Politics & Government

Minnehaha Creek Watershed District Wants More Space Around Hopkins Park

Buying neighboring properties would increase green space around Cottageville Park and bring other potential benefits.

( to view a map with details about key areas in the park expansion.)

, already planned for expansion, could grow even bigger under new plans by the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District.

Now it and the Hopkins City Council are investigating whether the district should acquire eight properties straddling Lake Street, south of the park. The idea, still in its earliest stage and facing several hurdles, could give a much-needed facelift to the area, improve storm water management and turn an area that now sees heavy truck traffic into a popular spot for canoeing.

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Cottageville Park is a hard-to-find recreational area that one community leader called in the Blake Road area. Neighboring apartments and duplexes make it nearly impossible for passers-by to see into the park from the road, allowing crime at times to take place unnoticed. Police have countered with ramped-up patrols, but officials see removing the buildings as a more permanent solution.

A first step came when the district bought about two acres south of the park and the city agreed to pay for the design and construction of the expanded parkland. This summer on the property, the buildings will be demolished, the area seeded and the new acreage transformed into green space.

Find out what's happening in Hopkinswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The district’s latest plan would add an additional 1.66 acres to the park. Four of the properties, on the north side of Lake Street, sit next to Cottageville Park and the district's new acreage. The properties on the south border Minnehaha Creek and an unused snippet of city land. Those locations would allow cleaner storm water drainage for nearby apartment buildings in what is one of the watershed’s most-impacted areas, said James Wisker, the district’s planner and program coordinator. It would also drastically increase creek frontage for a park, until the latest acquisitions, had no frontage.

The plan's downside is the loss of precious single-family homes. Just 30 percent of the city’s housing units are single-family homes, and council has historically opposed demolishing homes if new ones won’t be built in their place.

Most of the homes range in value around $150,000 range. Demolition would reduce the city’s tax base by about $2,000 per parcel, said Jeff Casale, a watershed district board member.

While buying up the homes for parkland would be a shift in philosophy, it might be warranted in this case, said council member Rick Brausen.

“I think it certainly is one of the more important parts of town for us to clean up,” he said.

The rest of the council agreed that the idea is at least worth investigating.

The next step, Wisker suggested, is learning how the affected homeowners would feel. The district isn't interested in acquiring “remnant pieces” or isolated properties.

Meanwhile, the city continues to urge the Metropolitan Council to acquire two properties, totaling about half an acre, adjacent to the park. The Met Council needs space to expand its lift station. Because the properties that the city recommends contain duplexes that conceal the park, the city thinks the Met Council can get the space it needs while also improving the neighborhood.

Hopkins officials worry the Met Council would otherwise take properties ripe for redevelopment off the market or try to build in areas unsuited for lift stations.

Although the city has had no luck convincing the Met Council, 15 new members were sworn in March 9, and it’s not yet clear how that will affect the body’s decision.


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