Soo Line Garden – MPRB Response to Environmental Conditions

Project Milestones

Spring 2024
Soil contamination discovered that exceeds MPCA thresholds.

Summer 2024
Garden closed, garden activities relocated to nearby community spaces.

Fall-winter 2024
Community engagement, concept designing, remediation planning, and securing funding.

Spring-Summer 2025
Partial site remediation and installation of temporary raised garden beds

December 2025
Long-range concept plan adopted.

Spring 2026
Gardening resumes in raised bed planters while fundraising for full remediation continues.

Project History

Soo Line Gardens, located between Garfield Avenue South and Harriet Avenue South and immediately north of the Midtown Greenway, has existed as a part of the Minneapolis park system since its conveyance to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) by Hennepin County through a tax forfeiture process in 2010. It had been used as a community garden under Hennepin County’s jurisdiction since 1991. The agreement for conveyance noted the garden use be perpetuated when it became parkland under the jurisdiction of the MPRB. Because the garden use predates the MPRB’s Community Garden Policy, it is referred to as a “legacy” garden and operates under an annual permit issued through Environmental Stewardship.

The Soo Line Gardens site, before its use as a garden, was occupied by railroad uses and grain elevators, both of which would have used petroleum products and other hazardous substances in their operation. Recent soil investigations conducted Landmark Environmental by Hennepin County as a part of a proposed pathway project indicate contamination remains, now at levels that exceed MPCA thresholds.

Of six soil samples collected, three exceed MPCA thresholds for diesel range organics (DRO) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). While samples were collected at varying depths, those chemicals were found in the upper two feet of the soil. Contamination may be present at greater depths, but the sampling process encountered rubble and debris which prevented deeper collection of samples.

In 2024 MPRB hired Braun Intertec to do an independent review of the investigation materials and recommend a course forward. Braun worked with the MN Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) through their Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup Program to prepare a Response Action Plan. MPRB was unsuccessful in securing a Hennepin County environmental response grant for full remediation. Instead, project staff determined a plan for capping part of the site and installing temporary raised garden planters while staff continue to seek funds for full remediation and improvements. Capping work was completed and raised beds installed in summer 2025.