City Briefs - May 18

Anthony Middle School addition
Plans have been approved for the Anthony Middle School, at 5757 Irving Ave. S., for a new 3,352-square-foot entry and stair addition to meet Minneapolis Public School’s Guide for ‘Safe and Secure Entrances.’ The plan includes renovating stairs and the main administrative area to improve operations and provide sight lines from the office to the main entry. Landscaping and screening of both parking lots and screening of the refuse area will also be done.

50th and Lyndale Apartments
A proposal to redevelop 5005 Lyndale Avenue S. has been submitted to the city for review. It would demolish the house there, and build a new four-story 19-unit apartment building. It would include 32 enclosed parking spaces accessed from the driveway on 50th Street and four walk-up apartments on Lyndale with a main entry on 50th.

Capital budget hearing
A joint meeting of the Capital Long-Range Improvements Committee (CLIC) and the City Planning Commission was held on May 11 to take input on the proposals for the 2024-2029 Capital Improvement Program funding. The proposals for next year total over $268 million dollars and include investments in parks, city buildings, water treatment facilities, streets and other infrastructure. The largest requests from departments for 2024 include $24 million for Hennepin Ave, $18 million for stormwater sewers, $17 million for sanitary sewers, and $15 million for a new 1st police precinct building. The input from the hearing will help CLIC make their recommendation to the mayor and city council as they work on next year’s city budget.

Public housing levy
On May 10, the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority presented a proposal for a fully funded housing tax levy to be considered by the Minneapolis City Council, Mayor, and Board of Estimate and Taxation. The 20-year levy proposal would deliver an estimated $240M over the next two decades and property taxpayers would pay between $31 and $108 more each year depending on the value of their property. A homeowner at the city median valued home of $316,000 would pay an additional $52 year.

New street lights
On May 4, a city council committee recommended approval of the plan to spend $3.7 million for new streetlights in the Loring Park and Stevens Square neighborhood. Under the plan, property owners will be assessed to cover a portion of the costs to replace older existing streetlights and add new ones in some areas.

Nicollet event center
After adding conditions to address concerns raised during the public hearing about parking, the city council has approved a new event center and rental hall at 2616 Nicollet Ave with extended hours from 6 a.m.-1 a.m. Monday to Thursday and 6 a.m.-3 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

New sidewalk café
The council has approved a sidewalk café license for Little T’s at 17 26th St. E. in the Whittier neighborhood, which will include seating for up to 10 people.

DFL ENDORSEMENTS
The Democratic Farmer Labor party is holding ward level meetings to consider endorsing city council member candidates in each ward. So far, the south and southwest wards 9, 12 and 13 have held meetings and endorsed Jason Chavez, Aurin Chowdhury and Linea Palmisano respectfully. The ward 10 meeting was held on May 13, but was recessed before an endorsement vote could be taken due to the disruptive behavior of some participants. The ward 6 and 8 meetings will be held on May 20 online. The ward 7 and 11 meetings will be held online on May 21.