Lutsen downtown design planning begins October 2

Nancye Belding

True North correspondent

The long-awaited planning process to integrate Highway 61 and Gitchi Gami Trail planning into an overall downtown design concept that meets the needs of Lutsen residents will commence with a public meeting on Monday, October 2 at 7 p.m. in the Lutsen Evangelical Lutheran Church. The public is cordially invited to attend.

The design plan will be facilitated by the University of Minnesota Center for Changing Landscapes, an interdisciplinary team that looks at history, culture, ecology, watershed, and other preservation issues in addition to elements of landscaping and architecture. CCL has been working with Tofte on a similar downtown design, with similar attention paid to highway redevelopment, bike trails and many other trails intersecting the downtown area. CCL works up designs based on public input, gets feedback, makes new designs, and gets more feedback before signing off.

The $35,000 project is funded by a $5,000 donation from Lutsen township and a $30,000 grant from the Northeast Minnesota Sustainable Partnership Fund.

-This article reprinted courtesy of Cook County News Herald