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In this Issue
 Last month, I was honored to speak at the groundbreaking for an exciting new housing project called Green on Fourth, a 243-unit, mixed-income project, just steps from the Prospect Park Station on the METRO Green Line. The Metropolitan Council provided early financial support to the project, awarding nearly $3 million from the Council’s Livable Communities program. Livable Communities funds were used to help acquire the property, clean up environmental hazards, and to support a stormwater management system, green roof, street reconstruction, utility relocation, and other placemaking-related street improvements.
Green on Fourth is a great project. But it is made better because it is part of the larger emerging community of Towerside, 370 acres extending from the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis east into Saint Paul. The Towerside district is near the geographic center of the Twin Cities region and is adjacent to the University’s athletic and bio-discovery facilities. It is also served by three Green Line stations and major interstate highways.
The vision for Towerside – which first emerged from neighborhood planning around the Green Line stations – is for a high-intensity, high-density mix of places and spaces where living, working, learning, arts, culture and innovation come together in a diverse, sustainable community. The key is that while there are many individual projects in development in Towerside, the real project is Towerside itself. The vision for infrastructure pieces (stormwater management, parking, complete street design, signature green space) is provided on a district level.
The Council is proud to be a partner with Towerside, the Prospect Park and St. Anthony Park neighborhoods, and more than 35 other organizations working to make the Towerside vision a reality.
Learn more about Towerside
Learn more about the Livable Communities program
Watch the video about the Green on Fourth project
As always, be in touch if you have any questions or concerns.
Cara
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The Council is planning a major rehabilitation project next year on a sewer tunnel in Minnehaha Park.
The existing regional sanitary sewer tunnel, built in 1935, is in need of rehabilitation. MCES plans to clean the tunnel, install a liner that will create a new sewer pipe within the existing tunnel, and upgrade the existing regulator and electrical vaults. The proposed work will preserve the structural integrity of the tunnel and will minimize the risk of failure. The proposed project is located along the north side of East Minnehaha Parkway, and the tunnel is located under Minnehaha Creek, Hiawatha Avenue and the METRO Blue Line light rail corridor. The existing tunnel is located 1 ½ miles northwest of Coldwater Spring, a significant cultural and historic resource.
The rehabilitation work is planned will start in 2019 and we are currently conducting public engagement to inform residents and other members of the public on the project. A public information meeting on the project and the Facility Plan Amendment will be held:
Tuesday, April 24, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
St. Peder’s Lutheran Church
4600 East 42nd Street, Minneapolis
How to get there:
Directions to 4/24 meeting by bus | Directions to 4/24 meeting by car
Directions to 4/24 meeting by bicycle | Directions to 4/24 meeting by walking
 Representatives from the Metropolitan Council, Metro Transit, Hennepin County, City of Minneapolis and City of Brooklyn Center grabbed their shovels March 20 to break ground on the region's second rapid bus line, the C Line. The C Line is part of a planned regional network of a dozen rapid bus lines in heavily traveled corridors that, when completed, is expected to connect 200,000 people a day to almost half a million jobs across the region.
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The Metropolitan Council has received the Silver 2018 National Planning Achievement Award for a Best Practice from the American Planning Association (APA). The award recognizes the agency’s Planning Assistance for Thriving Communities initiative, a multi-format compilation of planning guidance, resources, and educational opportunities in one centralized, accessible location to assist local agencies with their comprehensive planning efforts. The Metropolitan Council is one of 16 APA Achievement Award recipients this year.
Each year, APA recognizes outstanding efforts in planning and planning leadership through its National Planning Excellence and Achievement Awards. The two-tier awards are selected through a juried process. Excellence Award recipients are the highest honor and Achievement Awards recognize accomplishments in areas of specialization within the planning profession.
Read more about the award and other honorees.
 The D Line rapid bus project continues to move forward. This month,
the project will reach a major milestone: a Recommended Station Plan.
The D Line will travel along the length of the current Route 5, primarily
on Chicago Avenue and Emerson/Fremont Avenues. Route 5 is the busiest route in
the region, with about 15,000 riders each weekday. The D Line will offer a
faster, more comfortable trip for riders. Pending full funding, construction is
anticipated to begin in 2020.
Over the past year, Metro Transit has been working with
community partners, along with staff from corridor cities and Hennepin County
to develop recommended station locations for the D Line. These recommendations
will be summarized in the D Line Station Plan. This plan will establish
two things: which intersections will have stations and where at those
intersections the station platforms will be located.
During this process, we received many comments supporting
the addition of a
station at Chicago and 48th Street. This additional station will be included in
the plan released for public comment.
On May 9, the Metropolitan Council is expected to release the D Line Station Plan for
public review and comment. Public comment will remain open until June 8.
You can participate in public comment by going to the D Line page on the Metro Transit website.
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Visitors to the Metro Mobility website will notice big changes as the Council rolls out a new look and organization to the site this week. In response to feedback from users, the site has been reorganized, simplified, and is more compatible with mobile devices.
Visit the new site.
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Following recommendations from a task force of city and business representatives, the Council approved simplifications to how the Sewer Availability Charge (SAC) is calculated. The changes make the SAC determination process for new or expanding businesses simpler and faster. The improved system will benefit a wide variety of businesses, such as a restaurant that wants to expand outdoor seating to patios and sidewalks on a seasonal basis.
Hennepin County State of the County address.
On April 10, I attended Hennepin County’s State of the County address held at Brookview
Golden Valley Community Center. County Commissioner and Board Chair Jan Callison
presented the state of the county, which centered on the various ways that Hennepin
County is here for its cities, businesses, and residents. The event was well
attended by elected officials, staff, community members. Chair Alene Tchourumoff
and Council Member Katie Rodriguez were also in attendance from the Council.
C Line Construction Groundbreaking. On March 20, I along with several fellow Met Council Members, Hennepin County Commissioner, Minneapolis City Councilmembers, Brooklyn Center Councilmembers, community members, and staff gathered for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the C Line. Chair Alene Tchourumoff and Council Member Gary Cunningham delivered remarks, along with partners Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, Minneapolis City Council Members Jeremiah Ellison and Phillipe Cunningham, and Brooklyn Center Mayor Tim Willson.
D Line Open Houses. On February 23, I was able to attend the D Line Open House event at Wellstone International High School in Minneapolis. The draft D Line Station Plan was released in February and and the Council received more than 100 pieces of public feedback on proposed station locations. Metro Transit held six open houses on the topic, in addition to seeking public comment online.
Minneapolis Downtown Council annual meeting. On February 12, Council Member Gail Dorfman and I attended the Minneapolis Downtown Council’s annual meeting. A large focus of the meeting centered on the success of the recently completed Super Bowl LII. There was also an extensive year-in-review which covered development, jobs, and included a section about Metro Transit usage of the buses and METRO Blue and Green lines. |
