As Above the Falls Plan moves forward, FMR calls for design standards

The Graco plant just south of the Broadway Bridge in Minneapolis is an important part of the corridor. But it could have been a better neighbor if it were subject to design standards requiring greater setback from the river, a greater percentage of window frontage, and materials other than concrete.

Photo: Bob Spaulding/FMR

The Minneapolis City Council is preparing to adopt a key update to its Above the Falls Master Plan. The plan is a roadmap for the future of the Minneapolis riverfront between Plymouth Avenue and the northern city limits. The new Above the Falls Master Plan represents a significant reassessment of a previous plan for the area, adopted in 2000. For FMR, two key issues remain: design standards, and staying the course on the GAF site.

Design standards

The most notable change in the proposed updated plan is around land use. In several parts of the North Side riverfront (on the west side of the river), the older plan proposed housing and mixed use development adjacent to riverfront parks. Instead, the new proposal is geared toward continuing to allow commercial and industrial uses in those locations, while retaining the former plans continuous park and trail space along the river.

The City initiated the study and plan revision several years ago. Some City leaders have felt that that previous visions for mixed use development are not as feasible as may have been assumed in the previous plan. That is due to several important realities:

• First, the vision for higher-density housing and mixed-use development may not be viable in the private marketplace.
• Second, the public resources available to assist mixed-use development have been shrinking.
• Third, several areas planned for redevelopment contain industries that are important, but may be hard to relocate.
• And fourth, the Citys eminent domain authority has been severely curtailed.

For those reasons, FMR to date has been reluctantly accepting of several of the changes in land use designation along the riverfront. To people who were part of the award-winning 2000 Above the Falls planning process, some of the shifts in the vision has been dispiriting even if they are made for good reasons.

Still the plan retains the core vision of continuous riverfront parks and trails on both sides of the river and support for that public ownership of the river shoreland remains strong. Nonetheless, FMR is advocating that the City put in place smart design standards to ensure that river-adjacent land uses are safe, attractive and bike and pedestrian friendly.

For example, we think controls on setbacks, a minimum requirement for windows and limitations on some building materials make sense. The development of those standards could be part of an upcoming rezoning process.

Right now, the plan indicates some pretty good design directions for each section of the riverfront, but those guidelines are effectively little more than suggestions and are not intended for the zoning code. Only specific standards written into the zoning code will have the effect of ensuring good design.

Minneapolis could follow the lead of St. Paul which is in the process of updating its industrial zoning and design guidelines for properties across the entire city.

Without more intent to establish meaningful design standards, FMR has difficulty supporting a plan to rezone to uses like industrial — uses that tend to be less compatible with a safe and attractive urban riverfront.

GAF site

At the Planning Commission public hearing on February 19 concerns were raised about the long-term intention to transition the site of the roofing manufacturer GAF to parkland. The previous Above the Falls Plan, adopted over a decade ago, indicated that the site of the GAF facility, which does not use the river ,would eventually transition to riverfront parks and trails. The plan recently adopted by the Planning Commission specified rezoning would take place only if and when GAF chose to leave.

Even so, GAF asked for more protection for their properties (this author, a St. Paul Planning Commissioner, is mystified by their arguments). At a recent meeting, City staff presented the Planning Commission with three options: (1) keep the plan as is, (2) add some language that basically maintains the status quo but could soothe GAF, or (3) modify the long-term land-use plan from what it has been for over a decade because of one property owners protestations.

FMR prefers option one but would reluctantly accept option two, and strongly rejects option three. The widely acclaimed long-term vision for the Above the Falls reach is for continuous riverfront parks and trails. A large, dirty, non-river-dependent industry on the river is not consistent with that vision and the Citys zoning should conform to and support the plan.

On March 25th, the Minneapolis Planning Commission finished its review of the Above the Falls Master Plan, and forwarded it to the full Minneapolis City Council for adoption. The Planning Commission took option two.

The next stop for the Plan is at the City Council Zoning & Planning Committee on April 18th at 9:30; it is not clear at this time whether public testimony will be taken.