Letters to the Editor - Ryan Lake update - Ryan Lake update

            Thanks to Councilmember Barb Johnson for her article in last month’s Camden News with some history about Ryan Lake, and expressing her gratitude that the Park Board will be making some improvements to the shoreline. I’d like to bring readers up to date with even more history regarding the Ryan Lake shoreline. Nearly 10 years ago the Victory Neighborhood Association (ViNA) developed a plan for the Ryan Lake shoreline and a proposed trail to connect to the Victory Prairie and what is now the off-leash dog park. We partnered up with the National Park Service and the now-defunct Groundwork Minneapolis to implement the first phase of that plan. In 2004 over 60 neighborhood volunteers planted over 7,000 native plants along the shoreline to help stabilize a steep slope.

            ViNA and the City were able to secure a $43,000 grant from the DNR and another $10,000 from Bikes Belong to build the bike trail along the lake, under the Osseo Road overpass, and to the Prairie. However, that was not sufficient funding to do all the work, and the City would not go forward with the project unless we were able to raise enough money for it. We were hesitant to complete the plantings at the lakeshore until the trail issue was resolved. When it became clear we were not going to be able to do the full trail project and had to return the $43,000, ViNA decided to try to go ahead with the improvements to the lakeshore, proposed to include native plantings, rain gardens to treat stormwater from street runoff, and a plaza with a picnic table, and benches for visitors to sit and enjoy the view of the only lake on the Northside.

            Last year the Park Board worked out a deal with the City for an easement to use the lakeshore as park open space. Thanks to MPRB Commissioner Jon Olson and MPRB Assistant Superintendent Bruce Chamberlain, we’ve been able to move the shoreline project forward again, and hope to complete the lakeshore makeover within the next few years. We’re also working with residents in the area just east of the lake to install an additional 20 rain gardens to reduce stormwater runoff to help improve water quality in the lake. We plan to have at least one more community meeting on the proposed lakeshore improvements.

Diane Spector,

Victory Neighborhood Association Chair