Blaine Losing its Rural, Blue-Collar Reputation

Not anymore - and the land boom is on.

Land prices in Blaine have appreciated 100 percent in the past three or four years, according to city manager Roger Fraser. The reason is easy to understand: Once the sod farms were deemed suitable for building, Blaine became a prime target for development, particularly compared to neighboring suburbs where land was no longer available.

Blaine is a city of 48,000 residents; the Met Council projects a population of 80,000 by 2020.

"People have been drawn to Blaine because of its rural character in the past," Fraser says. "We'd like to maintain as much of that as possible, but, at the same time, we're under real pressure to accommodate growth in the metro area. It will be difficult to keep that balance, but fortunately this city council is willing to take on that challenge." Fraser points to Blaine's most high-profile recent development, the homes at Deacon's Walk on the new, private Tournament Players Club golf course, as an example of how the city is balancing growth and preservation.

Some 300 homes have been developed around the course, and the next phase is the Club West project, a 1,100-home neighborhood adjacent to the course. It will feature a private recreation center with a pool and meeting center to serve the residents.

"It's a dense project for that number of housing units on 302 acres, but this is coming on board with recreational amenities," Fraser says. "There will be five parks in this development, and I forget how many miles of trails and sidewalks, with nicely landscaped streets.

"In that site there are two significant stands of trees that are being preserved that have been the hallmarks of that parcel for years," Fraser says.

In the past decade, Blaine has become known for its recreation developments. In addition to the TPC course - and the adjoining First Tee family-oriented golf course that is about to begin construction - the city is home to the sprawling National Sports Center (NSC), an athletic complex that will accommodate 800 youth soccer teams in next month's annual USA Cup. The multiple fields will host 55 soccer games per hour during the tournament.

The NSC has recently added the Schwann's Super Rink, four Olympic-sized ice sheets under one roof. The NSC draws more than 1.7 million people to Blaine each year. "Blaine used to be known for its trailer parks and sod fields, but it's not that way anymore," says Mayor Tom Ryan, who grew up working on his father's sod farm in Blaine. "With the National Sports Center, the arena, the TPC golf course and the new shopping centers, we're not anywhere close to that.

"The class of educated people moving in here is unreal. And they love to be here. We're a city of sports, we preserve the environment, there are miles of trails coming, and we'll have 39 parks." It's not all rosy, however; Ryan points out that the skyrocketing land prices have made it difficult to retain a desirable mix of housing prim. Foster says Club West will include townhouses that start at around $100,000, and single-family homes will top out at $300,000, but Ryan remains concerned that the middle class is being shut out of Blaine's building boom.

"We're dealing with affordable-housing issues," Ryan says. "Most houses are $200,000 and above, and there's nothing for working people. We have to take a hard look at it.

"We have 1 percent of our apartments available. People are moving together to try to get by. These three-bedroom ramblers were never supposed to exceed $75,000, and now they're $150,000. They last (on the market) less than one day. We had 24 offers on one three-bedroom rambler, and one guy offered $10,000 over the best offer."

He says assessed values on homes jumped an average $7,000 from April to May this year; land that cost $10,000 an acre 10 years ago now costs $40,000 an acre.

Ryan suggests the city might have to explore some relaxed requirements on builders so units can be constructed at more moderate cost. He says Blaine did not used to require 6-inch-thick walls, finished garages, paved driveways and landscaping, but now it does.

"We made the city better, but more difficult to afford," Ryan says. "It's good for the best of times, but not the worst."

Jerry Hinicker, owner of Blaine Velo Sports on Minnesota 65, has lived in Blaine for 35 years and has seen the city in good times and bad. These times, even with the rising prices, are pretty good, Hinicker says.

"When I moved out here, it was basically a blue-collar community that people could afford to live in," Hinicker says. "I could buy an inexpensive house I could afford to live in. Thirty-five years later, I'm in the same house, with some improvements.

"If people had visions of Blaine having $400,00 to $500,000 homes, people would have thought you were nuts," Hinicker says. "Who would want to live on that end of town? It just never struck anybody as a place where-you could-develop luxury houses. I think it's great from the standpoint of mixing housing. We've got a wide cross-section of people, both ends of that cross-section benefit each other."

Mary Hamm, the publisher of the Blaine Banner newspaper, also remembers what Blaine used to be like. Her father earned 34 cents an hour as a St. Paul machinist when her family moved to Blaine for the fresh air and open spaces. She says there wasn't much in Blaine to unite folks until the high school opened two decades ago.

Her newspaper is also a unifying force, continuing the small-town tradition of publicizing births and graduations. She laments the increased traffic noise from the commuters who now use Blaine's highways as a route from the north to their jobs in the cities.

Yet Blaine's evolution away from small-town life was inevitable, Hamm figures. "We have people who don't want any more development, but when you can order a pizza and have it delivered in 10 minutes, you're not rural anymore," she says.

AT A GLANCE: BLAINE

• Location: In Anoka County, 18 miles north of downtown St. Paul
• Area: 34 square miles
• Population: 44,942
• Racial makeup: 93 percent white, 2.5 percent Asian, 1.7 percent Hispanic, 0.8 percent black
• Major employers: Bermo Inc., CF Motor Freight, Aveda Corp.
• Health care: Unity hospital in Fridley and Mercy hospital in Coon Rapids
• Schools: In three school districts: Districts 11, 12 and 16. One senior high, two middle schools and five elementary schools in the city.
• Public transportation: Anoka City Traveler, MTC
• Average assessed home value: $124,600; taxes: $1,728
• Average rent: $747
• Attractions: National Sports Center complex includes stadium, athletic facility for training and competition in variety of sports and host of USA Cup youth soccer tournament; four Olympic-size sheets of ice at super rink; Tournament Players Club of the Twin Cities, a private 18 hole professional PGA golf course.
• Parks and recreation: Numerous parks spread over 510 acres, combined with 4,400 acres of wetlands. Among the larger parks are Blaine Soccer Complex, Blaine Baseball Complex and Aquatore Park. Extensive trail system includes Northwood Bikeway.
• Web site: www.ci.blaine.mn.us
• Best of Blaine: Preserved natural wetlands and a significant emphasis on recreational sports.