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Our mission:
Working to preserve our rural way of life through responsible city growth
This can be achieved by:
- Community education and communication to make sure all residents are aware of proposed City plans.
- Representing Credit River residents as a group and communicate their wishes to the City Council, Planning Commission, and the County Commissioner.
This can be achieved by:
- Community education and communication to make sure all residents are aware of proposed City plans.
- Representing Credit River residents as a group and communicate their wishes to the City Council, Planning Commission, and the County Commissioner.
RECENT CREDIT RIVER HIGHLIGHTS
Updated 08/20/2025
We want to encourage people to attend council and planning commission meetings when they can. See the city's website for dates and times.
Thank you for reading these important highlights!
Please consider signing our petition to change an important zoning ordinance:
Issue: Currently there is a zoning ordinance in the city which designates certain large properties in Credit River as "UER" - Urban Expansion Reserve. This requires only 1 housing unit per 40 acres. The City's 2040 Comprehensive Plan uses the Met Council's land designation as "Diversified Rural" which says 4 units per 40 acres, or 1 unit per 10 acres.
Why does this matter? Because keeping it as 1 unit per 40 acres makes it more difficult for property owners to break up their large lots into smaller 10 acre lots and makes it easier for developers to come in and purchase the 40 acre lots for future, dense development.
What we want: We want the city council to change the current designation of UER (1 per 40) to Diversified Rural (1 per 10) to align with the City's 2040 Comprehensive Plan. This will help keep us a rural community and allow current land owners more options for how their land will be used in the future. The City Council wants to know if people are in favor of such a change in zoning, so please let them know you support such a change by signing our petition.
Our goals:
Our goals:
Balance the required growth with sound planning, considering the needs of all areas within Credit River.
Be mindful of the impact of growth on taxes - most residents might assume that adding to our population would lower taxes, but in reality, the additional city services expenses will require an increase in our taxes.
Have residents take our online survey and present the findings to the City Council and Planning Commission.
Learn/Understand the challenges and tradeoffs involved with development.
Raise awareness of the 2040 Credit River Comprehensive Plan and the City's relationship with the Metropolitan Council. (find it in City Links)
Collaborate with local government and Met Council to understand their mission and requirements. Work with them to balance those with the desires of the residents.
Encourage/Involve interested residents in the plans for our city's development. Encourage creative problem solving by reaching out to the community for novel ideas.
Encourage residents to attend City Council and Planning Commission meetings and to hold City officials accountable to their constituents.
See the updated results to the CrrA's city-wide survey
See the updated results to the CrrA's city-wide survey
Below you'll find the updated PowerPoint presentation we made to the City Council along with all of the anonymous free responses given for Questions 10 and 13.
CRRA Survey Results Presentation 2024.pdfPresentation of CRRA Survey Results made to City Council on Tuesday, Oct. 17th updated with results as of Sept. 1, 2024.
Question 10 Free Responses.pdfSurvey Question #10 Free Responses
Question 13 Free Responses.pdfSurvey Question #13 Free Responses
What is the Credit River Rural Alliance?
What is the Credit River Rural Alliance?
The Credit River Rural Alliance (CRRA) is a grassroots organization of your neighbors and fellow citizens of Credit River who are deeply concerned about the prospects of intense, higher density development within our rural community. We started as a group of concerned neighbors who came together after the City Council was kind enough to alert us to a higher density housing development being proposed in the forests of our backyards. This area is one of the few remaining stands of the Big Woods in Credit River, which has been recognized by Scott County as an important wildlife corridor. The proposed development would result in the cutting down of nearly all of the trees in the entire development.
Through additional research and conversations with the City Council we have learned that as part of Credit River’s 2040 plan (find it in City Links), Northern Credit River is planned for higher density developments (3-5 houses per acre). This was concerning to us as most residents were not aware of the 2040 plan, nor the city’s obligations to the Met Council – a 7 county metro area planning council.
We are not opposed to new development, but we would like to see future development be aligned with the wishes and needs of the community. We live here because we cherish the rural way of life, we enjoy the open spaces, wildlife, and wooded environments that surround us. We want to encourage the leaders of the City of Credit River to protect our rural way of life.
Because of all this, we started the Credit River Rural Alliance.
Donations go to pay for mailings, public meetings, and operating expenses. We appreciate your help!
Some Background:
Northern Credit River covers an area of about 4,000 acres. There are an estimated 1,600 acres in the total 4,000 acres of northern Credit River that could be developed. Using the designated minimum of 3 homes per acre, if half of these acres were to be developed, there would be ~2,400 new homes built (3x the number of homes currently). If all 1,600 acres were developed, there would be ~4,800 new homes built. The worst-case scenario would have this density of 3-5 homes per acre over the entire 4,000 acres (which is what is stated in the Comprehensive Plan). This would mean a minimum of ~11,200 new homes would be constructed in northern Credit River bringing an increase in population of 28,000-33,000 when all is said and done.
With those 2,400 to 11,200 additional housing units would come an increase in traffic volume and hundred to thousands of students added to our schools, and potentially a massive increase in the quantity of stormwater pollutants washed from rooftops, lawns and streets into the Credit River. This will impact everyone in Credit River, so our city leaders need to hear from you so they can make informed decisions for our future.
The rural beauty of Credit River is worth protecting.
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