Windom land for public safety building moves forward “without recommendation” 

The City Council remains divided on supporting a land acquisition for a new training and wellness center for the Minneapolis Police Department and other emergency services as it moves to a vote on Thursday. Building a center has been a funding priority for past councils and a City priority since 2018. 

After a robust discussion about the needs for a new training and wellness center, the City Council, meeting as a Committee of the Whole on May 19, voted unanimously to forward a proposal for land acquisition in Windom to May 21’s City Council meeting without recommendation. 

Sending a proposal to the City Council “without recommendation” is a way to keep a proposal moving but signals that the body is not in full support of the proposal. 

The City has been planning a law enforcement training center since 2018, as shared at the Committee of the Whole meeting on May 19, 2026.

City of Minneapolis

The City wants to buy a parcel of industrial land at 60th Street and Pleasant Avenue to build a Community Safety Training and Wellness Center with an estimated build cost of $38 million. 

The Committee of the Whole heard a presentation about the land acquisition from Director of Property Services Barbara O'Brien after returning the land acquisition proposal back to staff in late March 2026. 

The land purchase will cost the City $6 million and the land owner has a deadline of May 2026 for the City to purchase it. 

Windom residents have vocalized their opposition to this project at public events hosted by Ward 11 Council Member Jamison Whiting, who represents the Windom neighborhood. City Council members Robin Wonsley and Soren Stevenson held a press conference with residents ahead of its Committee of the Whole meeting on May 19. 

“This proposed land purchase raises serious concerns because of the location, the process, and the lack of community trust surrounding it,” Windom resident Sarah Bassett-Kim said. She is also a Windom Elementary School parent, which is blocks from the proposed site. 

“You can definitely see it from the outdoor space at the school,” Bassett-Kim said, who spoke with Windom Elementary’s leadership this week. She said they had “no knowledge of the proposal.” 

City Council dialogue about the need for a new public safety center focused on dedicating $6 million to buy land without having a plan in place. 

As an example, before the acquisition vote on the parcel of land for the Community Safety Center at 2633 Minnehaha Ave., Wonsley said, “Mayor Frey sent a 47-page memo outlining what was supposed to go in that. The programmatic intentions of that center, that would have included community safety responses, and preventive responses.” 

The City Council has not received a plan for the proposed training and wellness center. For other City projects, site control is typical before moving forward with further planning. 

Other discussion points were focused on whether the settlement agreement requires the City to build a training and wellness center. 

“This is a portion that ELEFA has put on to the City of Minneapolis that says ‘If you do this facility, if you create this facility, you are in compliance. If you do not, you are not in compliance,’ right?,” Whiting said.

Wonsley disagreed, saying the settlement agreement does not say “we need to buy this building.” 

ELEFA has not made public comments on whether the center is needed to fulfill the requirements of the settlement agreement. The City and MPD issued a facilities report in June 2025 as mandated in the settlement agreement. Every precinct, except the 5th Precinct, lists “move out of the existing facility to a purposefully designed new police facility,” as a high priority on its suggested repair list. A 2023 external report had similar suggestions.