City evaluating options; fate of open field may be decided soon

A citizen advisory panel that has been working this fall to come up with the best option for the open field at 43rd St. E. and 19th Ave. S. was supposed to meet tomorrow night, but the meeting has been postponed.

Too bad, as it was to be a critical meeting at which citizens would come up with the best solution to a variety of competing ideas for the land. City officials say they need more time to consider the alternatives before scheduling the meeting.

Driving the discussions has been the city's need to manage stormwater runoff. The field sits at a junction of underground pipes that carry stormwater runoff from a large section of south Minneapolis, some 1,000 acres of land.

Some of the proposals now under consideration include the construction of a stormwater pond on the land. At least one proposal would leave the land as is.

I'll post more information here if anyone wants it.

Citizen Advisory Meetings announced

It's time to talk. A citizen panel will meet five times in the coming weeks to hash over the future of the field at 43rd St. E. and 19th Ave. S., city councillor Sandy Colvin Roy announced by mail this week.

The volunteer panel will make a recommendation to the city sometime in early December.

All meetings will be at the Lake Hiawatha Recreation Center from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Here's the schedule and agendas:

Oct. 8
Water resource refresher, with talk of flooding, combined sewer overflows, quality of stormwater runoff, regulatory considerations and state of the art stormwater management.

Oct. 27
Discussion of our options: Do nothing, water quality pond, flood control pond, infiltration systems, filtration systems, rain gardens, stormwater volume control.

Nov. 3
Eliminate the worst options and develop a way to evaluate the rest

Nov. 17
Evaluate options

Early December, date to be determined
Select best option

Objections to the pond

Here are some of the reasons I have for opposing the use of the entire field at 43rd St. E. and 19th Ave. S. for a stormwater runoff pond.

1. The pond would take away one of the few remaining open spaces in our part of town.
2. The nearby parks - Sibley and Hiawatha - are overrun with children on some nights and on weekends, the demand for open space is so high.
3. The water runoff problem has been largely fixed and additional ponds don't seem necessary as we haven't had significant flooding in the areas adjacent to the field. Some flooding at the corner of 44th and 19th does occur, but perhaps the remedy is to enlarge one of the existing ponds just inside the golf course from that location?
4. The city is now experimenting with pervious surfaces, making water ponds less necessary.
5. City residents are building rain gardens and installing rain barrels, making water ponds less necessary than they once were.
6. The city's own stormwater report out last month said there are no "hotspots" anywhere in the city.
7. The field would be put to better use if it hosted a bike path connecting the path that ends on the north side of Lake Hiawatha to the path along Minnehaha Creek.
8. The field would be put to better use if a section of it hosted a community vegetable garden, helping us connect with our neighbors while offsetting the rapidly rising cost of food.

A pricy pond

The city wants to build a holding pond for stormwater runoff on the field at 43rd St. E. and 19th Ave. S., a field the neighborhood uses for recreation.

Something worth knowing:
The cost of maintaining a pond each year: $18,344, according to the city's 2008 stormwater management program report.

That's per pond, per year.

The city has 16 ponds already.

Recent activity on the open space

Some kids were playing soccer last night. They come once a week or so with cones and jerseys. It's nothing unusual, but in light of the conversation taking place here, I thought it was worth documenting.

The Minneapolis storm water sewer system: a map

The link at the bottom of this post takes you to a PDF file about the city's storm water sewer system. It's fascinating reading, or at least more interesting than you'd expect, given the subject.

Go to the fifth page of the document (pages are identified as 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, etc.) for an inventory of the city system that mentions 16 ponds. So, 'Where are they?' you ask?

Go to the sixth page (4-6) for the map that shows where the stormwater sewers empty into area lakes and rivers. If you look closely at the map, the 16 ponds are in gold. There are several on the northwest corner of the Hiawatha Golf Course, some to the south of Lakes Nokomis and Calhoun, one on the north end of Sibley Park, one at 44th and Oakland, one at what I think is 42nd St. and Bloomington, one down south to the west of 35W just north of Highway 62 and one each in Northeast and Northwest Minneapolis. Also a tiny one northeast of Lake Harriet.

Information is right here.

Other recent storm sewer work in Minneapolis

Here's a look at what the city has done for capital improvement projects from 2005 onward, including stormwater sewer projects. None of them appear to include building a pond, as in the proposed project at 43rd St. E. and 19th Ave. S.

If nothing else, it gives a sense of how the project in our neighborhood fits among some of the others. I'm looking for a complete map of all city stormwater runoff ponds and hope to post it soon.

For 2008 projects go here.
For 2007 projects go here.
For 2006 projects go here.
For 2005 projects go here.