In early 1994, a steering committee was formed to better facilitate redevelopment in the Southeast Industrial / Bridal Veil Area. The Southeast Economic Development (SEED) Steering Committee consists of representatives of the following:
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Southeast Como Improvement Association (SECIA)
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Marcy-Homes Neighborhood Association (MHNA)
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Prospect Park East River Road Improvement Association (PPERRIA)
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Southeast Business Association (SEBA)
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Stadium Village Commercial Association (SVCA)
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Dinkytown Business Association (DBA)
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University of Minnesota
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Minneapolis Community Development Agency (MCDA)
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Minneapolis Planning Department
The SEED Steering Committee is recognized by the City as the official advisory body for City efforts in the Southeast Industrial / Bridal Veil Area. The committee meets as needed, generally on the third Wednesday of selected months at the offices of the MCDA from 5 to 7pm.
The Southeast Industrial / Bridal Veil Area in southeast Minneapolis consists of some 700 acres and encompasses a variety of natural functions and industrial uses. The area is located north of University Avenue SE and east of 15th Avenue SE, and straddles the Minneapolis / St. Paul city line. It is surrounded by three Minneapolis residential neighborhoods (Como, Prospect Park and Marcy Holmes), one St. Paul neighborhood (St. Anthony Park) and the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota.
Over the past years, this area has experienced redevelopment pressures as railroad operations declined and large grain elevators sat vacant or underutilized. It has been affected by the general trend to convert or redevelop outmoded or underutilized industrial uses to more contemporary uses and functions. The University of Minnesota also began to expand to the east. To address these redevelopment pressures, the City of Minneapolis initiated a rezoning study in early 1992. Representatives of area businesses, property owners, and the three Minneapolis neighborhoods were involved. While this committee did not reach a consensus regarding changes to the Land Use or Zoning Map, they did agree that the next step should be a master plan for redevelopment of the entire area, to lay the groundwork for future land use and zoning decisions.
A steering committee was formed in early 1994 to better facilitate redevelopment in the Southeast Industrial / Bridal Veil Area. The Southeast Economic Development (SEED) Steering Committee consists of representatives of each of the Minneapolis residential neighborhoods and their Neighborhood Revitalization Programs (NRP), the Southeast Business Association (SEBA), Stadium Village and Dinkytown commercial associations, the University of Minnesota, and City staff from the Minneapolis Community Development Agency (MCDA), public works, planning, and the park and recreation board. The SEED Steering Committee is recognized by the City as the official advisory body for City efforts in the Southeast Industrial / Bridal Veil Area.
As development pressures grew, the SEED Steering Committee realized that there was a need to prepare a Master Plan for the area. To accommodate ongoing redevelopment opportunities, the SEED Steering Committee prepared a Design District Framework to provide the community with an opportunity for input into the design process and to give the private sector some direction. The Design District Framework was intended to be an interim document to provide direction and guidance while the Master Planning process was initiated.
In the middle of 1995, the SEED Steering Committee issued a Request for Proposals and BRW, Inc., of Minneapolis was selected to assist the SEED Steering Committee and the residents and property owners of the area in preparing a 20-year Master Plan along with recommendations for its implementation. The Master Planning process began in September of 1995. The Master Plan has evolved out of a process which included numerous meetings with the SEED Steering Committee. A number of community workshops also provided a variety of input, review, and comment opportunities for the residents and property owners of the area. The process included numerous meetings with individual property owners, business groups and individual neighborhood groups. It received extensive input and review by the various City of Minneapolis departments and staff. While the Southeast Industrial / Bridal Veil Area Master Plan was being developed, the University of Minnesota was also in the process of developing a Master Plan for its Minneapolis Campus. These two master planning efforts worked together to formulate a redevelopment strategy which accommodates the needs and desires of both. During the master planning process, St. Anthony Park neighborhood within St. Paul and the St. Paul planning and redevelopment staffs were brought into the process to receive additional input and comment.
The Final Master Plan evolved out of an extensive community involvement process. While no community involvement process satisfies everyone=s specific needs or desires, the Southeast Industrial / Bridal Veil Area Master Plan has support from a very broad section of the community. It has been approved and has active support from the residential neighborhoods. City staffs are actively involved in preparing detailed implementation strategies and there has been increased interest from the private sector.
The overriding goal of the Master Plan is to:
Create a major new industrial area that provides for some mixed use, creates living-wage jobs, greatly enhances the tax base, is compatible with nearby neighborhoods and establishes elements of the natural ecosystem.
To this end, the Master Plan is a framework plan which begins to set some of the basic infrastructure elements and design guidelines. This framework plan provides for:
- Development of a cohesive internal roadway network which frames and provides access to redevelopment parcels.
- Development of a cohesive identity for the area that is compatible with the surrounding communities.
- Development of an infrastructure system which serves the area.
- Development of a continuous open space system which provides access into and through the area, reestablishes key elements of the ecosystem, and provides a comprehensive stormwater drainage/storage/treatment system.
- Development of strategies which preserve, protect and enhance the surrounding residential neighborhoods.
- Development of strategies and rationale in linking the area with the surrounding business communities.
- Development of design guidelines that promote sustainable development, energy efficiency and pollution prevention.
- Development of a program of streetscape improvements, trail systems and amenities.
- Development of design guidelines, review and approval processes and a design review board.
- Development of implementation strategies.
The Master Plan is intended to be a flexible document which will accommodate future desires and changing needs and conditions. Land use should remain general and able to accommodate a variety of specific future proposals. Roadways, trails and open space locations are conceptually fixed as to location and alignments and will be further refined based upon additional studies. Specific design for the public improvements and infrastructure must be the next step to begin the implementation process and encourage redevelopment. Exact locations and designs will be fixed based upon the guidelines and strategies set forth by this Master Plan and specific development proposals.
The original Master Plan identified the major land use components and the importance of establishing connections between the north areas and those south of the rail yards. The original Master Plan was conceptual as it regards the design of individual parcels and blocks. The Plan also omitted a critical site development consideration: that stormwater management would require the creation of large ponding areas, which also reflected the southerly flow of waters towards the Mississippi River and the low lying areas of the AUAR Study Area. In addition, the intervening years since its original formulation have significantly altered the market demand for the areas south of the yards as well as for those north of the rails. These factors have led to the creation of the SEMI Refined Master Plan.
The SEMI Refined Master Plan is a vehicle for predicting, guiding and accommodating change in a specified area. It is not intended to propose a final end state build-out, but rather is a general framework that outlines the major land uses and infrastructure interventions required to accommodate growth. The recommendations are general, not specific. They have been analyzed for physical feasibility and plausibility. In the design development and implementation phases of the project, specific road alignment, park design, and street design decisions will be made.
The refined Master Plan incorporates by reference the original Master Plan elements of the "Bridal Veil Southeast Industrial Park Plan." Wherever the documents conflict, the Refined Master Plan supercedes.
Key components of the Refined Master Plan include:
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Specific land use recommendations
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Modeling of redevelopment scenarios
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An integrated road and bridge infrastructure plan
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A comprehensive area-wide stormwater/hydrology management system
An Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) is essentially an environmental review of a plan. An AUAR serves as a substitute form of environmental review, and it can generally negate the need for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW), otherwise required for specific projects within a specific area.
Why an AUAR?
The AUAR has distinct advantages over other forms of environmental review:
If the importance and scale of a project warrants close scrutiny, an AUAR offers a user-friendly format, but demands a rigorous analysis comparable to that of an EIS. The AUAR is a tool to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of areawide development, rather than focusing exclusively on impacts of the proposed project. The AUAR process provides both a "No-Build" and a "Build" scenario. The AUAR document requires a mitigation plan and the project must comply with these measures.
The SEMI AUAR is a highly technical report that outlines specific transportation and traffic demands, stormwater and hydrological needs, existing historical resources and environmental conditions and recommends mitigations measures to address each of these issues.
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