Projects >> Neighborhood >> Hiawatha / Lake St. TOD Master Plan

H i a w a t h a / L a k e   S t.   T O D   M a s t e r   P l a n

Minneapolis

With the hope that new light rail transit (LRT) would catalyze the revitalization of inner-ring urban neighborhoods, Hennepin County hired Calthorpe Associates to prepare a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) plan for a half-mile area around a planned station.

The Hiawatha/Lake station area is identified as a prime candidate for transit-oriented redevelopment. Current forecasts suggest that this area could accommodate from 700 to 3,000 new housing units, 600 to 1,000 new jobs, and related commerical uses.

A community involvement workshop process jump-started this planning effort. Local residents and other interested parties worked in small groups with facilitators to share their ideas about how the new station and other development could benefit their neighborhoods.
The land adjacent to the planned light rail station is underutilized and includes a failing strip mall. Citizens chose to redevelop the strip mall with new housing and mixed-use pedestrian-oriented retail. A transit plaza creates a memorable public open space directly adjacent to the train station
An "armature" base map created by one group of participants shows land use icons and notes about planning issues. Workshop participants allocating land use icons to the base map.
Land use icons used in the workshop process include mixed-use development and civic uses such as libraries and senior centers.

In the workshops, participants placed land-use "gamepieces" on a base map of the study area. At the end of the meeting, each group presented their ideas to the larger group. The community maps become a valuable record of neighborhood involvement in the planning process and a crucial input into development of a final station area plan.

The final plan channels higher-density mixed-use development to the rail corridor, helping to curtail urban sprawl and limit future regional infrastructure requirements.