{"id":20142,"date":"2024-10-01T12:42:11","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T12:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/?p=20142"},"modified":"2024-10-01T12:59:59","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T12:59:59","slug":"santa-fe-realtors-promote-diverse-housing-options-in-housing-strapped-region-2-3-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-4-2-4-2-2-3-2-4-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-2-3-2-2-2-3-2-3-2-2-2-2-3-3-2-2-2-3-2-2-3-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/homepage\/success-story\/spaar-sg1024","title":{"rendered":"St. Paul Area Association of REALTORS\u00ae Supports Wayfinding Plan to Enhance Walkability in Farmington, Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"When a small suburban city south of St. Paul was determined to enhance and promote the ease of non-motorized travel within its limits, it appealed to the St. Paul Association of REALTORS\u00ae (SPAAR), which had developed a method \u2013 and a reputation \u2013 for supporting local communities. Through its Key Communities outreach program, the association partnered with the city of Farmington to create a city-wide wayfinding plan to mark and highlight the area\u2019s walk- and bike-ability. A Smart Growth Grant from the REALTOR\u00ae Party helped provide funding.<\/p>\n

Becky Wegscheid, the association\u2019s Government Affairs Director, explains that the Key Communities program, created four years ago, has been a great success in building strong ties with the Twin Cities\u2019 outlying communities. \u201cOur jurisdiction covers not only St. Paul, itself, but twelve counties and 200 smaller municipalities. This outreach program focuses on developing year-long projects that are executed jointly by one of these communities and our local REALTOR\u00ae members.\u201d SPAAR has completed nine projects so far, and the program has gained traction; in this case, Farmington city staff reached out to the association about creating a system of branded wayfinding markers for the robust parks and trail system it had established. \u201cThey have done a great job of maintaining the rural nature of their small city and are so proud of their extensive green spaces,\u201d says Wegscheid. Having built the trail system, the next natural step was to showcase it with signs and markers.<\/p>\n

SPAAR\u2019s partners in the project included the city council, city staff, the chamber of commerce, the county government and the state department of transportation. The same local firm that had developed the city\u2019s trail system secured the bid for the signage project; having a strong existing relationship facilitated this next phase and also cut costs, notes Wegscheid. The new effort included a preliminary study to review signage precedents. Next, the firm drew up a wish list of signs needed to help people get around the community, visually connect the parks and trails with neighborhoods and downtown, and identify downtown parking and city facilities. From there, they developed sign concepts to present to the City Council \u2013 all in a distinctive black and orange scheme, as the city had adopted the school colors of the Farmington Tigers for its new branding.<\/p>\n

Because the Farmington City Council is all up for re-election, the wayfinding project is temporarily on hold, reports Wegscheid, though she fully expects it to move forward when the new council is seated. \u201cThe community is ready and waiting and will be fully engaged, with our local REALTOR\u00ae volunteers, once the new council gives it the green light. We can\u2019t wait \u2013 our members are super proud of this project!\u201d<\/p>\n

The St. Paul Association is a big fan of the REALTOR\u00ae Party grants program, having received about a dozen so far during Wegscheid\u2019s tenure as GAD. Her advice to anyone thinking about seeking a grant to support a local project? \u201cDo it! 100% do it! NAR staff will work with you on the application process, and if needed, find you a different grant program under the REALTOR\u00ae Party umbrella that might be a better fit.\u201d Once funding is secured, she advises patience: \u201cWhen you\u2019re in a partnership with multiple entities serving lots of stakeholders with different agendas and priorities, it\u2019s like having many cooks in the kitchen. Sometimes it takes a while to bring it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about how the St. Paul Area Association of REALTORS\u00ae is using REALTOR\u00ae Party resources to enhance the quality of life in its communities, contact Government Affairs Director Becky Wegscheid at bwegscheid@spaar.com<\/a> or 218.640.5966.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a Smart Growth Grant from the REALTOR\u00ae Party, the St. Paul Area Association of REALTORS\u00ae partnered with local entities and the state department of transportation to develop a system for nonmotorized transportation in a suburban Minneapolis community.","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,296],"tags":[383,344,353],"class_list":["post-20142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","category-success-story","tag-minnesota","tag-smart-growth","tag-smart-growth-action-grant"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}