Watershed District seeks home on Minnehaha Creek

The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District someday could have headquarters overlooking Minnehaha Creek on land now owned by the city of Minnetonka.

The district, which controls creek flooding and works to improve its water quality, rents offices in Deephaven under a lease that expires in December 2011.

Cost comparisons show that building would be cheaper than renting in the long term, said watershed board chair Jim Calkins.

The possibility that Minnetonka might donate land for the project makes it financially attractive to the district, Calkins said.

The city would donate land only if it could use the building for public meetings and a public access to the creek, said Minnetonka City Manager John Gunyou.

"We would not be interested in helping someone build an office building," Gunyou said. "There needs to be a public benefit coming out of that for any type of partnership we would enter into."

Having a headquarters on the creek would allow the Watershed District to demonstrate the storm-water controls and creek-bank planting it prescribes, Calkins said. "The connection with the creek is important for us."

Minnetonka is working to make the creek more of a visual and recreational asset for the city. Several years ago it bought two houses on the creek near the historic Minnetonka Mills area just off Minnetonka Boulevard east of Interstate 494. The "plan was to at some point demolish the houses and convert the land to creek-related use," Gunyou said.

In the past, the city might have considered building a nature center or creek interpretative center, but they can be costly and "we're obviously in tougher times now," Gunyou said. Because the Watershed District was looking for new headquarters, "we talked about the possibility of doing something jointly," he said.

The district would be the primary tenant but the city would want a midsize community meeting room included in the structure, Gunyou said. A location with views along the creek would make it an ideal meeting place, he said. It could also be a trailhead with parking for walkers or canoeists along the creek, Gunyou said. "We think it has a lot of potential."

Mayor Terry Schneider and City Council Member Tony Wagner will represent the city in discussions that are now underway.