Neighborhood residents attended a community meeting at Folwell Park on June 15 to discuss the status and progress of the Flood Area 5 project that will turn 37th Avenue North into a greenway, with no vehicular access from Penn to Knox Avenues. The multi-block greenway will provide underground storm water storage with pedestrian and bicycle pathways, while allowing traffic on the north/south streets and alleys to go through. This has been a long anticipated solution to the stormwater flooding that occurs in parts of the Folwell and Cleveland neighborhoods.
Presenters at the meeting were: Lois Eberhart, Water Resource Administrator from Minneapolis Public Works who discussed the final design concepts and timeline for the Flood Area 5 project; Nathan Campeau, a water resources engineer from Barr Engineering Co.; and Eric Holt, a landscape architect, also from Barr Engineering Co., who discussed the future landscaping/plantings of the area.
The first phase of this project occurred during the fall and winter with the installation of pipe in the Dowling corridor and in some of the streets and alleys between Oliver and Logan Avenues North. Originally, the anticipated cost for what Public Works is calling ‘Flood Area 5 Phase 1' which is that part of the entire Flood Area 5 project that includes the Dowling pipe work and the 37th Avenue Greenway was estimated at $4 million. The remainder of the Flood Area 5 project is estimated at $14 million, some of which is in the Capital Improvement Program over the three years of 2013, ‘14 and ‘15.
At the meeting Eberhart announced that the pipe work in phase 1 exceeded the anticipated costs. She also said that the funds necessary for the balance of the project have not been secured and that there was no longer a start date for the completion of the project. It was originally planned that the greenway portion, which includes excavation of 37th Avenue, the installation of water storage vaults, pathways, lighting and landscaping would begin in July 2010.
So, as of the meeting on June 15, there is no start date for completion of the 37th Avenue greenway portion of phase I of the Flood Area 5 project, funding has not been secured, a scope of work has not been defined and if the work will be done by city or private contractors, has not been determined.
The Folwell Neighborhood Association has voiced concern about the future of the 37th Avenue project, which would benefit both the Folwell and Cleveland neighborhoods, to City Council President Barbara Johnson and has asked for explanatory and clarifying information from the Minneapolis Department of Public Works including actual costs, project scope, project schedule, budget (to date and future) and funding, both approved and anticipated. If that information is not forthcoming, Folwell will file a formal Freedom of Information request. Folwell will share whatever information is provided as soon as it becomes available, in a public meeting and on the website, www.folwell.org.
Also, Dowling Avenue is scheduled for a mill and overlay resurfacing during August or a bit later. The process will take about three weeks and is being coordinated with the Minneapolis Sewer Department's work on Dowling.