Excelsior lakefront to get serious updates

Having decided to keep the city's lakefront as a park, Excelsior officials now want to channel public affection for the picturesque village green into efforts to beautify it.

At the urging of hundreds of residents, the City Council voted 5-0 Monday night to preserve the park, saying no to a Lake Minnetonka pavilion proposed for the site by developer Jon Monson.

The next step, the council agreed, is to get started on long-postponed improvements to the site.

"We all agreed that it is under-utilized and it doesn't represent the Excelsior that we would like to see there," Council Member Wendy Berghorst said.

Two months of well-attended public discussions about the pavilion have energized the tiny lake town and gotten residents thinking about the future of the city, Mayor Nick Ruehl said Tuesday.

"There is a significant interest now in the port and its importance to the downtown and to the city," Ruehl said. "What this process has done is to raise everybody's awareness that in fact this is a special place and we should treat it that way."

The council directed the city staff to get started on improvement plans that could include public restrooms, screening for trash cans and a possible concession area.

Monson said he will retire his plans for a pavilion, but he prodded the city to continue to think about "how to deal with the impending financial needs that everyone agrees are there."

The pavilion would have generated new revenue to help pay for roads and storm sewers, and no one has come forward with a better idea for dealing with the city's financial needs, Monson said.

As an Excelsior business owner and a resident of Deephaven who considers downtown Excelsior his downtown, Monson said he wants the city to prosper. "I want to see there be a draw to Excelsior for Water Street," Excelsior's main street.

Council Member Greg Miller said that the community did not view the waterfront decision as a financial one, however.

"If our only criteria for the port was financial, then we probably would have zoned it commercial," Miller said. Selling or leasing waterfront property "is how you would maximize revenue to the city."

The overwhelming public opinion is that the lakefront park land is special and should not be given up at any price, Miller said. But the city does need money to ease the burden on taxpayers for roads and sewers, he said.

"I have seen estimates higher than $15 million for infrastructure improvements that we are going to need in the next 20 years. That is a lot of money," Miller said.

So far, the city has not created a savings plan for infrastructure, he said. "We need to start getting serious about saving up to pay for that."

Ruehl said the pavilion discussion educated residents about issues facing the city, including how Excelsior can balance its need for commercial vitality -- which could draw more visitors -- with residential desires for the city.

Excelsior is in the process of updating its long-range growth plan and that will spell out capital needs, Ruehl said.

It was a lack of money that has left the waterfront park in such modest condition, Miller said. Due to budget constraints, the only improvements in the last 20 years have been landscaping put in last fall and a ticket booth which serves as an information kiosk for the park, he said.

The goal now is to "enhance the experience there," and that may require concessions or other commercial elements to help pay for improvements, Miller said.

The Parks and Recreation Commission will review old plans to arrive at a new strategy for enhancing the park, Miller said. "We will create a task force and they will debate this, and as a city we would come together on a vision."

Laurie Blake • 612-673-1711