Nicollet Island Park Stadium
The following press release provides an update on the DeLaSalle Stadium project:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
info@ourbeautifulriver.org http://www.ourbeautifulriver.org
DELASALLE STADIUM FACES DIFFICULTIES BEYOND COURT DECISION
By Steve Pease, from the March 10, 2008 Southwest Journal - City council action
DeLaSalle: There will be grass
After months of dispute over whether a proposed athletic field — or stadium depending on whom you ask — at DeLaSalle High School on Nicollet Island will have synthetic or natural turf, the high school withdrew its appeal Feb. 29, effectively ending the debate.
This article appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on March 1, 2008.
DeLaSalle Playing Field
By STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune
In other vegetative news, the question of grass versus artificial turf at DeLaSalle High School's controversial planned athletic field was settled when the school withdrew its bid for a synthetic field.
From a press release from the Friends of the Riverfront:
MINNEAPOLIS, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008 – The Minneapolis City Council today voted down a private developer’s plan to install artificial turf on an athletic field proposed for Mississippi riverfront parkland. The 13-0 vote was a formality after a surprise announcement that the developer, DeLaSalle High School, had withdrawn its appeal.
Council member Cam Gordon writes on his blog:
As incredible as it may be, the Council seems posed to vote to allow DeLaSalle High School and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to install artificial grass (or "AstroTurf") on their proposed stadium on Nicollet Island.
By Shawne FitzGerald. First posted on the Minneapolis Issues Forum.
Backers of an Athletic Facility to be shared by DeLaSalle and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) on Nicollet Island will be surprised to learn that artificial turf is one last vote away from covering that field.
Park Board's Planning Committee approves amended agreement with DeLaSalle that has a poison pill obligating the Park Board to build DeLaSalle a new stadium if it later decides not to renew the lease.
With a clause like this, it makes one wonder who exactly is protecting the interests of the taxpaying public with this deal?
From the Downtown Journal website
Amendments to DeLaSalle agreement approved UPDATED January 24, 2008, 5:08pm
By Mary O'Regan
On Wednesday evening, the Planning Committee of the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB) approved amendments from Tom Hanson, the state Finance Commissioner, to a Reciprocal Use Agreement (RUA) between the Park Board and DeLaSalle High School for a shared athletic field to be constructed next to the school, which is on Nicollet Island.
This was submitted to the Minneapolis Issues Forum on 01/22/08 by Liz Wielinski and Shawne FitzGerald.
On Wednesday, the MPRB Commissioners are being asked to amend the Reciprocal Use Agreement (RUA) with DeLaSalle High School - including these key provisions:
From The Bridge
By Liz Riggs (January 15, 2008)
Despite a recent groundbreaking and favorable court ruling for DeLaSalle High School, several hurdles still remain in the school’s push to get an athletic field on Nicollet Island.
Parks notebook originally published in the The Southwest Journal on November 5, 2007
By Mary O'Regan
DeLaSalle High School still faces several hurdles before construction can begin on its proposed athletic field on Nicollet Island.
The Park Board currently owns about half of the land where the stadium will go, having purchased it with a grant from state bond proceeds in the 1980s. Roughly two years ago, the MPRB entered into a Reciprocal-Use Agreement (RUA) with the school that must abide by state statutes because state money is involved. According to the state's Assistant Commissioner of Finance Peter Sausen, the current agreement doesn't meet the necessary requirements.
"They have to make changes to the reciprocal use agreement and come back to us which they have not done yet," Sausen said.
Reprinted from the Star Tribune Website Netlets for Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007 with permission from the Star Tribune and the author.
Though the publicity about DeLaSalle's groundbreaking last week creates the impression that the school's athletic field is a "done deal," this is far from the reality, as a listing of the remaining hurdles quickly shows.
Currently three lawsuits are moving forward, including one in the Minnesota Court of Appeals where the ruling will be issued by mid-December. That court can order DeLaSalle to search among the many options that have been identified for an alternate location that would not destroy historic resources.
Reprinted with the permission of Ms. Viken
Yes, DeLaSalle had a groundbreaking yesterday, but here's a few clues that this is NOT a done deal:
1 - the ground they "broke" was their own.
Since the Reciprocal Use Agreement (RUA) that was the basis for use of Park Board land has been voided by the State Finance Commissioner, DeLaSalle could only dig at home.
Reprinted from the Minnneapolis Issues Listserve with permission from Ms. FitzGerald
DeLaSalle and the MPRB will have to rewrite their Reciprocal Use Agreement (RUA) to "conform to the requirements of the [State] Finance department" according to MPRB General Manager Don Siggelkow. The MPRB and DeLaSalle met with staff of the State Finance Commissioner in September. The project needs the approval of the State Finance Commissioner because state bond dollars were used to acquire 201 East Island, the so-called "tennis court parcel" that DeLaSalle wants for the athletic facility project.
From the Friends of the Riverfront Website
Park board attorney Brian Rice's pleaded with the Met Council to save his swap: But the Met Council said it went against their fiduciary duty to protect regional parksA "done deal" to let a private school build a football field on public Nicollet Island parkland fell into disarray Aug. 22, 2007 when the Metropolitan Council rejected a land swap proposed by Minneapolis park board administrative staff. Met Council members said the deal, which the Metropolitan Parks and Open Space Commission had also rejected, would violate their fiduciary responsibility to the regional park system.
Star Tribune Letter to the Editor 8-17-2007
NICOLLET ISLAND FIELD
No need to hurryToday the Minneapolis City Council may decide to forever close one half of Nicollet Island's remaining two public cross-streets to build DeLaSalle High School's football stadium. The City Planning Commission, ruling the stadium would violate numerous riverfront plans and destroy valuable river connections, asked the City Council to delay vacating Grove Street until outstanding issues are resolved.
Principles of good government dictate that the council should not rush toward irrevocably vacating Grove Street and that this action cannot meet the city's own "no further public use" standard for street vacations. Further governmental actions are still needed to determine whether the project is even possible
Next week the Metropolitan Council considers next week whether to remove a restrictive covenant dedicating the parkland as public open space where stadiums cannot be built. Last week the Metropolitan Parks and Open Space Commission rejected removing the land from Central Riverfront Regional Park..
