Monthly Archives: September 2014

Heads-Up for the October 1, 2014 Park Board Meeting

5:00 P.M.  REGULAR BOARD MEETING. The meeting will be held in the boardroom at Park Board headquarters, 2117 West River Road, just north of Broadway Pizza.  Note: Having previously submitted his resignation, this will be the last meeting which Assistant Superintendent of Planning Bruce Chamberlain will be attending.

5:30 P.M.  OPEN TIME. Speakers can call 612-230-6400 before 3:00 p.m. the day of the meeting to sign up or they can sign up at the Board meeting prior to the start of “Open Time.”

Listed below are some agenda items of interest:

–Picture a Photo Contest Award Presentation by People for Parks

–Authorizing a Professional Services Agreement with Confluence to Provide Consulting Services for the South Service Area Master Plan for a Fee Not to Exceed $415,500

–Authorizing a Forty-Five (45) Day Public Review and Comment Period Beginning October 15, 2014 for the Draft Theodore Wirth Regional Park Master Plan

–Amending Professional Services Agreement C-31051 with Landform for Master Planning, Final Design, Construction Document Preparation and Project Management Services Related to Construction of Weber Park Natural Swimming Pool and Pool House in the Amount of $62,340 for a New Contract Total of $632,840 and Allocating Additional $80,000 in Future North Mississippi Regional Park Funding to Cover This Change Order and Other Miscellaneous Project Costs

–Authorizing a Professional Services Agreement with M. A. Mortenson Company for “Construction Manager as Agency” Services for Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Reconstruction and Cowles Conservatory Renovation in the Amount of $657,444

The complete agenda, with staff reports, for the MPRB Board of Commissioners meeting on October 1, 2014 is at http://minneapolisparksmn.iqm2.com/Citizens/Default.aspx .  Board meeting agendas and related information are posted on this web page two business days prior to meetings. Webcasts of MPRB regular board meetings are posted on the same web page two to five business days following each meeting and are available for viewing, along with webcasts for the previous two months.

Also of interest and now available to the commissioners and the public are the monthly reports that Superintendent Miller has initiated for construction permits and for Planning Department projects. The availability of these reports is one of the important changes instituted by Superintendent Miller. They are normally in the agenda packet for the first regular meeting of the month.

View Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board meetings live from 5-9 p.m. on the Minneapolis Government Meeting Channel 79 on Comcast Cable. You may also view live meetings online on the Channel 79 webpage: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/tv/79

Regular meetings are typically re-telecast on Channel 79 on Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. and on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 5 p.m. Telecast schedules are subject to change.

The Park Board’s website is www.minneapolisparks.org. The phone number is 612-230-6400.

Ryan Cos. Makes $200K Donation for Downtown East Park

The following article by Nick Halter was published in the September 24, 2014 issue of the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

Ryan Cos. Makes $200K Donation for Downtown East Park

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The money will hire a professional fundraiser to come up with several million dollars to turn two city blocks on the east side of downtown into a park.

Ryan Cos. US Inc. kicked off a drive to raise funds for a new green space in downtown Minneapolis with a $200,000 donation.

Ryan Cos. has said it would take the lead on fundraising. The Minneapolis developer recently won rights to build an apartment tower near the new Minnesota Vikings football stadium.  Ryan is also developing two office towers along the would-be park.

The pledge was made in a letter to the Minneapolis Downtown Council by Tony Barranco, Ryan’s vice president of development. City Council Member Jacob Frey posted the letter on Facebook and said he negotiated the donation.

A new 501(c)(3) entity called Greening Downtown Minneapolis has been formed to raise the funds, according to the letter.
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Protecting the Channel

Here is the thoughtful Open Time presentation given on September 17, 2014 by Minneapolis resident Sarai Brenner in support of  the Park Board’s engaging outside legal counsel to explore options regarding the Kenilworth Corridor.

PROTECTING THE CHANNEL

I am here to support your 4(f) claim for our historic canal along the Kenilworth channel, and to encourage you to pursue out side legal counsel to explore options. There is so much at stake, so much to lose! According to federal transportation laws, these laws require that transportation projects using federal money not take or adversely affect parks or historic sites. As this project is currently designed, I believe that this project would be detrimental to our lakes, channel and trail that  crosses the Kenilworth Channel. Under the  regulations, only if a route is the only “feasible or prudent” pathway for the project can the federal government approve it. Yet it is clear that alternate routes are also viable.

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Park Board Seeks Help For Possible Southwest Fight

The following article by Eric Roper appeared in the September 17, 2014 online edition of the Star Tribune.  The original article, with links to related material, can be viewed at http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/275533171.html

Park Board Seeks Help For Possible Southwest Fight

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Gearing up for a possible legal fight over Southwest light rail, Minneapolis’ Park Board voted Wednesday to seek advice from attorneys with transportation expertise.

The board asked Stinson Leonard Street to research their legal options under a section of the federal Department of Transportation Act that protects parkland. That section, known as “4(f),” requires that transportation projects have minimal impact on parklands unless there are no feasible and prudent alternatives.

Another group of private citizens has already filed a separate lawsuit over the line against the Metropolitan Council and Federal Transit Administration because the line was approved without an updated environmental impact statement — due out early next year.

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Minneapolis Park Board warns of funding shortfalls ahead

The following article by Eric Roper was published September 14 in the Star Tribune:

Minneapolis Park Board warns of funding shortfalls ahead

Neighborhood rec centers and parks are “heart and soul” of system, director says, but costs are rising faster than city dollars.

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Bohanon Park in north Minneapolis needs building fixes, sidewalk improvements and playground upgrades.

Photo: Eric Roper, Star Tribune

Minneapolis park officials say the city’s nationally renowned park system is at risk of deteriorating rapidly unless more money is committed to repair aging facilities.

Even with modest tax levy increases, the city’s semi-independent Park Board envisions the gap between available money and needed expenses growing from $5.4 million next year to nearly $9 million by 2019.

The system’s superintendent, Jayne Miller, said they are juggling a higher demand for services and rising health care costs with the growing maintenance needs at neighborhood recreation centers, playgrounds and wading pools — some of which are half a century old.

“If we continue down the path that has been kind of laid for our neighborhood parks, if we don’t figure out how to invest in them, that’s going to be unacceptable to this community,” Miller said. “The neighborhood parks are the heart and soul of this community and are the heart and soul of the parks system.”

Park officials’ desire for more money is likely to test how much Minneapolis residents value having the best parks vs. how much they are willing to pay for them.

Minneapolis residents are already seeing the pressure for more park money in the city’s 2015 property tax levy. The Park Board’s request for $2 million more in property tax money next year was one of two primary drivers behind Mayor Betsy Hodges’ proposed $6.7 million levy increase.

The Park Board’s general fund budget was about $66 million in 2014.

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Minneapolis Park Board Gears Up To Fight Southwest LRT Alignment

The following article by Peter Callaghan was published on MinnPost on September 18, 2014.

Minneapolis Park Board Gears Up To Fight Southwest LRT Alignment

Minneapolis park board gears up to fight Southwest LRT alignment
MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan

The resolution approved Wednesday directed the outside lawyers to evaluate the Minneapolis Park Board’s “rights and responsibilities under State and Federal law to uphold its mission to protect and preserve parkland for current and future generations.”

A unanimous Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board decided Wednesday evening to explore its options for challenging the alignment for Southwest light rail transit.

The first step: hiring the law firm of Stinson Leonard Street, who will be paid up to $22,000 to provide legal research on a federal law that protects parks and historic sites from federally funded transportation projects.

At issue is how the alignment treats the Kenilworth Channel: a 100-year-old canal that connects Cedar Lake to Lake of the Isles. The board has repeatedly asked the Metropolitan Council to tunnel beneath the channel rather that build new bridges over the top of the waterway.

The Met Council, as part of the planning process for the Southwest LRT, did look at both a deep and a shallow tunnel under the channel. Neither was chosen. The shallow tunnel would be cheaper — between $30 million and $60 million, according to park board staff based on Met Council numbers — but it would also be more disruptive during construction.

A shallow tunnel is currently set to be built south of the channel, where the rail corridor is at its narrowest point, making it impossible to accommodate new light rail tracks as well as existing freight rail tracks and pedestrian and bike paths.

The board staff has said that their concern isn’t based only on the increased number of trains that will pass over the channel, but also on the visual disruption the bridges would create.

Hennepin County, along with the five cities along the 16-mile, $1.64 billion project’s route, were required to give formal consent to the alignment. All have done so.

The park board, however, was not given an official role by the state in the process. Yet if it can show the federal government that the alignment disrupts the channel — and that the bridges are not the only “feasible and prudent” alternative — it could force changes. The federal rule at issue is known as Section 4(f) for the section of federal law where it was originally placed, in the 1960s.

Park Superintendent Jayne Miller stressed that the park board’s intent isn’t to stop the expansion of the Green Line, but to change the method of getting there.

Kenilworth Channel

MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan

At issue is how the alignment treats the Kenilworth Channel: a 100-year-old canal that connects Cedar Lake to Lake of the Isles.While some commissioners were concerned about the cost and the effect any litigation would have on completing the light rail expansion, others said the board had no choice.

“We need to remember what it was we were elected to do,” said Commissioner Anita Tabb.

“We’re really here to protect the parks. Obviously the Department of Transportation feels the same way because they have a law about this.We don’t know if there will be a lawsuit.

Hopefully there won’t. What we do know is what we have done to date has not been listened to by the powers that be.”

Board President Liz Wielinski said the board and staff has “exhausted every polite avenue that we could” to get across to the Met Council its concerns. “They came back and said ‘it’s feasible to build a tunnel underneath the channel and then chose not to include it.”

The Metropolitan Council’s 2012 environmental review of the project acknowledges that the alignment that was chosen could have multiple Section 4(f) implications. It also says that the impacts would be minor and could be mitigated.

Met Council Chair Sue Haigh has also said the ongoing supplemental environmental impact statement will identify any problems and that the council will work to mitigate them.

LRT shallow tunnel

Metropolitan Council

A shallow tunnel would be cheaper — between $30 million and $60 million, according to park board staff based on Met Council numbers — but it would also be more disruptive during construction.

 

Park Board Considers Legal Action on Southwest Light Rail

The following article by Dylan Thomas, dated September 15, 2014, was published in the Southwest Journal.

Park Board Considers Legal Action on Southwest Light Rail

Law firm would review Park Board’s legal standing under federal law

A second legal challenge to the Southwest Light Rail Transit project could come from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

The Park Board votes Wednesday on a $22,000 contract with the Minneapolis law firm of Stinson Leonard Street to review its legal standing with regard to the $1.65-billion transit project. (Click here to view the resolution.) Park Board leaders seek assurances that light rail trains and tunnels won’t harm nearby parkland or the Chain of Lakes.

Section 4(f) of the Federal Transportation Act states federal agencies cannot approve transit project that impact parkland and historic sites unless “no feasible and prudent alternative” exists and there is planning to minimize any potential harm. In a resolution approved May 21, the Park Board acknowledged the Southwest LRT project might meet that standard, but also sought additional study.

On Sept. 8, the Lakes and Parks Alliance of Minneapolis, a nonprofit citizens group, filed a lawsuit that claims Metropolitan Council violated state and federal laws by moving ahead with the project before completing an environmental review of tunnels planned for the Minneapolis section of the line, an area known as the Kenilworth Corridor. Along with the Met Council, the lawsuit names Met Council Chair Susan Haigh and the Federal Transit Administration as defendants.

The Park Board’s proposed contract with Stinson Leonard Street doesn’t cover the cost of potential litigation. The contract will be renegotiated if the Park Board decides to sue.

Heads-Up for the September 17, 2014 Park Board Meeting

4:45 CLOSED SESSION.  Committee of the Whole will discuss a proposed Workers Compensation settlement.  Closed to the public.

5:00 P.M.  REGULAR BOARD MEETING. The meeting will be held in the boardroom at Park Board headquarters, 2117 West River Road, just north of Broadway Pizza.

5:20 P.M.  ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE COMMITTEE

5:30 P.M.  OPEN TIME. Speakers can call 612-230-6400 before 3:00 p.m. the day of the meeting to sign up or they can sign up at the Board meeting prior to the start of “Open Time.”

Listed below are some agenda items of interest:

–Design services agreement with HGA, Inc., for the Wirth Park Adventure and Welcome Center in an amount not to exceed $400,000 (the Adventure and Welcome Center was provided for in the Loppet Foundation agreement).

–Increasing the amount of a contract with Applied Ecological Services Inc. for removing cattails from Loring Pond.

–Increasing the amount of a contract with SRF Consulting Group for preparation of the Master Plan for the Central Mississippi Riverfront Regional Park.

The complete agenda, with staff reports, for the MPRB Board of Commissioners meeting on September 17, 2014 is at http://minneapolisparksmn.iqm2.com/Citizens/Default.aspx .  Board meeting agendas and related information are posted on this web page two business days prior to meetings. Webcasts of MPRB regular board meetings are posted on the same web page two to five business days following each meeting and are available for viewing, along with webcasts for the previous two months.

Also of interest and now available to the commissioners and the public are the monthly reports that Superintendent Miller has initiated for construction permits and for Planning Department projects. The availability of these reports is one of the important changes instituted by Superintendent Miller. They are normally in the agenda packet for the first regular meeting of the month.

View Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board meetings live from 5-9 p.m. on the Minneapolis Government Meeting Channel 79 on Comcast Cable. You may also view live meetings online on the Channel 79 webpage: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/tv/79

Regular meetings are typically re-telecast on Channel 79 on Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. and on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 5 p.m. Telecast schedules are subject to change.

The Park Board’s website is www.minneapolisparks.org. The phone number is 612-230-6400.

Lawsuit Filed Over Southwest LRT Environmental Review

The following article by Dylan Thomas appeared in the September 10, 2014 online edition of the Southwest Journal.

Lawsuit Filed Over Southwest LRT Environmental Review

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George Puzak, a former Park Board commissioner, spoke Monday for the Lakes and Parks Alliance of Minneapolis.  Dylan Thomas

Lakes and Parks Alliance of Minneapolis wants a federal judge to void municipal consent votes

A Minneapolis citizens group filed suit in federal court Monday aiming to halt work on the $1.65-billion Southwest Light Rail Transit project until an environmental impact study is completed.

The Lakes and Parks Alliance of Minneapolis is asking a federal judge to nullify the municipal consent votes cast by the five cities on the 16-mile light rail route and Hennepin County. It argues the Metropolitan Council violated state and federal laws by forcing the votes to approve or disapprove the design before an environmental study of a shallow tunnel in Minneapolis’ Kenilworth Corridor was completed.

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