussion a step further, by actually visiting properties in one of the identified greenway corridors.

Labels: environment, events

Posted by John Nephew on 9/23/2008 03:53:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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This Saturday, September 20th, the Friends of Maplewood Nature are holding their 2nd Annual Picnic & Fundraiser from 10:30 am-1:00 pm. at the Bruentrup Farm. The purpose of the event is to increase the Friends Group membership and raise funds for the new Outdoor Nature Play Area kids climbing rock.

The schedule of events includes a "Protect Your Trees from Winter Class" by a certified arborist; a picnic lunch; a silent auction; and a farm tour, including a short hike into the Open Space Prairie.

The event is free to all Friends Members. New members are welcome to join at the party; membership donations are $15 for a household. RSVPs to the nature center are encouraged (651-249-2170, or contact Oakley at Oakley.Biesanz@ci.maplewood.mn.us), and I'm sure it will help them plan the right number of picnic lunches. But if you're reading this late and don't have time to RSVP, you should just stop by the event anyway.

Labels: environment, events, parks

Posted by John Nephew on 9/18/2008 10:20:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Going out of town means I'm not just missing tonight's comp plan meeting; there's also A Town Forum: Immigration and Building Healthy Communities, at Arlington Hills United Methodist Church. This forum is sponsored and organized by Arlington Hills, Galilee Lutheran Church (Roseville), Roseville Lutheran, Bethany Baptist Church, ISAIAH NE Region, and the Karen community. All citizens and public officials interested in immigration trends in Roseville, Little Canada, and western Maplewood are invited to attend. It sounds like there will be a particular focus in this meeting on the Karen refugees living in Maplewood and Roseville. Registration (and Karen music) begins at 6:30 this evening, and the program starts at 7:00.

Labels: events

Posted by John Nephew on 9/16/2008 10:10:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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On Tuesday, September 16th, the Planning Commission will be holding another hearing on the city's Comprehensive Plan. This hearing will focus on issues in the South Leg, particularly the future land use guidelines. It looks like the commission's discussions with staff and the consultants will revolve around the question of density for the Rural/Low Density Residential land guidance category.

The issue is made more complex by the change from gross acreage to net acreage for density calculations. The terrain of that neighborhood means that there is a big difference between gross and net acreage. The report to the commissioners uses an example of one actual lot of land in the area at issue. This lot is 6.9 acres (gross), but only 2.9 net acres after slopes, wetlands, etc., are excluded. So under the old idea that the neighborhood should have two-acre lots, this land could have had 3 homes built on it. With a new standard of simply 0.5 units per net acre, it would only be able to have 1 home on it (in other words, no change from its current use with a single house).

This is a difficult policy question, and the Planning Commission will be trying to come together and make a recommendation to the city council on what to do. If you are interested in this issue -- especially if you are a south leg resident in the area where the new land use category will apply -- I strongly encourage you to attend the meeting and share your views. While I unfortunately won't be able to attend this hearing in person (I will be out of town on business), I will be paying close attention to its outcome and to all of the citizen comment that is received.

Labels: development, events, process

Posted by John Nephew on 9/12/2008 04:44:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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An article in today's Pioneer Press discusses something that the new Maplewood Green Team may look into: LED street lights. Earlier this year I read an article in the National League of Cities newspaper talking about the energy savings from these light-emitting diode fixtures, and I wondered if it was something we'd be seeing in our neck of the woods. Now Xcel Energy is trying them out in some Brooklyn Park neighborhoods. "The utility will test the lights for output and clarity and their performance in harsh weather for one year," the article states. If the test results are good, maybe we'll see more of them around the metro, including Maplewood. These lights cost more up front, but save money over time as they use 25%-50% less electricity and last 4-5 times as long as the conventional technology.

Labels: environment

Posted by John Nephew on 9/11/2008 04:21:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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