Metro: Development And Defiance On Metro's Final Frontier

Julie Zignego is one of thousands of landowners caught in a growth boom along I94 from 494 to Hudson, wondering whether she should sell her land to developers. The rural suburbs thought they would never be as congested as 'another Woodbury', but by 2030, Washington county is expected to have 165,000 new residents--which is like three Woodburys! while most farmland in the area sells for about $9,000 an acre, farmland near the freeway is now worth 10 times that. Zignego's neighbor sold his 121 acre farm to a developer for $8 million that he had bought five years ago for $250,000. The growth is spreading millions of dollars unevenly, creating jealousy and anger. It is turning sleepy towns into battlegrounds for developers and preservationists. Neighbors are pitted against neighbors, builders against farmers and towns against their oldest residents, who's way of life was set in the 1800's.