Bluff Street slated for parkland

It's been years in the making, but Bluff Street Park — land owned by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) along the river in the West Bank neighborhood — is finally slated to become an official park.

The site of a former coal gasification plant on the river bluff next to the 10th Avenue Bridge was acquired by MPRB in the late 1980s in order to make way for West River Parkway. Minnegasco did environmental cleanup on the site as part of a remediation plan required by the MPCA, paving the way for park and parkway development to go forward.

In 2000 and again in 2005, MPRB was approached regarding residential development on the site. Local residents opposed such action, formed a group called the Bluff Street Park Task Force and successfully stopped the development proposals from moving forward. Park advocates worked with the Metropolitan Design Center to develop a landscape plan that emphasizes natural area restoration as a vision for the park. In addition to the community's hope to see Bluff Street become a park, opponents of residential development also pointed out that the land was paid for with state bonds, so most of the money for a sale would go to the state and not to MPRB anyway.

Fast forward a few years and the site has seen one major change — the new Interstate 35W Bridge has risen adjacent to the site. Neighbors are eyeing funds that MPRB received from Flatiron-Mason for the use of Bohemian Flats during bridge construction to help restore Bluff Street to native plant communities. MPRB Commissioner Scott Vreeland introduced a resolution to officially bring the site into the park system and to plan for restoration and park development. The MPRB Planning Committee voted 4-0 to recommend the proposal, which will likely go before the full board on January 2009.

For more on the site and proposed landscape designs, view the MPRB staff report and U of M design proposals developed in 2004.