[Mpls] Building heights

[Svattheriver at aol.com]

David Brauer wrote:" The difference between 10 stories and 13 is trivial. I  
favor density."

He was referring to the growing pains of Uptown and the discussions  on this 
list about appropriate development.
 
As a member of the Above the Falls Citizen Advisory Committee, I am very  
aware of how a few stories in height can have a major impact in development  
around the river. As a Park Board candidate, I think it is very important  to 
protect the views from our rivers and lakes. The Minneapolis Park and  Recreation 
Board controls almost all the lake shoreline, which is good if they  protect 
the shoreline and refrain from adding buildings and parking lots to that  
shoreline.
 
But the appropriate building height behind that crust of green is an  
important issue and the difference between 10 and 13 stories and where height  
restrictions are enforced will determine what our lakes and rivers become. These  
are issues of context, zoning, critical area plan, and shoreland overlay and are 
 admittedly complex in a city that needs to increase its density.
 
But when things go wrong it is hard to turn back.
When you paddle down the Mississippi River from the U of M you are  
surrounded by walls of green in the river gorge... this incredible urban  forest.
Beneath the RR bridge and past the ruins of Meeker Dam and as you approach  
the Ford Dam and Lock and Dam # 1,
up on the left, there is this one building piercing 4 or 5 stories  above the 
tree line in Highland Park. It is an incredibly ugly white building  that 
sticks out like a sore thumb. From where we have started it is the only  building 
you can see in this whole stretch of river miles until you get to  the Ford 
Dam. It is on the Saint Paul Side but it is a zoning and planning  abomination. 
It is a visible warning for what bad planning looks like.
 
I love the west side of the downtown riverfront and its connection to the  
river and the protection of shoreline and green space that has been part of this 
 increase of density.( Appropriate height has been an issue on the East 
side).  The Stone arch Bridge is a huge piece of why this works. I also think that  
all that new housing on the west side above the St Anthony Falls works very 
well  in terms of height, connection to the river road, set back from the 
river, and  the width of a park buffer. I can't afford to live in these buildings, 
but do  appreciate their good design. Hopefully they won't be asking the Park 
Board to  mow down the trees so they can have a better view of the river.
 
Thanks,
Scott Vreeland  Seward