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1 week 3 days ago

Dear Mayor Frey,
...
On Saturday, we had another successful cleanup event with over 40 volunteers from X-cel Energy and people from the community helping out. We removed an additional 226 lbs. of mostly plastic trash from Lake Hiawatha in 3 hours. Of course we were unable to remove most of the trash that remains on the shore of the Lake. This cleanup brings the total of trash we have removed from Lake Hiawatha since 2015 to 5,580 lbs. This doesn’t include other cleanups at Lake Hiawatha, conducted by the MCWD in the same time frame, which is at least equal to the amount we have removed. That is unacceptable. Especially for this, the City of Lakes. Here is a picture of the trash we collected on this day. This is less than 4% of our total- picture that...

We also had a successful art event “This is Ours” that drew hundreds of visitors to the shores of Lake Hiawatha to witness our community's trash legacy firsthand. Trash gathered from the shores of our Lake were the subject of the artworks of 5 artists. The trash collected that morning was sorted by volunteers attending the event. One of our purposes is to build urgency in the community and our public agencies regarding the necessity of implementing a comprehensive mitigation system for the 'north pipe' at Lake Hiawatha without further delay. Because of the past studies we have done, we now know that In 5 years an additional 10,000 lbs. of trash will accumulate on the shores of Lake Hiawatha if nothing is done. The extraordinary level of volunteer labor that has attempted to reduce the amount of trash in the Lake has been helpful in raising awareness but has been ineffective in cleaning up the Lake. This level of volunteer effort is also unsustainable. We can no longer rely on volunteer labor to supplant the responsibility of the City and Park Board to keep the Lake and parkland free of litter.

When is work going to begin on creating the mitigation system for the north pipe? We believe this is a dire necessity that should no longer be delayed. The MPRB and the City of Minneapolis are well aware of the trash problem originating from the north pipe that runs across Hiawatha Golf Course and empties 920 acres of urban South Minneapolis, without filtration, directly into Lake Hiawatha. The City of Minneapolis and the MPRB are responsible for addressing this pollution. We believe that the mitigation of the north pipe should not be tied to ongoing community debate about golf at Hiawatha Golf Course as it has been for the past four years. The result of this contrived link has been continued delays, as the merits and problems of golf are endlessly discussed and debated. This is not about golf. We are asking that City of Minneapolis live up to their responsibility to address this source of pollution immediately....

Will you support and urge the Park Board and City of Minneapolis to prioritize this problem and to begin work on creating a comprehensive mitigation system for the north pipe immediately?

Will you meet with community representatives and Friends of Lake Hiawatha to discuss strategies for resolving this problem?
We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank You!
Sean Connaughty and Friends of Lake Hiawatha

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1 week 5 days ago

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2 weeks 1 day ago

Thanks to Fox 9 news for helping spread awareness of the problems facing Lake Hiawatha and the solution before us.

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3 weeks 4 days ago

There hasn't been any recent, available, official studies of the depth of Lake Hiawatha, but when I take my kayak out and use the secchi disk to measure water clarity I often test the depth of the Lake as well. yesterday I got this measurement of over 21 feet. Earlier in the summer I got several separate measurements of over 22 feet. Sediment from the north pipe storm sewer needs to be addressed through comprehensive mitigation, but it is good to know that there is still some relatively deep water.

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4 weeks 1 day ago

Response to the Southside Pride article: “What’s Happening at Lake Hiawatha” by Ed Felien

I respect Ed and appreciate his passion for saving 18 holes at Hiawatha Golf Course. I also feel it is important to respond to this article, which contains conjecture presented as fact, misleading quotes, omissions and false information.

1. Regarding the remarks you quoted from County Commissioner McLaughlin; the compromise does not “destroy the historic course for African Americans in a callous disregard for history and community.” The elected Park Board commissioners clearly heard the concerns about the history and the African American community. That is one of the major reasons why this compromise was able to be reached by our elected Park Board Commissioners. You have omitted this significant and approved amendment about honoring the African American history from your article.

2. Your ideas about removing dams and dredging are theories/opinions/conjecture and have been repeatedly shown untenable by the studies and research that were conducted by Barr in response to your public prompting. For many people in the community the only source of information they receive about the situation at Lake Hiawatha and HGC is from your paper. You are doing a disservice to the community when you publish and disseminate conjecture presented as fact. Your paper reaches thousands of people and widely affects the perceptions of the community. I still encounter people who believe dredging that Lake will solve the golf course’s problems and that homes will be flooded and destroyed as a result of water management activities at Lake Hiawatha.

3. The article says: “If the Park Board reduces pumping without solving the problem of the high water table, then parts of South Minneapolis will be underwater. It seems irresponsible of the Park Board to destroy homes.” The article leads readers to believe that their homes will flood as the result of water management activities to occur at HGC. Barr has explicitly stated that they can protect homes as well or better than they are currently in the reduced pumping scenario. Additionally water management activities at Hiawatha will not impact homes around upstream Lake Nokomis. With due respect to Representative Wagenius “Jean Wagenius said to the Board: “Historically, water flowed freely out of Hiawatha on its way to the Mississippi. But now we have built structures that impede the flow.” Water flow out of Hiawatha is barely impeded at all which is evidenced by the exceptionally brief residence time of water in Lake Hiawatha of 1-4 days. Humans have historically done everything they could to speed the flow of water through and beyond Lake Hiawatha, by straightening the Creek through HGC, filling in the wetlands around the Lake, pumping water off of the land and historically replacing natural shoreline around the Lake with a stone wall.
The concrete structure under the walking bridge at 27th ave. you keep referring to is only a shallow structure with a 6-7 foot open gap in the middle of it through which water is flowing just fine. Barr has already responded to, first, your idea of dredging the Lake, followed by your idea of dredging the Creek and then removing structures downstream, all have been determined to be untenable by Barr as a solution and are backed up by scientific study.
(Attempting to lower the water table at Lake Hiawatha and Minnehaha Creek will only expand the ecological impact of HGC, compounding what has already been done: Straightening the Creek, removing and filling wetlands and dredging the Lake. Adding: Dredging the Creek and more dredging of the Lake and lowering the level of Lake Hiawatha would likely have serious ecological impact on the Lake, habitat and water quality. Additionally the weirs and natural obstructions actually serve a purpose to slow water down and lessen problems associated with high velocity Creek flow, such as erosion and flooding. My concerns about Ed's proposal are tripled because there is no plan to do anything about the north pipe. That is the whole reason I am involved in this process. Myself and Friends of Lake Hiawatha and many community members want to see the Lake cleaned up. What is offered in Alternative B is a system of mitigation that addresses the sediment, pollutants and trash from the north pipe. You can probably guess that we can’t support any plan that does nothing to address the pollution of the Lake especially from the north pipe.*)

4. The article says that sediment from the north pipe “…has changed the maximum depth of Lake Hiawatha from 33 feet in 1929 to 14 feet today” Lake Hiawatha actually has a maximum depth of 20-22 feet depending on the level of the Lake. I have taken measurements myself of 22 feet this summer on several occasions and you can ask the watershed district about the data that they have. I agree that sediment from the Creek and the north pipe are negatively impacting Lake Hiawatha, and that is one of the many pollution issues that will be resolved in the reduced pumping scenario, which will capture sediment from the north pipe before it reaches Lake Hiawatha.

In this compromise the golfers in the community who value this course have been heard alongside the other stakeholders over the past 3-4 years. Golfers have successfully won the opportunity to maintain Hiawatha Golf Course as a community asset. Though the course will change from 18 holes to 9 and will be ecologically driven, it will remain Hiawatha Golf Course. Will you now continue to exacerbate community division and attempt to delay the masterplanning process and the implementation of necessary infrastructure changes including the mitigation of the pollution from the north pipe by taking the Park to court as you suggest? Or will you accept the compromise they achieved and move forward with the other community members, including many golfers, who feel that this is an acceptable compromise?

Thank You,

Sean Connaughty
Friends of Lake Hiawatha

note from Nextdoor post:
*Ed and I have had an interesting, thoughtful, ongoing discussion privately after I sent him my response. And though Ed disagrees with many of my assertions, I stand by what I have written here. I thought after Ed's article was mentioned several times in this thread that a critical response to the article should also be a part of the public record. Also, in light of the information revealed in David Kaplan's recent open letter (potential dissolution of the CAC) the stakes of coming together in compromise as a community are even higher.
link to original Southside Pride article: http://southsidepride.com/2018/08/13/whats-happening-with-lake-hiawatha/

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1 month 1 day ago

Important message from the Chair of the Hiawatha Golf Course Property Master Plan Community Advisory Committee:

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1 month 1 day ago

Lake Hiawatha - I would greatly appreciate it if you would post this for all to see. Thanks!

An Open Letter to the Community - Hiawatha Golf Course Property CAC

For those of you I do not know, my name is David Kaplan. I am a resident of the Standish neighborhood - formally serving on the SENA Board - and now serving as the Chair of the Hiawatha Golf Course Property Master Plan Community Advisory Committee (CAC).

I am writing this open letter to you, my neighbors, and posting it simultaneously on NextDoor, E-Democracy, the Save Hiawatha Golf Course Facebook page, the Friends of Lake Hiawatha Facebook page, and am asking MPRB staff to send it to all CAC members. My hope is to prepare us as a community for the next CAC meeting, and the work ahead.

As we all know, this project has been steeped in strong opinions - and rightfully so. This property is complex in how the different communities interact with it, the emotional and historical connections it has for people, and the role it plays a rallying point around environmental and ecological concerns. And we can all agree that there are valid concerns around how to keep homes dry.

I think it's important that we address the role of the CAC. It is not an authoritative body. It has no statutory ability to affect change. It is advisory only. Its role is to provide a handful of options to the MPRB Commissioners for them to consider, and hopefully choose from, when they make final design choices on the property. It is essentially the community's opportunity to say, "based on the larger decisions you (the MPRB Commissioners) have made, here is how we now want to masterplan the space and here is what is important to us."

We are not a body that can decide the pumping question. That is the Board of Commissioners.

What the CAC did do in a 9-6 vote was ask the MPRB Commissioners for clarification of the original resolution which was poorly written and left much to the imagination and interpretation, and that we be allowed to look at other pumping scenarios - essentially asking this newly elected Park Board to reconsider the decision of the previous one.

The MPRB Commissioners debated this for almost 2 months among themselves I am told, and at two public meetings. Their response was clear as was their instructions for the CAC:

Whereas, The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB) is the steward of Minneapolis parks;

Whereas, Hiawatha Golf Course is a part of the Minneapolis park system and a component of the Nokomis-Hiawatha Regional Park;

Whereas, The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board adopted Resolution 2017-243 on October 4, 2017;

Whereas, A Community Advisory committee (CAC) was formed to guide a master plan process for the Hiawatha Golf Course Property according to Resolution 2017-243;

Whereas, On April 30, 2018, the CAC voted to request a clarification of Resolution 2017- 243 by the Board of Commissioners;

Whereas, Resolution 2017-243, when it was first approved by the Board of Commissioners, included direction for "strong consideration for traditional golf in some form on the property" as the CAC explored possibilities through a master planning process; and

Whereas, Golf stakeholders have noted the importance of Hiawatha Golf Course and other MPRB golf courses related to the introduction and perpetuation of the sport for black golfers.

RESOLVED, That the Board of Commissioners clarifies Resolution 2017-243 to indicate the master planning process shall pursue a reduced pumping scenario as conceptualized in Alternative B;

RESOLVED, That the Board of Commissioners intends for the CAC to bring forward a solution resulting from the master planning process that includes, at a minimum, a flood-resilient and ecologically-driven nine-hole configuration for a golf course on the property;

RESOLVED, That the Board of Commissioners intends for the CAC to reflect in the master plan appropriate methods of recognizing the role of Hiawatha Golf Course and the history of black golfers in the Minneapolis park system; and

RESOLVED, That the President of the Board and Secretary to the Board are authorized to take all necessary administrative actions to implement this resolution.
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The response clearly states that "master planning process shall pursue a reduced pumping scenario as conceptualized in Alternative B" which was the plan proposed that reduces pumping to from 242 MGY to around 94 MGY.

And within those confines of pumping reduction, we are to look at developing a plan that "includes, at a minimum, a flood-resilient and ecologically-driven nine-hole configuration for a golf course on the property" and one that has "appropriate methods of recognizing the role of Hiawatha Golf Course and the history of black golfers in the Minneapolis park system."

Some community members like this compromise, some do not. But that was clearly going to be the case for any decision made by the MPRB Commissioners. In the end, it is their legal right and their statutory duty as elected officials to make this decision, it's why we elect them. And for those who do not agree with the decision, there are appropriate avenues to go down to address your concerns - through electoral or legal means. But the CAC is not one of those.

It is time for the CAC to begin its work - to start the lengthy process of master planning the site under the conditions set forth by the MPRB Commissioners. Should something change through the appropriate methods, then the CAC can change its direction as well. But we can no longer spin our wheels and waste tax dollars on a stagnant process. We all signed up to do this work. The application page was clear in our role:

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is seeking applications from the general public to serve on the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) for the Hiawatha Golf Course Property Master Plan. This planning project will guide capital improvements, management and operations within the golf course property.

In June of 2014, over 11 inches of rain fell on Hiawatha Golf Course and caused $1.5 million in damage. Parts of the damage has been restored, but elevated the necessity for a future flood resiliency plan. During the flood resiliency planning effort, the MPRB discovered it was pumping a volume of groundwater significantly greater than the amount allowed through a groundwater appropriations permit issued by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. This discovery put the planning effort on hold and triggered an intensive groundwater and stormwater study for the area, completed in 2017.

The Hiawatha Golf Course Property Master Plan will restart the planning process and will align water management strategies with potential future uses of the golf course property, including a consideration of traditional golf in some form and other current uses on the property.

The CAC will work with MPRB staff and consultants over the next 12 months to make recommendations to MPRB Commissioners. Project details and CAC applications are linked below.
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At the next meeting, I plan to begin the master planning process, to bring in our consultants who have been waiting for months, and we will begin with a visioning exercise. It is vital that we start this project, and I intend to see that it does begin.

Continued failure on the CAC's part to start the process may have very real, lasting effects. Most important of those, is that the CAC process is not a requirement of the MPRB. They do it because they value community involvement, but they can also, if we continue to ignore our charge and duties, choose to dissolve us and move forward with master planning without a CAC. I remind us all that Meadowbrook did not have a CAC - and that having one for Hiawatha is an anomaly, not the standard.

The community would lose its voice, its input, and its collective say in the matter. Each CAC member was appointed to represent a community or an organization. If we fail to represent them, and we give over control of the planning, we have failed our neighbors and our communities.

When we meet in (hopefully) September, we will be 6 months into a proposed 12-month process with no actual master planning work done. That must change.

I ask that the CAC follow my lead and we move into master planning at the next meeting. I ask that the community come and participate in the process and provide your input on the visioning process at the end of the meeting. And I ask that those who wish to see another direction use the appropriate vehicles to do so - the CAC is not the appropriate location or place to air grievances anymore, the MPRB Commissioners have been clear in their direction.

I look forward to working with you all in the coming months.

David Kaplan
Standish resident
CAC Chair

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1 month 1 week ago

Recommending Angela Conley for County Commissioner- vote today!

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