During the 2018–2019 academic year, Scott County partnered with the Resilient Communities Project (RCP) and the University of Minnesota on 14 projects designed to implement the County's recently adopted long-range 2040 comprehensive plan. Twenty County staff members participated in the 18-month partnership, working closely with more than 100 graduate, professional, and undergraduate students across 18 courses representing 13 academic departments at the University of Minnesota and St. Catherine University.
Located southwest of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Scott County has been the fastest growing county in Minnesota for the last few decades. Much of the County’s growth has been due to its location on the Minnesota River, which supported the county's fur trading, lumber, and farming industries in the 1800s. More recent growth can be tied to the opening of the Bloomington Ferry Bridge in 1995, which connected Scott County residents with employment opportunities in the southwest Twin Cities metropolitan area. The population increased 55 percent between 1990 and 2000, growing to an estimated population of 143,680 residents in 2016.
You can view a summary of the partnership and projects, or learn more about individual projects and news items about the partnership below.
Projects
- Project Categories: Housing | Land Use and Population
Explore best models and approaches to creating a community land trust (CLT) in Scott county; gauge demand for land-trust properties; research best practices for optimizing affordability; assess benefits of CLT programs for families and homeowners; research public-private implementation models…
- Project Categories: Housing | Policy Analysis & Public Policy
Assess effectiveness of current property assessment methods, research areas that have implemented alternative property assessment methods to compare and contrast, research savings associated with alternative assessment methods, and propose policy changes to ensure, if new standards are adopted,…
- Project Categories: Parks and Recreation | Health, Human, and Social Services
Identify the feasibility and begin planning for a "food forest" at a city or regional park or other publicly-owned land that would provide low-maintenance, sustainable, plant-based food production.
- Project Categories: Environment & Energy | Economic Development and Employment
Explore the potential for perennial food crops that can both provide the benefits of living cover and produce an economic return that would potentially incentivize greater participation by farmers.
- Project Categories: Land Use and Population | Environment & Energy
Provide information and analysis that can inform planning for future household waste management. Projections of future demand for hazardous household waste facilities, demographic research to pinpoint populations or geographic areas not utilizing the service, recommendations for both outreach…
- Project Categories: Education | Health, Human, and Social Services
Assess the feasibility of creating an "open library" facility in the Scott County Library System by determining community interest, identifying technical and operational requirements, documenting best models and practices, identifying possible library locations and needed redesigns,…
- Project Categories: Education | Health, Human, and Social Services
Conduct an early learning program and data inventory; research what programs exist, what data is available for tracking student development, and how that data is being shared; research what other data integration models are being successfully used elsewhere in the United States; provide…
- Project Categories: Housing | Economic Development and Employment
Analyze different Employer Assisted Housing (EAH) models to determine effectiveness at attracting and retaining a workforce and identify specific businesses or business sectors in Scott County that would benefit from and potentially participate in an EAH initiative in the county.
- Project Categories: Housing | Communications and Marketing
Discover the barriers that discourage rental property owners and managers in Scott County from accepting Section 8 vouchers, identify opportunities to correct misinformation or misperceptions of the program or the people who participate in it, create a marketing strategy to encourage greater…
- Project Categories: Transportation | Land Use and Population
Research how connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV) will reshape urban design, land use, and transportation in rural and suburban communities. How are plans being made to anticipate these changes? How should large entertainment destinations/venues and freight land use clusters plan and design…
- Project Categories: Transportation | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Explore a public private partnership model for addressing ride share needs; assess advantages and disadvantages, available subsidies for residents with income barriers, and creating a program that can transition or add connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies.
- Project Categories: Land Use and Population
Conduct a cost of community services study for the County's three broad land use categories guided in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan: Agricultural Preservation (1/40 density), Rural Residential (1/2.5 density), and Rural Commercial/Industrial.
- Project Categories: Health, Human, and Social Services | Parks and Recreation | Policy Analysis & Public Policy
Produce an analysis and engagement process to better understand how policies can affect access to active living within suburban and rural communities; conduct a policy analysis on how communities support active living and identify any barriers for suburban and rural communities; review policies…
- Project Categories: Transportation | Policy Analysis & Public Policy | Land Use and Population
Research local eminent domain processes that improve infrastructure projects and yet protects land owners and tax payer interests; conduct a policy analysis on how Eminent Domain Statutory changes have impacted local highway projects focusing on cost increases and settlement rates resulting from…
RCP-Scott County Partnership in the News
- Twin Cities libraries accessible beyond posted hours, MinnPost, July 15, 2024
- Twin Cities libraries embrace new self-service library hours — without librarians present, Star Tribune, January 28, 2023
- Library Cards Provide Extended Access at Jordan Library, Scott County Scene, Winter 2021–2022
- Jordan Library, after successful pilot, permanently extends off-hours access, Jordan Independent, January 2022
- Home Affordable Home: Tackling Affordable Housing in Scott County, Scott County Residents' Report, January 2020
- U of M Project Studies Cost of Community Services in Rural Areas, Scott County Scene, April/May 2020
- Building Resilience: RCP Helps Communities Adapt to Local Challenges, Humphrey School website, January 28, 2020
- Building Resilience: Helping Communities Adapt to Local Challenges, Inquiry: Exploring the Impact of University Research (U of MN Office of the VP for Research), December 19, 2019
- U of M student projects aid work in Scott County; partnership celebrated, Scott County Scene, August/September 2019
- Libraries without Librarians? Twin Cities systems try it, Star Tribune, June 2019
- Scott County partners with Housing Students to Promote Voucher Initiative, College of Design blog, June 2019
- Celebrating RCP's Partnerships with Scott and Ramsey Counties, RCP Blog Post, May 31, 2019
- U of M students seek solutions for challenges facing County, Scott County Scene, April-May 2019
- A New Chapter for Scott County Libraries, RCP Blog Post, February 28, 2019
- Students prepare Scott County for connected and automated vehicles, CTS Catalyst (U of MN Center for Transportation Studies), January 2019
- Students Exam Scenarios for Connected and Automated Vehicles in Scott County, Belle Plaine Herald, January 25, 2019
- Planning for Scott County's Transportation Renaissance, RCP Blog Post, January 3, 2019
- Students draft Scott County's driverless car future, Jordan Independent, December 13, 2018
- U of M students learn, aid efforts to develop resilient communities, Scott County Scene, December 2018/January 2019
- Exploring Resiliency from Farm to Table, RCP Blog Post, November 30, 2018
- County selected for U of M's Resilient Communities Project, Scott County Scene, June-July 2018
- Counties Are Part of Partnership with UMN, Access Press: Minnesota's Disability Community News Source, May 10, 2018
- Scott, Ramsey counties to tap U of M expertise to gain resilience, Minnesota Public Radio, May 6, 2018
- UMN community partnership program to work with two counties, Minnesota Daily, May 2, 2018
- Scott County to partner with University of Minnesota to solve problems, Jordan Indepenent, April 27, 2018