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From the Healy Historic District
MEMO
Date: October 21, 2002
To: Craig Anderson, Tom Johnson & PAC
From: Healy Historic District & Baker Block Residents
Thank you for attending the meeting with the Healy Historic District
and Baker Block residents on Friday, October 18. The information
you provided has helped us reach the following conclusions in regards
to our position on the Access Project.
As discussed at the meeting, residents feel that the planted median
separating 2nd Avenue from the off-ramp is a great idea, and the
design is attractive. We hope to see this implemented immediately,
separate from the Access Project since the original freeway concept
did not provide for mitigation.
Although the median and some of the façade treatments were
of interest to residents, we have several concerns regarding this
project, listed as follows:
1. The Access Project is only about moving cars, and doesn't
consider alternate forms of transit. While this project is named
an "Access Project", the additional freeway lanes that
are included make it more of an "Expansion Project".
We believe it is imperative that all plans include transit options.
There is concern that this is one of the first increments of a
larger plan to expand the freeway, as referenced by the Metropolitan
Council, which we do not support.
2. The Access Project brings the freeway 35 feet closer to the
historic structures. We are already too close to the freeway;
the noise, pollution, salt spray, and hazards of traffic are already
intense, and severely impact the livability of our area every
day. Bringing the freeway any closer will only intensify this
problem, and make the freeway a more significant threat to the
livability of both 3rd Avenue and 2nd Avenue. We oppose any plan
that will bring the freeway closer to our homes.
3. The Access Project eliminates highly valued green-space. The
planted embankment along the 3000 and 3100 blocks of 2nd Avenue
is extremely valuable to residents for the visual and sound screening
it provides, and probable affect on pollution and other particulate
matter from the freeway. The existing green-space is a very important
"buffer", and we will not support a plan that destroys
it.
4. The Access Project includes a double lane off-ramp. We believe
the off-ramp should be no wider than a single lane. A double lane
encourages higher speeds and wastes space that could be dedicated
to green space.
5. The Access Project includes HOV lane potential. The concept
of HOV Lanes has failed on I-394. Residents believe that HOV lanes
are an attempt to disguise freeway expansion as a transit solution.
Further, the process by which the HOV lanes were added to the
Access Project violated PAC's own rules.
6. The Access Project fails to include sufficient green space.
The 10 feet of green space currently in the project for our area
is drastically less than the existing green space and wildly insufficient.
As it exists, the project primarily replaces green space with
concrete.
7. The Access Project does nothing to reduce pollution and noise
levels, which are already high and are likely increase as a result
of the expansion.
8. The construction phase of the Access Project will do significant
damage to our homes. Previous experience with construction on
this freeway indicates that our homes will suffer extensive damage
during the construction phase, particularly during construction
of the retaining walls. Work on the 31st Street bridge a few years
ago caused original plaster to crack and fall, an original curved
window to crack, exterior brickwork to fall, and most seriously,
the north wall of a basement to collapse. We are also aware of
historic structures in St Paul that suffered extensive damage
during the last decade's construction there, particularly construction
of retaining walls. One Baker Block resident lived in St. Paul
at the time, and described the process. Daily vibrations from
traffic on the freeway already create ripples in bath water; freeway
construction will be highly destructive. Further, nighttime construction
for any amount of time would be severely disruptive to the residents.
9. Finally, we believe that the impact of this project will do
so much damage to the livability of the homes that they will no
longer be viable as desirable residential structures. The last
decade has seen extensive investment, both public and private,
in these homes, and they have become a landmark in the Minneapolis
area. Residents feel that the Access Project, if built as planned,
will destroy this grass-roots preservation effort, and Minneapolis
will lose a historic district. The Access Project plan has already
played a role in the sale of one home, and several residents have
delayed investments in their homes until the Access Project either
sufficiently accommodates the historic homes of 2nd Avenue or
is defeated.
Clearly, the current version of the Access Project is not something
that residents of the Healy Historic District and Baker Block can
accept. If the freeway comes any closer to our homes than it already
is, then the only remaining solution for us it to have our homes
moved as a collection to a location more conducive to preservation
and livability. While we enjoy our current location and can live
with the current configuration of the freeway, we also realize that
the current version of the Access Project will destroy the livability
of our area, leaving relocation of the structures the only option
for preservation. The Healy Historic District and the Baker Block
oppose the current version of the Access Project.
We believe that proposals for the freeway must include mass transit
components. We call upon all public officials and public agencies
to assist us in ensuring the livability and viability of our homes
and our neighborhoods.
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