Public hearing on Above the Falls Regional Park Master Plan scheduled December 18
Posted on 11 December, 2019Public hearing begins at 6:30 pm in the Board Room at the Mary Merrill Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Headquarters
A public hearing on the Above the Falls Regional Park Master Plan is scheduled at 6:30 pm during the regular Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) of Commissioners meeting Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, at Mary Merrill MPRB Headquarters, 2117 West River Road.
Above the Falls Regional Park surrounds and includes 2.8 miles of the Mississippi River in north and northeast Minneapolis. The Above the Falls Regional Park Master Plan can be considered a 25-year investment framework to guide parkland assembly, recreation programs, design and development, and operations and maintenance.
In 2013, the MPRB created the Above the Falls Regional Park Master Plan and the City of Minneapolis (City) adopted its Above the Falls Master Plan Update, which guides redevelopment of areas around the planned regional park.
In the 2013 plans, the City and MPRB recommended different boundaries for a regional park at the City-owned Upper Harbor Terminal (UHT) site. City and MPRB staff have conducted engagement and planning work around the UHT site since late 2015 to help inform a regional park boundary.
Guided first by a Memorandum of Understanding between the two agencies and a three-way Exclusive Rights Agreement between the City, MPRB and a development team, the group has created a concept plan that includes a regional park boundary. Now the MPRB has updated the ATF Plan and included the proposed UHT regional park boundary with new appendices to supplement the original work.
Public comments received in 2019 have been reviewed and, as warranted, incorporated into the current draft Master Plan for Board consideration. A previous public hearing on the plan was held August 7, 2019, but no action was taken in order to allow for further discussion about the park property boundary.
The master plan and two appendices are linked below. It’s also available on the Above the Falls Regional Park Master Plan project page, in the right column under “Key Documents.”