Minneapolis park officials are changing course for a hotly opposed operations facility they earlier recommended for the Upper Mississippi River in northeast Minneapolis.
The earlier plan called for two park operations yards in northeast and north Minneapolis to be consolidated for an indeterminate period on the riverfront land the park system bought in 2012. Residents want a park there and dozens testified against the plan last fall.
Now, park staffers are recommending to the Park Board that the riverfront property at 1720 Marshall St. NE be used for equipment storage and maintenance only on an interim basis for five or six years. That's while the north and northeast facilities would be renovated to meet long-term needs.
That development is "definitely positive," said Joy Smallfield, president of Sheridan Neighborhood Organization, who said that park staff presented the proposed change to that organization recently.
The land involved lies between the BNSF railroad bridge and Psycho Suzi's bar-restaurant.
The neighborhood group wants a park constructed on the site, which is the second-largest bought by the Park Board on the East Bank riverfront in the 15 years since a master plan was adopted for the upper riverfront. It called for more parks and trails up that shore. A park on the site would require demolishing a large commercial building that covers about half of the partly contaminated site.
The Park Board last fall proposed spending at least $4 million to upgrade the building for use as an operations center, plus some beginning steps toward park use. Residents said that plans for storing forestry and park maintenance equipment wasn't the best use of riverfront property.
"Since we don't have support from the community, we don't want to spend any more money on that building" said Cliff Swenson, director of design and project management. The proposed change of direction will be discussed Wednesday by the Park Board.
