This article was written by Naomi Crocker
As Project Manager for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s (MPRB) current 26th Avenue North Overlook and Ole Olson Park Trail Connection efforts, Tyler Pederson has ushered the project from high-level concept to design development, and looks forward to its next phase, which follows the full MPRB vote on September 28. Following the expected approval, the project will enter a “quiet period,” during which official construction documents will be drawn up and bids for the construction contract reviewed and secured. Before construction can begin, likely in summer 2023, MPRB will also have to secure property rights for the final two plots in the project area, currently owned by BNSF Railroad and Continental Cement.
Although the project is focused on a smallish, 1000-foot section of riverfront that runs between the 26th Avenue North Overlook and Ole Olson Park (part of the larger Above the Falls Regional Park) it will ultimately serve as an important connection between two key trail terminuses, consistently linking parks all the way down the river into downtown Minneapolis and remedying North Minneapolis’ historic disconnect from parks in other areas of the city. As Pederson noted, “Since the conception of the park board some 130 years ago, we’ve been building out our city’s parks system. One goal is continuous park land along the entire riverfront and Minneapolis’ lakes. This project specifically is one stepping stone in a larger circulation effort for the northern riverfront. South of Broadway Avenue, there are park trails everywhere, but in North and Northeast Minneapolis, we don’t find that same pattern. Hopefully this project will help create those community connections.”
In addition to connecting neighborhoods via safe and direct trail experiences along the Mississippi riverfront, the project’s design goals simultaneously seek to reverse the impacts of industrialization, realigning the site’s landscape with something more similar to its pre-industrial iteration. Currently, Ole Olson Park is flat, with an adjoining hillier section closer to the riverfront. Constructing the connection in this area with such ranging topographies will require a flattening of the hillside and ultimately a wider trail. Flattening the terrain will aid in sight lines and less seclusion for increased safety. A flatter slope will also be able to accommodate a larger variety of understory shrubs, prairie plants, wildflowers and flora that are more reflective of the area’s pre-industrial plant life, and less like the standard turf grass and canopy trees, characteristic of post-industrial Minneapolis.
“Knowing where we had to go with the site’s grading, the idea was to look at innovative and sensical solutions. We wanted there to be transparency between the individual and the river, resituating the riverfront as the front yard rather than the back yard. For so long, this stretch of the river was an industrial wasteland and the hope is to recapture the area now as a place people want to be, a place that really brings the river into the parks,” said Pederson.
The project’s vision has indeed received significant support from community members and stakeholders, whom the MPRB has engaged consistently since program development kicked off in January 2022 via open engagement meetings, surveys, and most recently, a public hearing on September 7. “We can’t ultimately design something that everybody wants, but we aim to develop each project as holistically and comprehensively as we can, especially given budgets and the many opinions that exist,” said Pederson.
Amidst overwhelming approval from the community, the primary concerns raised by residents included tree loss and access to restrooms. Pederson explained that to better estimate the scope and impact of the expected tree loss, MPRB conducted a robust tree inventory, a practice the Board is attempting to incorporate to an increasing degree in its planning processes.
Trees play an important part in our cities, influencing everything from residents’ mental health to utility bills as they provide much needed shade, which relates to heating and cooling. The tree inventory allowed the MPRB to understand with greater nuance each of the site’s existing trees, including which were “weedier,” perhaps planted in the aftermath of the area’s industrial disturbance, and which had greater value for the local ecosystem. The results of the tree inventory also served as the basis for subsequent community conversations: important information that helped communicate not just what decisions were being made about the project site’s landscape, but also why. The intent was also for the tree inventory to ensure that the overall quality of the landscape is improved following project completion.
So where can community members plug into the project in its next phase? Before construction officially kicks off in spring/summer 2023, MPRB will issue communications to all project stakeholders and neighborhood residents, laying out the intended schedule and relevant construction partners. The project webpage will remain the best place for updates (minneapolisparks.org/park-care-improvements/park-projects/current_projects/26th-ave-n-overlook-ole-olson-park-trail-connection/), but MPRB will also install physical signage at the project site in order to provide additional information to those passing by.
In the end, Pederson hopes that the project facilitates community members’ appreciation for the river itself: “This isn’t just a trail connection, something that simply helps you pass through. We want it to be experiential, for residents to engage with the river, and to view this particular place also as somewhere to launch a kayak, fish, or eat your lunch.”
The 26th Avenue North Overlook and Ole Olson Park Trail Connection’s 2023-24 construction schedule will overlap with other major MPRB development projects in North Minneapolis, including the significant Upper Harbor project site, which is part of MPRB and the City of Minneapolis’ larger Phase 1 Public Infrastructure Project. The Ole Olson trail connection is expected to be completed and fully operational by June 2024.