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In this Issue
Happy March! As the
saying goes, Minnesota has but two seasons; winter and under construction. While
winter may not have been as bad this year, the coming construction season will
be. And it will highlight what many in District 8 already know: Our region needs
a modern transportation system that connects us to the places we want to go. A
system with roads, bridges, LRT, BRT, reliable bus service, and safe streets
for people to bike, roll, and walk. Indeed, the future of our state’s economic vitality depends on it.
Investing in our roads and bridges to extend their useful
life and to more efficiently carry goods and people is critical, as is
investing in our transit system.
Demand for transit is growing. Metro Transit ridership has
grown 18.5% since 2005, with daily ridership on the METRO Green and Blue lines
surpassing projections. Millennials – Minnesota’s largest population group –
are driving less and using transit more. Additionally, our region’s senior
population is projected to grow, with more and more of them seeking
opportunities to get around without a car.
By 2040, an additional 800,000 people will be living in the
Twin Cities region – that’s double the current population of Minneapolis added
to our region. We want them! But imagine navigating the cities and getting to
where you need to go with more people, but no new transportation options.
Ultimately, a strong transportation system is essential for
our quality of life. Transportation connects people to the places that matter
most—school, work, places of worship, health care and other services, shopping,
and recreational opportunities.
Transportation is also about opportunity. A job is no good
if a person can’t reasonably reach it every day. Businesses will lose money if their
shipments are slowed and unpredictable due to congestion.
It is no secret that the state legislature has been unable
to settle on a funding plan to meet the needs of the whole state, with roads,
bridges, and transit. Yet transportation system is at a crossroads. Gov. Mark Dayton has proposed a comprehensive
funding package to improve our state’s entire transportation system, recognizing
the inseparability of roads and transit – and that we need to invest in both.
Under Gov. Dayton’s proposal, new revenue would repair or
replace 1,700 miles of roads and 235 bridges statewide. For transit, the metro
area sales tax would raise enough money to fund transit operations and transit
capital investments, including nearly 30% expansion
of the bus system over the next 10 years. This would connect 500,000 more
residents to jobs within a 30-minute transit commute.
As the legislature continues its
work over the next few months, I am hopeful legislators will work with Gov. Dayton
to develop the comprehensive transportation funding solution that all
Minnesotans deserve. It’s not just about giving local communities more
resources to deal with congested corridors. It’s an investment in our region’s
prosperity and quality of life for years to come.
As always, if you have any questions or
concerns about our work at the Met Council, please don't hesitate to contact
me.
Sincerely,
Cara
Metropolitan Council Member
for District 8 (Northeast Minneapolis, Southeast Minneapolis, parts of South
Minneapolis, and St. Anthony Village)
Recently, the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB), which advises the Metropolitan Council on transportation issues, recommended 58 projects to receive $208 million in federal funds. The federal funds will leverage an additional $205 million in local matching funds for a total investment of $413 million. Projects are scheduled for construction in 2020 and 2021.
In our district, a Nice Ride Focus Area Densification and Infill Initiative received $450,000 including $300,000 in federal funding. This project adds Nice Ride stations to cover more areas and the geographic focus will be in Northeast Minneapolis, East Lake, and Phillips neighborhoods.
Another project for $590,000, including $531,000 in federal dollars, runs from James Avenue to Minnehaha Avenue on the Midtown Greenway. This project includes trail crossing, durable high-visibility crosswalks, raised medians, curb extensions, ADA accommodations, sidewalk and signal improvements.
At least $6.7 billion in investment has been tallied along the existing METRO Green Line and Blue Line and the proposed Southwest and Blue Line Extension Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects, the Metropolitan Council announced.
These investments include new construction such as the Optum headquarters in Eden Prairie, as well as redevelopment or rehabilitation of existing buildings, such as Custom House Apartments in downtown St. Paul and Riverside Plaza in Minneapolis. The total development likely exceeds the $6.7 billion as many developments along the routes have not publicly disclosed their project value.
“Businesses continue making strategic investments along existing and planned light rail lines, demonstrating their conviction that light rail is a valuable asset to local communities along these routes,” Metropolitan Council Chair Adam Duininck said.
Kelly Doran, principal and founder of Doran Companies, says proximity to the Southwest Green Line extension is a major selling point in attracting tenants.
“Clearly, the decision to construct the Southwest Light Rail line is a significant boost to the marketing of The Moline, our multi-family apartment project opening in Hopkins this fall—but even more, to future development in the Southwest metro,” Doran said.
Connecting workers to jobs
There are already 64,300 jobs within one-half mile of the 15 planned Southwest LRT stations and another 16,600 jobs are expected to be added by 2035. Once completed, Southwest LRT will connect workers to job centers such as:
- Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital
- Downtown Hopkins
- Opus Business Park
- Optum corporate headquarters
- Golden Triangle Business Park
- Eden Prairie Center shopping mall.
Southwest Light Rail has the support of the business community, including the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, Associated General Contractors of Minnesota and Minnesota Business Partnership Three of Minnesota’s 17 Fortune 500 companies are located on the Southwest line:
- CH Robinson
- SuperValu
- UnitedHealth Group
- Another six Fortune 500 companies are on the existing LRT lines in downtown Minneapolis.
The Blue Line Extension has 16,200 jobs within one-half mile of its 11 planned new stations and is expected to grow to 20,800 jobs along the route. Target’s Northern Campus in Brooklyn Park is a major job center on the line.
The Metropolitan Council has appointed a new 17-member task force to discuss and make recommendations on several issues related to the sewer availability charge, or SAC.
Council Member Wendy Wulff will chair the task force. The group includes 13 city representatives and three business representatives.
The Council regularly convenes a customer group to examine and evaluate SAC issues. The new task force will look at:
- SAC charges for outdoor seating at restaurants.
- Options for manufactured home SAC affordability issues.
- Options to simplify the SAC application process for business owners.
- Options to simplify SAC credit verification for communities.
The task force planned to meet four times by the end of January, at which time it will report on the outdoor seating issue. The group may schedule additional meetings.
SAC pays for reserve capacity in the wastewater system
SAC is a one-time fee the Council charges to local governments when:
- A residential, commercial, industrial or institutional property first connects to the regional wastewater (sewer) system.
- When a business or institution grows or changes and creates more potential demand on the wastewater system.
Local governments pass the SAC fee on to business or property owners, and may add on local fees.
SAC is a critical revenue source for the Council's environmental services division. SAC collects about $40 million annually, and pays 35% to 40% of the debt service for wastewater infrastructure. SAC allows the Council to build infrastructure large enough to handle wastewater from current and future users, and then collect as demand for additional capacity occurs.
Ensuring fairness for all users
“SAC is a service-based fee that is applied equally across all user of the regional wastewater system,” explained Ned Smith, Director of Finance and Revenue for the Council’s Environmental Services division. “It ensures that new or expanding users pay the new portion of the capacity demanded, and that existing users pay only for the debt-service portion of the system that they are using.”
The largest share (78.9% in 2016) of annual revenue for regional wastewater operations and maintenance comes from municipal wastewater charges. The Council’s municipal charges are very competitive. Nationally, our rates are about 40% lower than rates charged by similar-sized (large) agencies, according to a 2014 survey by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.
On Friday, Feb 3. I attended the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board's Minnesota Environmental Congress, with a special interest in sustainable land use and transportation trends
I also attended Metro Transit's Transit-Oriented Development Winter City event. The forum was a look at how to design, build, and maintain urban spaces that can be used in all four seasons. The forum featured experts from Stantec who have extensive experience designing and building vibrant four-season spaces throughout North America and Western Europe. Speakers from The Musicant Group, 612 Sauna Society, Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District, the City of Minneapolis and Metro Transit were also present.
Topics discussed included Edmonton's Winter Design Guidelines, "Ice Ribbons," winter-accessible transit, bike and pedestrian facilities, and programming public events that make the most of winter in the city.
On March 6, I attended a meeting of NE Minneapolis neighborhoods with MNDOT and Metro Transit about the impacts of this summer's I-94 resurfacing project and required detours on express bus reroutes to and from downtown through NE Minneapolis. Metro Transit is still investigating options, and heard loud and clear neighbors' concerns. I will report on the final plan in the next newsletter. |
