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June 17, 2005

How Much is Too Much?

A giant development in sleepy Hiawatha sparks new debate on the city's rapid grows

The Minneapolis Observer

This article addressed the issue of land development and the impact that it has on the neighborhoods that affected by it. The focus of this article is on Paul Klodt, who is a big real-estate developer in the Twin Cities area. Paul plans to turn a former factory at 44th and Snelling Avenue in the Hiawatha neighborhood into a 245-unit apartment building. The reason for selecting this site is that the proposed building will be within walking distance to the 46th Street LRT station.

People that live in the Hiawatha neighborhood are against the project because they feel that it will cause parking and traffic issues in their now quite neighborhood. Many residents feel that neighborhood planning has taken a backseat when it comes to new construction projects. Currently, as long and the developer gets proper permits and acquires the building site they can build whatever they want. Many residents feel that this is unfair and they should have some say in new developments.

In our group discussion, we all agreed that building a 245 unit building is going to cause parking and traffic problems. One possible solution that we came up with was to have Paul Klodt build a special parking ramp for the building. Since, the building is near the LTR and many people work Downtown traffic problems may not be as sever as the residents of the Hiawatha neighborhood fear. I feel that the people of the neighborhood should have some say in what happens to their neighborhood but at the same time, I do not think that they have the right to put up a bunch of bureaucracy just to block construction.