BOARD TO OPPOSE TRIPLEX: The board opposed any variance that would allow developers to build a duplex or triplex at 1120 SE 8th St. The address is currently the site of a single-family home and the board feels that the lot is too small to accommodate a multi-family dwelling. A board member will attend the Board of Adjustment hearing on June 26 to make MHNA’s position known.

MHNA SUPPORTS ANDREW RIVERSIDE HOUSING: Common Bond, the organization developing the Andrew Riverside Senior Housing at 401 8th Ave. SE, is applying for Affordable Housing Trust Fund money through the Minneapolis Center for Planning and Economic Development. The board agreed to Common Bond’s request to send a letter of support for the project that would be included in its application for Trust Fund dollars.

GOOD NEIGHBOR FUND TO BRING NEW TREES TO MARCY-HOLMES: Marcy-Holmes has been awarded a grant from the Good Neighbor Fund that will pay for 40 to 50 trees to be planted in the neighborhood in spring 2009. The board agreed to except responsibility for making sure that property and homeowners are committed to watering the new trees after the Park Board plants them.

ELECTIONS FOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Arvonne Fraser, Bob Distad, Steve Swanson and Paul White were re-elected as president, vice president, secretary and treasurer respectively. Board members Gordon Kepner, Thomas Lincoln, Jo Radzwill, Sonny Schneiderhan and Douglas Carlson were re-elected as directors. Marnie Loven-Bell was elected to the board.

MEMBERSHIP RATIFIES BYLAWS CHANGES: MHNA membership approved changing MHNA’s fiscal year from June 1 through May 31 to January 1 through December 31 effective January 1, 2009.

Membership also approved changing the venue for official notice of association meetings from “Southeast” to “the community newspaper that serves SE Minneapolis.”

15TH AVENUE PLAN: Andrew Dresdner, an architect with the Cuningham Group, presented a draft of the 15th Ave. SE Urban Design Plan to the MHNA membership. The plan covers roughly three and one-half blocks of 14th and 15th avenues between 8th and 5th Streets SE.

Dresdner pointed out that the east side of Marcy-Holmes is mostly student housing and therefore experiences substantial pressure for development. The 15th Avenue Plan would encourage housing density on the borders of the neighborhood that would help to protect the historical integrity of its core. The plan focuses on architecture that prioritizes proportion and massing over height; creates new public and semi-public spaces; is pedestrian, transit and bike friendly; and, helps to eliminate substandard housing.

The board will hold another public meeting to allow residents to provide additional feedback. Once it is finalized and approved by the board, the 15th Avenue Plan will become part of the Marcy-Holmes Master Plan and its supplement. Dresdner explained that the plan is intended to provide a vision to potential developers of the kind of development the neighborhood would embrace.

CENTRAL CORRIDOR LRT UPDATE: Hennepin County Commissioner, Peter McLaughlin, Mayor Rybak’s senior policy aide, Peter Wagenius, Ward 3 City Council Member Diane Hofstede, and Director of Community Relations for the University of Minnesota, Jan Morlock discussed the status of the Central Corridor project. The University Board of Regents and the Metropolitan Council have approved turning Washington Avenue into a transit/pedestrian mall from Coffman Union to Oak Street. This was not the outcome that MHNA had hoped for. The board had backed the northern alignment because it fears that through-traffic forced off Washington Avenue will use University Avenue or 4th Street through Marcy-Holmes.

Peter McLaughlin told MHNA that the research he’s seen indicates that most of the cars on Washington Avenue are going to destinations at the University. Other drivers will use East River Road. McLaughlin did acknowledge that some traffic would move over to 4th and University.
Marcy-Holmes Board President, Arvonne Fraser presented the board’s requests for mitigation measures in the neighborhood to help offset the anticipated increase in traffic. The board requested pedestrian and bike overpasses on University Avenue over the entrances and exits to 35W; expansion of the #2 bus route to connect the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul Campus with Dinkytown; increased bus service across 10th Avenue with a stop at University Avenue; East River Road connected to Main Street and the proposed Granary Road stopped at 35W. The board also asked that the freeway entrances and exits be made more aesthetically pleasing and the 5th Street pedestrian bridge be expanded and cleaned up.

“Neighborhoods around Hiawatha have told us that unless we get firm commitments on mitigation now, we’ll never get them,” said board member Doug Carlson. McLaughlin said that he hopes to get East River Road connected to Main Street and Granary Road built prior to starting work on the new light rail lines, so that mitigation is in place before its needed. “The ultimate mitigation for the Central Corridor LRT is the Central Corridor LRT itself,” said Peter Wagenius.

NEXT: Board meeting, July 15, 2008
MEETINGS: 3rd Tuesday monthly, 6 p.m. at University Lutheran Church of Hope, 601 13th Avenue SE
CONTACT: 623-7633, www.marcy-holmes.org
BORDERS: Central Ave. to 15th Ave. SE, 9th St. SE to Main St. SE

last revised: June 20, 2008

• Login or register to post comments