WOODBURY, MN (WNN) – With a modest population of 13,500 in 1986, Woodbury city staff cooked up a creative marketing ploy to grab the attention of residential developers.
They sent 300 oversized fortune cookies to builders with the enclosed message, “It would be your good fortune to build in Woodbury,” according to an article in the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Sweet treats haven’t been needed to spur growth since. A new projection shows Woodbury’s healthy population growth is expected to continue for the next several decades.
A population estimate by the Metropolitan Council projects Woodbury will grow from 75,102 people in 2020 to 94,200 in 2050.
Households will increase from 27,290 to 37,400 during that time.
The population projection was part of the Imagine 2050 comprehensive plan that the council adopted at its meeting yesterday.
For the seven-county metro region, the Met Council projects 650,000 residents and 324,000 households will be added by 2050:
- 33% of net household growth in urban and urban edge communities
- 23% in suburban communities
- 38% in suburban edge communities
- 6% in rural communities
Woodbury falls among the suburban edge communities. “This growth pattern represents a slight shift to the suburbs after the decade 2010-2020, which was the most urban-centered period of development the region has seen in over half a century,” the Met Council stated in a news release.
The Met Council is a policy-making body, planning agency, and service provider for the seven-county metro area.
Elsewhere in Washington County, Cottage Grove is estimated to grow from 38,839 to 52,400 while Lake Elmo is projected to increase from 11,335 to 18,900 by 2050, according to the Met Council.
