Meeting: Board of Managers Meeting date: 9/10/2020 Agenda Item #: 11.2 Board Action Item Title: Authorization to Submit a Letter to the MPRB Regarding MCWD’s Comments on the Draft Hiawatha Golf Course Area Master Plan Resolution number: 20-072 Prepared by: Name: Tiffany Schaufler Phone: 952-641-4513 [email protected] Reviewed by: Name/Title: Michael Hayman, Project Planning Manager Recommended action: Authorize the Board President to sign a letter summarizing Minnehaha Creek Watershed District’s (MCWD) comments on the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s (MPRB) draft Hiawatha Golf Course Area Master Plan Schedule: September 15, 2020 – Public comments due on MPRB’s master plan Past Board action: Res #: 17-017 Authorization to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and Issue a Request for Qualification for the Integrated Planning of the Minnehaha Creek Subwatershed in Minneapolis Summary: During the first half of 2014 the watershed experienced record setting precipitation, leading to unprecedented flooding across the entire MCWD. Properties along Minnehaha Creek, including the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s (MPRB) Hiawatha Golf Course, experienced significant damage due to the record flood flows and prolonged inundation. Catalyzed by past analyses of golf operations and the 2014 flood damages, MPRB identified the need to conduct master planning for the Hiawatha Golf Course to explore a potential range of golf and non-golf uses, its respective revenue generation, and associated flood resilience. After the 2014 flooding and in an effort to better understand the water resources that interact with the Hiawatha Golf Course property, the MPRB coordinated with MCWD and the City of Minneapolis to learn how the master plan might be able to address water management issues. In February 2017, the MCWD, MPRB and City of Minneapolis (City) formalized this coordination framework by entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which outlined shared priorities and investment strategies to improve the natural and built environments within the Minnehaha Creek subwatershed in Minneapolis. The MOU highlighted the Hiawatha Golf Course as an example opportunity for partnership under the MOU framework and identified the possibility of pursuing water quality improvements, addressing localized flooding issues, and enhancing or expanding public recreation opportunities. Under the umbrella of the MOU, the MPRB invited MCWD and the City into the Hiawatha Golf Course master planning process by asking staff from MCWD and the City to serve as members on the Technical Advisory Panel. Through service on this technical panel, MCWD expressed support for planning concepts that were identified as being able to effectively address water management issues, maintain flood protection for the surrounding community, and balance the existing and future recreational needs of the land. Draft Master Plan - Hiawatha Golf Course Area After the completion of the water management assessment for the Hiawatha Golf Course, the MPRB formally kicked off the Hiawatha Golf Course Area master planning process in March 2018 and completed the master plan draft in the summer of 2020. On July 31, 2020, MPRB formally released the draft mater plan for the Hiawatha Golf Course Area for a 45-day public comment period which closes on September 15, 2020. The master plan is intended to align the water management needs with the recreational uses of the property. The draft master plan notes: “Improved water management, along with a chance to heal and restore the landscape, is the foundation of the Hiawatha Golf Course Area Master Plan. The plan aims to shape the land and water in more sustainable ways than occurred here a century ago, this time starting with the understanding that water is the force that shapes the land.” The draft master plan identifies Minnehaha Creek as the “backbone of South Minneapolis” and that the design of the Hiawatha Golf Course “can better accommodate the complicated hydrology and anticipated flows resulting from our changing climate, including more frequent extreme rainfall events.” The recommended plan for the Hiawatha Golf Course Area (page 3 of the draft master plan in Attachment A) displays how water is a prominent feature across the site. On the southwest side of Lake Hiawatha, Minnehaha Creek is proposed to meander through open water and wetland areas. On the west side of Lake Hiawatha there are several linked “open water management areas,” which are stormwater management facilities estimated to remove approximately 100 pounds of total phosphorus. Additionally, open water areas will be buffered and protected by adjacent restored wetlands and ecologically restored areas. MCWD Comment Letter Given the District’s early coordination efforts in the planning of the Hiawatha Golf Course Area master plan, its connection to the broader Minnehaha Creek corridor planning via the MPRB’s Minnehaha Parkway Regional Trail master plan, and the identification of the Hiawatha Golf Course Restoration in the District’s 10-year Capital Improvement Plan, District staff recommend outlining MCWD’s comments on the draft master plan. Attachment B contains a draft letter for consideration which outlines MCWD comments. Supporting documents (list attachments): • Attachment A: Draft master plan for the Hiawatha Golf Course Area • Attachment B: Draft MCWD letter regarding MCWD’s comments on the draft Hiawatha Golf Course Area master plan RESOLUTION Resolution number: 20-072 Title: Authorization to Submit a Letter to the MPRB Regarding MCWD’s Comments on the Draft Hiawatha Golf Course Area Master Plan WHEREAS the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District’s (District) Watershed Management Plan (WMP) identifies the Minnehaha Creek subwatershed as a priority geography for focusing the District’s planning activities and coordination efforts with its subwatershed partners; WHEREAS the District’s WMP identifies water quality, water quantity and ecological integrity goals for the Minnehaha Creek subwatershed and identifies stormwater management, stream restoration and restoration of wetlands and ecological corridors as management strategies to achieve those goals; WHEREAS in 2014 the MCWD experienced record setting precipitation which resulted in significant flood damage across the entire MCWD and at the Minneapolis Park and Recreations Board’s (MPRB) Hiawatha Golf Course; WHEREAS in 2017 the MCWD Board of Managers, MPRB Board of Commissioners and Minneapolis City Council approved a memorandum of understanding that outlines opportunities to collaborate and integrate mutual efforts in realms of land-use planning, stormwater management, flood mitigation, park and public land management, greenway development, and water resources improvements; WHEREAS beginning in 2018 the MPRB began a master plan process for the Hiawatha Golf Course Area; WHEREAS on July 31, 2020 the MPRB released the draft Hiawatha Golf Course Area master plan document for a 45-day public comment period. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District Board of Managers authorizes the Board Present to submit the attached letter to the MPRB which summarizes MCWD’s comments on the draft Hiawatha Golf Course Area Master Plan. Resolution Number 20-072 was moved by Manager _____________, seconded by Manager ____________. Motion to adopt the resolution ___ ayes, ___ nays, ___abstentions. Date: 9/10/2020 _______________________________________________________ Date: September 10, 2020 Secretary DRAFT HIAWATHA GOLF COURSE AREA MASTER PLAN Aligning Water Management and Use AMENDMENT TO THE NOKOMIS-HIAWATHA REGIONAL PARK MASTER PLAN DRAFT JULY 31, 2020 DRAFT HIAWATHA GOLF COURSE AREA MASTER PLAN ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The MPRB would like to thank the following people and organizations for their dedicated participation in the master planning process, along with the general public who is passionate about this piece of land in the heart of South Minneapolis. This plan is a reflection of the input received from the Community Advisory Committee (CAC), the general public, collaborating agencies and other project stakeholders, and MPRB staff. Dakota Land Organizations involved with the Master Plan Amendment MPRB Project Staff Consultants The MPRB acknowledges the land subject to this master plan Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board amendment is Bdote, lands once richly inhabited by the Dakota and City of Minneapolis Michael Schroeder, PLA other Indigenous peoples. Under the hands of the MPRB, that land Assistant Superintendent of Planning Services changed dramatically and in ways that fail to resonate with the spirit Minnehaha Creek Watershed District of the Dakota and the honor they bring to the land. In crafting a Neighborhood Organizations Tyrize Cox master plan to guide the future of this land, we bring good intentions Assistant Superintendent of Recreation Bancroft Neighborhood Association of healing what we have so dramatically disturbed, and with good hearts hope to restore the vital functions of the land and the water Field Regina Northrup Neighborhood Group Tyler Pederson, PLA that passes through it. We are striving for a more holistic balance Hale Page Diamond Lake Community Association Design Project Manager than has existed here for the past century, one that can better sustain Nokomis East Neighborhood Association Standish-Ericsson Neighborhood Association Joe Green all peoples for the next centuries. Interim Director of