BRIEFS March 3, 2022

Office of Police Conduct Review to Examine No-Knock Search Warrant Policies
Interim Minneapolis Civil Rights Director Alberder Gillespie has announced that the department’s Office of Police Conduct Review will conduct a special review of the city’s no-knock search warrant policy. Gillespie said that “they will have the authority to request unrestricted access to the records of the Minneapolis Police Department for that purpose, to the extent authorized by law.” The special review will focus on identifying and recommending specific changes and improvements to current policy and procedures.

Behavioral Crisis Teams Increase Hours
The city of Minneapolis has announced that Behavioral Crisis Response teams are now operating 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday. These teams are being provided by an outside organization, Canopy Roots, as a pilot project managed by the City Coordinator’s Office of Performance and Innovation. Two mobile teams have been operating since last December, but have only been operating Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to midnight. Each team consists of two behavioral health responders and is dispatched through Minneapolis 911 as an alternative to a police response. The teams do not respond to incidents involving firearms or violent behavior. The police may also be used if the dispatcher determines they are necessary to ensure the scene is safe or if a response team requests their assistance. Police may also request the assistance of the Behavioral Crisis Response Teams when they are responding to calls.

Redevelopment Plan for Lake and Hennepin
Northpond Partners, the owner of the 7-Points Mall, has submitted plans to renovate the existing building (formerly called Calhoun Square) and add a new, 7-story apartment building, 231 structured parking spaces, and ground floor commercial space that will include a grocery store. They announced in a press release in February that they are partnering with Doran Company on the design and development of the new 264-unit apartment building that would be located on the northeast corner of Hennepin and 31st Street. They hope to start construction this year. Northpond also has a memorandum of understanding with a nonprofit developer to build affordable housing on an adjacent site on Lake Street. Construction of that development is expected to begin in 2024. Tenants include Chase Bank, Curioso’s Cafe and True North Collaborative. For plan details see https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Board/Agenda/CPC-COW/3056

SW LRT Audit Bill
State Senator Scott Dibble, and Representative Frank Hornstein’s proposal to appropriate $200,000 for the Legislative Auditor to complete a special review of the Southwest light rail transit project is moving forward in the legislature. It has gathered several co-authors, was approved unanimously by the Senate and House Transportation Committees and in the Senate’s State Government Finance and Policy and Elections Committee, where it was referred to the Senate Finance Committee. If approved, the funds could be used to hire additional staff or contract with a third party. The same two legislators have introduced separate legislation that would transfer responsibility for the project from the Metropolitan Council to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
France 50 Mixed-use Development Gets Final Land Use Approval
After months of review, and appeal to the city council that was denied, the France 50 Project, along France Avenue at the southeast corner of 49th St in the Fulton neighborhood, is moving forward. On Feb. 22, it received its approval from the Minneapolis Planning Commission to combine the seven parcels it owns into one lot. The applicant, France 50 LLC, plans to demolish the houses there to make way for a new 45-unit apartment building with 15,878 square feet of retail space for four new commercial tenants on the first floor. All the other land use applications, including a rezoning, conditional use permits, site plan review, preliminary plat, and administrative height increase for the proposed project were approved by the city council on January 27. Now the proposed new five-story building is ready to move into the demolition and construction phases this spring and summer.