09/03/2026
A Growing St. Croix Valley Needs Places to Grow Together!
Fellow communities are demonstrating what is possible when recreation and community facilities are viewed as part of a larger civic vision. Just this week, the City of Chanhassen broke ground on its new Community Center after years of planning, listening and community input. The facility will bring together recreation, fitness, gathering, indoor play, and other community uses. The City describes the project not simply as a recreation facility, but as a gathering place where neighbors meet, families connect and kids grow. Chanhassen's experience demonstrates that a community center can be considered part of a community's broader civic infrastructure, and that residents can help shape the vision.
In Moorhead, a new library, community center, and entrepreneurship center became the civic anchor of a much larger downtown revitalization effort. The $40 million civic project is part of a $300 million reimagining of downtown, demonstrating how shared public spaces can help catalyze broader community and economic investment.
Currently, the VCC has a purchase option for the old Lake Elmo Elementary school site. A future community hub at the old Lake Elmo Elementary location will continue the legacy of Stillwater Area Public Schools and elucidate the school district’s mission to develop curious individuals who are active, engaged leaders in an ever changing world.
Lake Elmo is at an important point in its growth, and VCC is proposing improved access to shared public resources while retaining the heirloom vibrancy of the Lake Elmo Village. As the Village evolves, there is an opportunity to think about community infrastructure not as individual projects, but as pieces of a larger civic vision.
The need for community infrastructure doesn't stop at a municipal boundary. The Valley Community Center’s mission is intentionally regional, because this is a regional need. The communities of Lake Elmo, Stillwater, Bayport, Oak Park Heights, Afton and more each play a role.
This is what we’ve heard from so many of you: this center has the potential to become a cornerstone of connection and well-being in our region.
Potentially, this will be a place that helps give the growing St. Croix Valley a stronger civic heart.
Together, we can potentially accomplish something that will support the mental, physical, and social health of residents and visitors alike, for generations to come. Thank you for your support.
As always, thank you for your enthusiasm & support.
🏊♀️🧘🏽♀️🤸🏽♀️🏓🌱🌈🏀🏐🤿🛝🛼🏋🏽⛹🏻♀️🎧☕️
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Valley Community Center is envisioned as a shared community resource serving Lake Elmo and the broader St. Croix Valley, bringing together services and spaces that families, individuals, older adults, youth, businesses, and community organizations can use throughout their lives.
