*Note: PPERRIA will not meet in August.

Changes to terms of NRP Phase II housing loan program

Board member Roger Kiemele said after a disappointing number of applicants requested money from PPERRIA’s home improvement loan fund (two loans have actually gone through, although 18-20 were “optimistically” anticipated) he thought loosening the terms of the loans might draw more residents in. “We’re trying to make this more attractive so people use this money,” he said. We’ve got “$85,000 burning a hole in our pocket,” he joked. The proposed changes included, among other things, increasing the gross income limit to qualify for either a revolving loan or matching deferred loan, and lowering the interest rate for the revolving loan by two percentage points. Kiemele said the old terms made more sense when the economy was better, several years ago.

Board member Steve Ficker questioned how affordable housing fit into the home improvement fund, as affordable housing is included in the neighborhood’s action plan. Board President Dick Poppele said the housing loan program is separate from an affordable housing program, which is something the organization does not currently have. Ficker continued, saying the organization has been “hostile and unfriendly to the idea of affordable housing.”

Poppele told Ficker the subject at hand was an amendment to a program that has already has allocated funding, not the program itself, adding that PPERRIA is not hostile to the idea of affordable housing, but does not have the staff to initiate such a program right now. If someone were willing to volunteer to bring a concrete plan for a program forward, the organization would consider it, Poppele said. Ficker said he had been out of town prior to the meeting and was working on putting something together.

Kiemele told Ficker that he, personally, did not have the time to initiate an affordable housing program, “but if you want to, run with it.”

The changes were brought as a motion from the housing committee to the board and were approved by a board vote. CEE Financial Resources, which issues and manages the loans on behalf of PPERRIA, will pay the costs of advertising the housing loan program (with its new changes) to residents via canvassing and fliers, Kiemele said.

Campus Crossroads development presentation

Poppele introduced the issue, saying PPERRIA recently set up a subcommittee to communicate with developers and architects on the new Campus Crossroads development. Several meetings had already taken place between the parties, and a “memorandum of agreement” was reached between the PPERRIA zoning committee, the developer (Opus) and ESG Architects (the project architect), Poppele said.
Speaking about the project, planning committee chair Dick Gilyard said current plans for the mixed-use residential and retail development include 177 units of student housing and 277 stalls for underground parking. The building will feature a concrete frame. “This is a project that will be here for the long haul,” Gilyard said. The developer intends to build in accordance with LEED standards, he said.

One of the subcommittee’s main concerns when talking with Opus and ESG was the Oak Street Cinema. While the committee agreed the theatre could be demolished, it wanted to see some kind of community arts venue incorporated into the space, in the former theatre’s place, Gilyard said. “That’s not totally worked out yet,” Gilyard said, referring to how such a space would fit with the design. “But they’re committed to it.”

Zoning committee member Karen Murdoch said working with the Opus-ESG team has been “one of the more pleasant experiences” she’s had in her 12-plus years working on PPERRIA zoning issues. “This architectural firm really, really listened to us,” she said.

Board member Paul Zerby said, in regard to the Oak Street Cinema issue, he would be interested in the idea of incorporating the Oak Street marquee into the new building, or, at the very least, keeping it for historic purposes. Zerby said he would like to see such language incorporated into the “memorandum of agreement.”

Another person present at the meeting asked if CVS, the anchor retail tenant in the new development, would offer food as she was concerned that without Harvard Market, the neighborhood and especially student populations that shop there would lose out.

Tom Lund of Opus said his firm intends to submit a formal project application to the City Aug. 11. Lund said Opus expects the project would take 16 months to build and would hopefully open the summer of 2010.

Aaron Roseth, a project manager with ESG, gave a presentation on the Campus Crossroads project that included renderings and design plans. Roseth said the presentation’s contents included much of the information that had been shown to PPERRIA’s subcommittee during its five previous meetings with ESG and Opus. Roseth said the project was designed to be a long-lasting addition to the area that would provide student housing close to campus so as to allow the reestablishment of home ownership in the neighborhoods around the University. Roseth also said the developer and architect hoped to make the areas surrounding the building more pedestrian-friendly (including obtaining an easement on a small plot of University-owned land near the University’s Oak Street ramp, to create a more pedestrian-friendly walkway.) A fitness center and student lounge, both with large windows facing the street, would hopefully provide active entry/exits to and from the development, he said.

Lund and Roseth confirmed that the buildings currently occupied by Chipotle and an Army recruiting office will stay put, because they were not for sale. (Lund said that Chipotle location reportedly sells more burritos per square foot than any of the chain’s other locations, nationwide.)
Roseth said the project team was to meet with the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) on July 29 to discuss the demolition of the Oak Street Cinema, which has been renovated so many times that few “historic” remnants remain. It appears the developer would have to provide photo documentation of the theatre for the historical society and find a new home for the marquee and several historic lighting fixtures that remain on the property.

The design team is finished with the concept stage of the design, Roseth said, and is now moving onto the schematic design phase.

The board approved the “memorandum of agreement” with an amendment that the developer and architect make every effort to keep the theatre marquee in the new design (a replica would be alright, too, if the original were not able to withstand reincorporation). Lund, on behalf of Opus, accepted the agreement with the marquee amendment.

Restorative justice and student crime

Livability committee chair Joe Ring said a recent Restorative Justice apology letter sent to PPERRIA from a University of Minnesota student for pulling on car handles and looking in the windows several months ago illustrates that students are, in fact, responsible for some of the crime in the neighborhood. No windows were broken, but the student was charged with a misdemeanor, he said. Ring said by allowing for higher density student-oriented housing in the neighborhood, “Our council members are aware they’re bringing more criminals to us.” Ring said he didn’t mean that students were criminals, but that increasing the number of people in an area also means inviting more “bad apples.”

Convincing St. Paul to agree to Granary Road

Ring said he and several other think they’ve devised a way to get St. Paul to agree to extend Granary Road into their city. Because PPERRIA has consulting party status in the Central Corridor LRT project and agreement is required among those at the consulting party level for the project to move forward, PPERRIA will stipulate that St. Paul be on-board with expanding Granary Road into its city, or the neighborhood organization will “drag its feet” on LRT approval. “We all know what that means: Central Corridor just slows down,” Ring said. Since no one wants to see the project hit any major snags — the same tactic was used to convince the University of Minnesota to get on board — St. Paul will likely give-in to the request, Ring said. “People say it should work,” he said. “So stay tuned.”

Temporary historic protection for the neighborhood

The city’s Heritage Preservation Commission office said in a letter to PPERRIA that it has no record of any interim historic protection for the neighborhood. Zoning committee chair Florence Littman, who was not present at this month’s PPERRIA meeting, has documented several instances where the city has been inconsistent in its application of the “no interim historic protection” claim, Ring said. In a letter presented and revised at the meeting, PPERRIA requested that Ward 2 Council Member Cam Gordon place the nomination for interim protection for Prospect Park as a local historic district.

Gordon, in attendance at the meeting, said after his nomination, the HPC would have to approve the request in order for it to be granted. As a condition of this interim protection, PPERRIA stated in its letter that the HPC would have to review “any request for demolition, zoning change, or change of land use within the proposed Historic District.”

Prospect Park resident Bob Roscoe, who served on the Heritage Preservation Commission in the past, clarified at the meeting that, if granted, the interim historic protection does not mean properties can’t be demolished, only that HPC approval would be needed to do so.

Six-plex on Ontario Street and four-plex on Yale Avenue.

Murdoch, filling in for Littman, provided the monthly zoning report. The term “mini-dorm” has been adopted by the zoning committee as a reference to non-University owned housing geared toward students that includes at least one housing “unit” with five bedrooms.

In a presentation to the group, Murdoch said the city has a “1950s definition of a housing unit” as a dwelling place for “Father, Mother, Sissy, Biff, and one car.” According to the Minneapolis zoning code, only one off-street parking space is required per unit, but Murdoch said the typical 1950s nuclear family is now an unrealistic definition of the occupiers of a unit.

A builder recently presented plans to the zoning committee with six units and five bedrooms per unit on Ontario Street. Because of the sixth unit, the project would require a variance, Murdoch said. The builder said he wanted to make a “green building” and needed the extra unit to justify the cost of solar panels and other expensive materials. Murdoch called the tactic “greenmail” — a play on ‘blackmail’ — eliciting laughter from those at the meeting. She said the committee did not much care for the design, which some called a “barracks.”

Still, she said PPERRIA operates in more of an advisory capacity on such issues and likely can’t do much about the development. “Don’t say, ‘We didn’t warn you’,” Murdoch said. “But there’s not much we can do about it.”

Murdoch also discussed plans for a four-plex on Yale Avenue with four units each with five bedrooms near her own home. (It’s in the process of being built.) “Would you want it next to you?” she asked her neighbors.

One person proposed a blanket motion stating that PERRIA, as a whole, opposes all six-plexes. The motion was seconded and passed.

City agrees to address housing and zoning issues in the University District

Dick Poppele briefly mentioned a new University Alliance initiative to address issues including occupancy, housing and parking within the University District. The city will be working with the local neighborhoods from August through December to reexamine the issues. Poppele said the outcome could give neighborhood organizations more leverage on combating certain types of development in the future.

In the meantime, Council Member Gordon said he would soon be putting forward the idea of a (tentative) one-year moratorium on new residential housing developments. The moratorium wouldn’t prevent new housing developments completely, but rather, require that any proposed development undergo City Council review. Gordon said the property rights of homeowners have to be carefully considered whenever such a moratorium is imposed and that, although the length of the moratorium may seem long, it would be better to allot a longer period of time and end the moratorium early than to make it too short. The issue could come before the City Council in the next three or four weeks, he said.

Ralph Rapson memorial design nears completion

History project chair Betts Zerby said the Ralph and Mary Rapson memorial will likely be placed in a triangular area at the corner of Clarence and Seymour avenues. The memorial will be a 20- by 30-foot brass plaque on a metal stand positioned at eye level. The plaque and stand together will cost an estimated $2,500-$3,000. “We have a budget, but we’re going to be hitting people up for donations,” Zerby said.

Board member Phil Anderson expressed concern that a metal stand might not be the best choice for a permanent monument. A small concrete pillar or some sort of concrete base might hold up better, he said. Someone else suggested putting the plaque on a rock. Zerby said the committee wanted something that was raised up to eye-level — to a readable height. She said it couldn’t be raised that high if affixed to a boulder.

There were also a comment about the location (one person thought it should be located right inside the park) and a concern that a memorial at Clarence and Seymour could obstruct the view of drivers approaching the intersection. In response, Zerby said the committee liked the location it chose and, regarding the possibility of obstructing traffic, the public works department would determine that, as it will have to approve the location because the triangular boulevard space is public property.

The board’s approval will likely be needed before any money is actually spent, Zerby said.

Changes to bylaws

Bylaw changes discussed at last month’s meeting are expected to become before the executive committee in the fall, Poppele said.

Annual fall cleanup

The neighborhood’s annual fall cleanup will take place Sept. 27. The cleanup will begin at 9 a.m. at the home of Tom Kilton and will last until 12 p.m. About 50 volunteers are needed.

Invitation to participate in Kids Voting Minneapolis

Autumn Chmielewski, a volunteer coordinator for the non-partisan, non-profit Kids Voting Minneapolis sought help from PPERRIA to supply volunteers on Election Day. Eight hundred volunteers are needed throughout the city, but PPERRIA could help by adopting one or two precincts (each requiring six volunteers), she said. No formal discussion ensued.

NEXT: Board meeting, Sept. 22, 2008. There is no August meeting.
MEETINGS: 4th Monday monthly, 7–9 p.m., unless otherwise announced. Refreshments, conversation 6:30–7 p.m. Prospect Park United Methodist Church, 22 Orlin Avenue SE
CONTACT: 612-331-2970
66 SE Malcolm Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55414
pperria@tcfreenet.org
www.pperr.org

last revised: August 5, 2008

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