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Year in Review 2012: Local Government

The biggest stories of the past 12 months.

 

To be sure, 2012 saw its share of challenges. But it also saw much of the community’s long-term vision start to become a reality. Here are some of the biggest stories to shape Hopkins over the past year. 

 

Cottageville Park Plans Start to Take Shape

Residents started to see changes around Cottageville Park in April 2011, when Minnehaha Creek Watershed District tore down buildings on properties south of the park. But 2012 was the year that the community started coming together to decide how the newly expanded park should be used. The discussion culminated in a plan first presented in mid December. That plan includes features, such as a green roof pavilion and remade landscape, that could push the redesign cost up to $5.8 million.

 

Eighth Avenue Plans Advance

Eighth Avenue is central to the city’s long-term plans because of the Southwest Light Rail Transit stop planned just across Excelsior Boulevard from the corridor. The city wants to create an enticing “pedestrian seductive” streetscape that could lure light rail riders the few blocks over to Mainstreet. In June, the city formally approved an agreement with Klodt Cos. to develop a mixed-use property on the Park Nicollet site. A month later, city staff proposed a remade, one-way Eighth Avenue design. The discussion continues into 2013 with an upcoming meeting on the corridor—dubbed “The ARTery”—in which residents will discuss how to use art to communicate what Hopkins is about.

 

Social Services Hub Coming to the Wells Fargo Building

In September, Hennepin County's Human Services and Public Health Department detailed its plan to lease additional space in the building, located at 1011 First Street S., in order to create a one-stop-shopping center for those using the department’s services. City Council members were initially unsure about the project but came around after considering the idea further.

 

Planners Search for Ways to Save Shady Oak Road Businesses

City leaders have been searching for a way to help Shady Oak Road businesses ever since word came down that the planned expansion would be narrower than expected. That would leave the road within a few feet of some Shady Oak businesses—just enough to remove essential parking without paying property owners enough to help them move. To compound the problem, Hopkins and Minnetonka are getting $3 million in Community Works money to improve the corridor instead of the $9 million earmarked at the earliest planning stages. By March, Minnetonka and Hopkins had a plan to use the money, but challenges still remain.

 

Met Council Plans Sewage Lift Station in Oakes Park

Residents around Oakes Park fought back against a plan to build a sewage lift station in the park as part of a complicated trade-off that would expand Cottageville Park—an improvement that Oakes Park residents say comes at their expense.

 

Hopkins Closes Its Dispatch Center

In March, city staff broached a plan to eliminate the city’s dispatch center and transfer dispatch responsibilities to Hennepin County—saving a few hundred thousand dollars in the process. The county initially wasn't on board with the idea. But at 6 a.m. Aug. 21, the center officially closed down.

 

 

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Related Topics: Dispatch Center, Eighth Avenue, Hennepin County, Hopkins, Klodt, Oakes Park lift station, Shady Oak Road expansion, Social services hub, Year in Review, and cottageville park

Norman Teigen

9:35 am on Saturday, January 5, 2013

Good summary, I think. You might also have included a summary of the City's budget and information about the City's financial condition. The news is good.

For 2013 I think that the City Council and city staff might try to become even more involved in keeping the citizens of Hopkins informed about issues and developments. The Oakes Park lift station issue suggests that there was a deficiency in this area, that residents felt left out in the planning process. Perhaps there is a complacency at work here.

There are other community issues that are at play that don't always appear in view. Quality of life issues fall in this category, I think. These issues include education, mental health, youth activities, and elder living.

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