City of Mountain Lake preparing Active Living Plan – in coordination with Drew Hage of SRDC
The City of Mountain Lake, in coordination with Drew Hage, a development planner at the Southwest Regional Development Commission (SRDC) in Slayton, is currently in the process of developing an Active Living Plan to help make the city more pedestrian friendly by providing new strategic walking improvements for pedestrians – or “peds,” to use a shortened version of the word. In order to create an Active Living Plan for the City of Mountain Lake, initial needs are to identify and prioritize future projects that will make it easier for citizens to get around town on foot or by bicycle.
The first public meeting toward developing a plan will be next Monday, March 16, 5 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., at Mountain Lake City Hall. This first meeting will review and summarize community input (destinations, existing routes, barriers, safety issues), discuss local issues and concerns regarding walking and biking, create potential goals and identify potential projects.
A second meeting will focus on ranking and finalizing projects.
At this meeting, discussed will be local issues and concerns regarding walking and biking. This information will be summarized and will help create potential goals that will be discussed a the second public meeting.
Public participation is a critical component of the plan. If unable to attend the March 16 meeting, please provide feedback by going to the link below:
http://wikimapping.com/wikimap/Mountain-Lake-Active-Living-Plan.html
If you have additional questions, contact Drew Hage, Southwest Regional Development Commission at his office at 507-836-1633 or e-mail at drewh@swrdc.org. Or, contact Mountain Lake City Clerk/Administrator Wendy Meyer at her office at 507-437-2999, Extension #1 or e-mail at city@mountainlake.govoffice.com.
Members of the Mountain Lake Active Living Planning Team include Dana Kass of the City Council and a local resident, Mountain Lake City Administrator Wendy Meyer representing the City of Mountain Lake, local residents John Oeltjenbruns and Dolores Peters and SHIP (Statewide Health Improvement Program) Coordinator in Cottonwood, Jackson and Nobles Counties for Des Moines Vallely Health and Human Services (DVHHS), Diana Madsen.
What is Active Living?
Active Living is described as a way of life that integrates physical activity into one’s daily routine. Active Living is about fostering an environment that makes it safe and convenient for children and adults to walk, bike and be physically active on a daily basis. This can start with just making small trip. An example of such is walking between stores – instead of driving from one end of Third Avenue or 10th Street – to the other.
Creating a healthy community depends on the physical design of the community – making it more walkable specific improvements – along with a number of other variables.
Active Living in smart design
Design/Land Use/Transportation – A smart design can make it more convenient to walk and bike in the community, which can create a positive health impact along with a positive environmental impact. The overall goal is to create an environment that offers opportunities to integrate physical activity into daily life.
Policy – The purpose of incorporating Active Living into land use planning and transportation planning is to create a holistic approach to community design. Transportation policy affects health. Land use policy affects health. Where public facilities are located affects health. Health in all policies is a new approach to planning. When you think about how planning decisions affect walkability and community connectivity, it is essential to include have health advocates at the table creating policy and making planning decisions. The health impact of a project could be a deciding factor in whether a project should go ahead as is or be modified or suspended.
Complete Streets – A complete street is any street on which you feel safe walking or bicycling. In a rural community, a complete street could be a street that is wide enough so a pedestrian can safety walk along the shoulder and that vehicle traffic is not excessive and traffic speeds are reasonable. A complete street may also have a sidewalk or path separate from the street on which pedestrians can walk or bicycle.
