Amended stadium plan advances to Planning Commission

The long struggle over construction of a football stadium on Nicollet Island – opposed by FMR and historic advocates – has taken a new twist.

The football stadium proposed by DeLaSalle High School to be built on public parkland on Nicollet Island has been through a roller coaster of denials and approvals in the last year. The latest swing in the pendulum — an amended design was approved by the Minneapolis City Council and is now headed to the Citys Planning Commission on June 11th for additional review.

Last fall the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commissions (HPC) denial of the football stadium proposal was overturned by the City Council, but DeLaSalle submitted a revised plan this Spring in hopes of gaining broader support. The new plan presented a better design and some improvements from an aesthetic point of view; however, the HPC denied the proposal again because it would cause irrevocable harm to the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District and alternative sites were not explored. In a repeat performance, the Minneapolis City Council overturned the HPC again on April 27.

Next the project goes to the Planning Commission for site plan review (for other than historic resource impacts), a conditional use permit for an athletic facility, and the vacation of 140-year-old Grove Street. There is a public hearing on Monday, June 11 at 5:00 pm in the Minneapolis City Hall Council Chambers — 350 S. Fifth Street, Minneapolis. If the Planning Commission denies any aspect of the project, their decision can be appealed to the City Council.

Meanwhile, across the river, the Metropolitan Council has been presented with a request from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to allow the construction of a football stadium in the Central Riverfront Regional Park. Athletic facilities, whether public or private, are prohibited within the regional park system. The Met Council could permit such a use if the local park agency replaces any regional parkland paid for with state monies with an equivalent amount of new regional parkland for passive use, although this sets up a dangerous precedent. The Metropolitan Parks & Open Space Commission could consider this as early as June 5.

Linda Mack Commentary in the Star Tribune