> Planning+Development > Community Profiles

Community profile: White Bear Township

Note: This is one of a series of community profiles, intended to highlight issues faced by local governments as they begin the process of updating their comprehensive plans.

Cooperation with neighbors pays dividends

White Bear Township is the only fully urbanized township in Minnesota. It has some other unusual features:

• Several non-contiguous land areas
• A town hall designed by famed architect Cass Gilbert
• More people than any other township in the state  

When founded in 1858, the township covered an area four times its current size. But as the population grew and distinct areas emerged, several communities decided to incorporate as cities – first White Bear Lake, and then much later North Oaks, Gem Lake and Vadnais Heights. Over time, White Bear Lake also annexed various portions of the township.
That era is past. Today the township works closely with its neighbors and in many ways is indistinguishable from a city.

A township with urban powers

Over the years the township has acquired many urban powers,” explained Dick Sand, a 30-year member of the township board of supervisors. For example, the township has economic development powers, which means it can use tax-increment financing (TIF) to spur development. The township has about 500 acres zoned commercial and light industrial, and is home to several manufacturers.

In the 1960s, the Minnesota Legislature gave the township authority to extend municipal water and sewer. Nearly 98 percent of occupied units in the township are now hooked up to the regional wastewater collection and treatment system, Sand said. The township also serves as the sewer and water utility for parts of surrounding communities, including much of North Oaks.

That kind of cooperation extends to other services and issues:

• Ramsey County provides police services for the township and several surrounding communities.
• The City of White Bear Lake provides firefighting services to the township.
• The township will soon open a new joint-use municipal building, Heritage Hall, with the City of Gem Lake. The building will also house a county sheriff substation.
• White Bear Township has a contract with Gem Lake to provide most of that city’s services, including building inspection, finance, licensing, administration and public works.

Children at My Nature School explore a restored prairie with Tamarack Nature Center naturalist Mary Rogers. The school is based at the center, which is part of Bald Eagle/Otter Lakes Regional Park in White Bear Township.

More Photos of White Bear Township.

“We continue to cooperate with our neighbors on buying and selling services, rather than all of us creating them ourselves,” said Bill Short, town clerk/treasurer. The results, he added, is low tax rates. Because of the powers the township has and its relationships with its neighbors, residents have seen no need to become a city.

“We have the best of both worlds here – all the services of a city with the grass-roots government of a township,” Sand said. “People approve the tax levy at the end of the annual meeting each year. They have a great deal to say about what happens here.”

Cooperating on transportation planning

Another area of cooperation is transportation. In the early 1990s, the township and four surrounding cities, Ramsey County, the Metropolitan Council and the Minnesota Department of Transportation entered into a joint-powers agreement to do transportation and land-use planning for the I-35E corridor. The group completed a study of the corridor in 1995, which helped spur the reconstruction of the junction of I-35E and I-694, the “Unweave the Weave” project that is now under way.

The town hall was designed by Cass Gilbert, architect of Minnesota’s Capitol Building.

More Photos of White Bear Township

Next on the horizon is improving access to I-35E from Highway 96. Traffic has intensified greatly since the bridge was built in the late 1960s, and the bridge has become something of a bottleneck, Short said. In the future, the township may also become involved in planning for the Rush Line transit corridor, which runs from downtown St. Paul to Hinckley. Future plans include commuter rail service, but for now, coach bus service is being initiated next year from North Branch and Forest Lake to St. Paul and Minneapolis.  

Because of its historic development pattern, housing density in residential areas around the township averages between 2 and 2.5 units per acre, Short said. The township is 85 percent single-family homes, and has no apartment buildings.

“Our residents may struggle with the same issue that many communities do – children who are recent graduates will have a more difficult time finding homes they can afford here,” he said. However, the township has many smaller, older homes that provide more affordable opportunities, Sand said.

The township used TIF to help a developer purchase land to develop cottage housing for seniors, in exchange for incorporating income limits to ensure people with more moderate incomes would rent the units.

Parks, open space are an asset

What White Bear Township has in spades is green space. Near the town offices on Hammond Road is a 45-acre park that includes a large playground, soccer fields and baseball fields. The township has 25 other local parks. And it is home to the 885-acre Bald Eagle/Otter Lakes Regional Park.

The township has started its comprehensive plan update. No major changes are expected; the township is in a phase of maturation, with some redevelopment likely. “Our focus has shifted from guiding development to delivering services to our development,” Sand said.

More photos of White Bear township.

-- published October 2007 --