City officials outline challenges awaiting Mankato-North Mankato area

Sept. 29--MANKATO -- As federal and state support slips, Mankato and North Mankato will have to tackle more large-scale issues either on their own or with local collaboration.

That's one of the big messages officials from each city gave Friday morning during a forum on the state of the area hosted by Greater Mankato Growth.

Mankato and North Mankato officials say they've been able to reduce debt over the past few years, but each city is concerned with mounting concerns on everything from affordable housing to transportation to child care to even water quality.

"The toxicity in our political climate does not make things easier," Mankato Mayor Eric Anderson said.

The area's economic development plans are coming along nicely. Mankato plans to sell some of its old city assets to make room for more business opportunities while North Mankato is busy attracting more businesses to its new industrial park space on the northwest side of town.

At the same time, the Mankato area sees growing pains throughout the community -- people aren't paid well enough to afford existing housing, but those who have housing here (and even those living in nearby bedroom communities) need good transportation and day care opportunities so businesses can attract more professionals and keep the community growing.

Each city also contends with growing environmental concerns, which will include water issues. Both North Mankato City Administrator John Harrenstein and Mankato City Manager Pat Hentges pointed out the rising cost of wastewater treatment and increasing treatment standards as ongoing water quality issues where the cities will likely shoulder more of the burden to fix.

Yet each city also sees the need for more arts and culture opportunities. Recent National Citizen Survey results found Mankato area residents want more arts offerings, while Hentges noted the increasingly diverse local population wants each of their needs met.

"We have to reach out to all of our citizens to have a growing, vital and sustainable community," he said.

Hentges noted racial equity is a "big issue" for the area and would likely take more communication and buy-in from citizens to address.

Near-universal factors such as the rising cost of health care, pension concerns for people approaching retirement and longevity are causing more issues as cities grapple with the fact neighborhoods aren't turning over to new homeowners as much.

City officials believe more so-called "phasing" housing will take place for seniors looking to downsize but who aren't yet ready to live in nursing homes. Younger residents also will have to deal with staying in more "starter" homes in poorer neighborhoods, or looking for more rental options.

Those trends likely won't change over the next few decades, as cities look to make more neighborhoods dense with smaller lots to make them more affordable.

"We're going to have to bury our expectations," Hentges said. "If we think we're going to have 'Leave it to Beaver' subdivisions, I think that has some sustainability challenges to us all in the future in some respect."

Hentges noted more than a quarter of Mankato's adult population is aged 25 or younger, which means the city will need to make more efforts to reach out to younger populations.

Each city is addressing that in different ways. Both cities look to add more housing units over the next few years and preserve older housing stock for would-be residents.

"That's why we went through the rental density study that North Mankato did," North Mankato Mayor Mark Dehen said. "We look at lower North Mankato as our affordable housing, and we want to preserve the quality of those neighborhoods."

Dehen also noted the city hopes some of its rental properties will gentrify back into single-family homes, though he expects both cities to continue using subsidy tools such as tax increment financing. He said come communities in the Twin Cities use similar tools to help buy down rents for low-income residents and working with businesses to funnel workers into those newer homes.

Both cities are in the process of setting budgets for next year, but city officials will plan to address larger strategic goals next spring.

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