Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board approved RiverFirst: A Park Design Proposal and Implementation Guide for the Minneapolis Upper Riverfront.
By: Janette Law 05/01/2012
With the adoption of RiverFirst on March 14, the Minneapolis Park Board sets in motion a five-year initiative to create several miles of new Mississippi riverfront walking and biking trails, three new multifunctional parks and multiple neighborhood and regional bike and trail connections to the Mississippi River.
“This is a tremendously exciting time for the Minneapolis Park Board, the city and residents of North and Northeast Minneapolis, in particular,” said Minneapolis Park Board President John Erwin. “We are known as the ‘City of Lakes,’ but we also recognize that the Mississippi River is the birthplace of our city and has been neglected as a citywide natural amenity.”
RiverFirst is the outcome of the 2011 Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative (MR|DI), a nine-month community-based vetting of the winning landscape and urban design concept submitted by the RiverFirst design team TLS/KVA to the 2010-11 Minneapolis Riverfront Design Competition. More than 60 agency and community partners, along with a broad spectrum of community members, were directly involved in the MR|DI.
Among the RiverFirst priority projects going into a period of pre-construction design is the Riverfront Trail System with Farview Park phase one greenways – most notably at North 26th Ave. across the Interstate 94 trench cutting off Northsiders and the West Metro from the Mississippi. A second greenway along 22nd Ave. NE is also undergoing schematic design, as is the Scherer Park District – an existing Minneapolis Parks property along the Northeast side of the riverfront located across the Plymouth Avenue Bridge from Boom Island.
“Under the RiverFirst initiative, the Park Board will work with our partners to bring to life a vision that will transform the Upper Riverfront for residents of Minneapolis, the region and the state,” says President Erwin. The Park Board plans to partner with the City of Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Parks Foundation and other agencies on exploring additional five-year priority projects, including a Northside wetlands park where much of the Port of Minneapolis currently is, floating islands in the river, and what’s being called the “Downtown Gateway” park.
“We recognize this project will not only add recreational amenities, but will also be an economic catalyst for the entire area, and dramatically increase bird and fish habitat along an important natural flyway,” says Erwin. “Taken together, this project is a win for everyone.”
Community members are invited to view RiverFirst at MinneapolisRiverfrontDevelopmentInitiative.com, where they can also learn more about riverfront parks design and sign up for the e-newsletter. Info can also be found at MinneapolisParks.org (click on Current Projects under Design & Planning).
