[Mpls] Re: Above the Falls Citizen Advisory Committee

[Svattheriver at aol.com]

I am a member of the Above the Falls Citizen Advisory Committee. We have  
just taken a great step of connecting and informing folks about the City of  
Minneapolis and Park Board approved plan to transform the upper river area in  
Minneapolis.
We now have a web site hosted by the city of Minneapolis.
_http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/boards-and-commissions/afcac_home.asp_ 
(http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/boards-and-commissions/afcac_home.asp) 
It is pretty basic so far. It includes:
The Above the Falls Master Plan
Membership Application
Contact Info
Bylaws, Meeting minutes and schedule.
This is a thirty year plan with a board of thirty with two sets of  
alternates that can also participate. It represents neighborhoods, businesses,  and 
environmental groups and operates by consensus.
>From the Summary of Recommendations from the Master Plan:
Parks, Urban Design, and Environmental Restoration
Create a continuous and integrated riverfront parks and open space system  
long the Upper River. 
Construct recreational trails along both banks of the  river. 
Provide space in parks for riverbank, landscape, and habitat  restoration. 
Develop waterfront features in new parks, and nodes of interest  at regular 
intervals along trails. 
Preserve hospitality uses within parks  corridor. 
Establish a Riverway Street System, with common streetscape  elements and 
signage that identify streets leading to and paralleling the  riverfront. 
Designate no-build zones to hold view corridors to the river and  downtown 
skyline. 
Construct a system of area-wide water quality ponds that  meet the highest 
standards for stormwater retention and filtration. 
Extend  West River Parkway to North Mississippi Regional Park. 
Convert the BN Bridge  to a pedestrian and bicycle facility linking both 
banks. 
Reconstruct  Marshall Street as a boulevard, with new landscaping and bicycle 
lanes. 
Land  Use and Implementation
Establish an Upper River Development Corporation as a non-profit entity  with 
the sole purpose of implementing the Upper River Master Plan. 
Rezone  property in accordance with the Upper River Land Use Plan. 
Close the Upper  Harbor Terminal. 
Phase out heavy-industrial uses in Upper River corridor.  
Transition land use in corridor to a mix of parks, residential,  
light-industrial, and commercial uses. 
Develop new riverfront residential  and mixed-use communities on west bank. 
Thanks,
Scott Vreeland  Seward near the River
Please contact me or AFCAC if you are interested in helping me represent  the 
Mississippi Watershed which includes four cities.