JACC Housing and Development Committee meeting minutes for August 9, 2011.
Augustʻs meeting came to order @ 6:45 PM. The meeting was held at Jordanʼs office,
located at 2009 James Av. N., Mpls.. The attendees were Polly Jo Peterson, a co-chairperson of
the H&D committee, Chic Hanssen, Joel Baird & Deb Wagner (members of the H&D
committee), Georgianna Yantos (from the Hawthorne neighborhood), Sarah Ash of Metro
Blooms, Kris Brogan of AHI (Alliance Housinng Inc.), Mary Delaittre of MRDI (Mpls. Riverfront
Development Initiative), Max Musicant of Catalyst Community Partners & Betsy Smith, Darin
McGowan & Dawn Shannon residents of the Jordan neighborhood.
Individuals introduced themselves, then Augustʼs agenda was reviewed by members of
JACCʼs H&D committee, Max Musicant of Catalyst Community Partners was added to the
agenda,as well as an update of the 26th Av. bikeway from Georgianna Yantos, then the agenda
was approved.
Julyʼs H&D committee meeting minutes were not available for review.
Mary Delaittre representing the Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative came to
update the neighborhood on the progress of the MRDI which is sponsored by the Minneapolis
Park and Recreation Board. Mary talked about how the plan was developed by the team TLS/
KVA (Tom Leader Studio and Kennedy & Violich Architecture) won through an international
competition. The MRDI wants to reestablish a relationship between the river and the north side
of Minneapolis by making a critical connection of neighborhoods to the river and reorienting the
city towards the river. Phase 1 was the design competition, the winning of the competition, the
awarding of the contract for carrying out the design vision and the design itself. Phase 2 started
in April, is how to turn the vision into reality, defining what parts of the plan to implement over
the next 3-5 years and presenting to the city of Minneapolis board on Dec. 21. Mary presented a
community input survey that could be filled out by individuals who are interested in participating
in the rivers redevelopment. For details about the project visit the website
MinneapolisRiverfrontDevelopmentInitiative.com/Community.
Max Musicant from Catalyst Community Partners came to talk about who they are and
what they are doing. Catalyst Community Partners is an organization located at 1200 W.
Broadway which is working with local business owners on W. Broadway to improve facades.
They are also retail & office brokers. They have an investment pool where neighborhood
individuals can invest into projects in the W. Broadway area. Catalyst is creating Northside
Developmment Committee, a stearing committee for real estate ventures. Max announced an
Aug. 25th & 28th opening for Opitz Outlet in the 5 points building on Penn Av. & W. Broadway.
Kris Brogan from Alliance Housing came to present their (Alliance Housingʼs) proposal
for remodeling the duplex at 2105 Willow Av., Kris had emailed the construction specifications to
members of the housing committee for review before the committeeʼs monthly meeting. It was
suggested that a drain tile be included under the new basement concrete floor after doing woodridge foundation wall crack repair and Kris said she
would refer this suggestion to the designerʼs for review. Kris explained that the duplex was
purchased for $17,000 and will have $210,000 invested into it after reconstruction. Other
projects in the Jordan neighborhood that Alliance Housing will be involved in are 2519 Fremont
Av. N which was owned by the city of Minneapolis after a tax forfeiture by former owner NRRC,
ownership will be transfered to Alliance by mid September and 2637/39 Newton Av. N. which
has tornado damage, owned by Fannie mae, to be transfered to the twin cities landbank. Kris
mentioned that there is no NSP 2 funds available for these projects, but Alliance is looking to
see if there would be NSP 3 funds for use.
Sarah Ash representing Metro Blooms came to update us on the Irving Park Triangle
landscaping. Sarah said that the majority of the neighbors around the Triangle approved the
plan and the city had also approved the plan. Excavation of the Triangle would happen on Aug.
15th., planting would happen by the Mn. Green team on Aug. 22nd & 23rd and be finished by
the 24th.
Darrin Mc Gowan & Dawn Shannon, neighbors and residents of Jordan, both living in
the 3000 block of James Av. N. came to the meeting and asked to speak to the committee about
what the committee knew about the funds General Mills was providing for tornado victims on the
North side of Minneapolis and where the money was being spent. The committee members
stated they had no knowledge about the focus for the funds and at this time were not involved
with tornado damage help (other than as individuals) and that Darrin & Dawn would have to
check with those who did know. It was suggested that city council member Don Samuels would
probably have better information about the direction of the funds. Polly did have information on
the Pohlad Foundationʼs 2011 Minneapolis Volunteer Project. She had a hand out about the
project that was looking for blocks in neighborhoods affected by the tornado. The blocks would
have to be organized and there are participant requirements. The committee encouraged Darrin
& Dawn to look into the volunteer project and maybe organize their block to see if the project
might work for them. They took the handout to review. There is a Aug. 27th deadline date for
neighborhood/blocks requesting to be included.
Georgiana on the 26th Bikeway – Public works will be asking for the met council to
request $3 million federal funding for 26th Av.. Georgiana is asking for a letter of support from
the JACC board to get funding ($7,000 from Jordan) for the next steps for the 26th Av. bikeway
which are the economic and the greening plans for the bikeway. Also looking for solutions to
each end of the bikeway, parts which have not been developed yet, and are not inside Jordanʼs
boundaries.
The H&D committee meeting adjourned @ 9:00 PM.