HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-01-19 Meeting PacketAgenda
Transportation Commission
City Of Edina, Minnesota
City Hall - Community Room
Thursday, January 19, 2023
6:00 PM
I.Call To Order
II.Roll Call
III.Approval Of Meeting Agenda
IV.Approval Of Meeting Minutes
A.Approval of Minutes - Regular Meeting of December 15, 2022
V.Special Recognitions And Presentations
A.Bicycle Friendly Community Report Card
B.Wooddale Avenue Bridge Project
VI.Community Comment
During "Community Comment," the Board/Commission will invite residents to share relevant issues
or concerns. Individuals must limit their comments to three minutes. The Chair may limit the
number of speakers on the same issue in the interest of time and topic. Generally speaking, items
that are elsewhere on tonight's agenda may not be addressed during Community Comment.
Individuals should not expect the Chair or Board/Commission Members to respond to their
comments tonight. Instead, the Board/Commission might refer the matter to sta% for
consideration at a future meeting.
VII.Reports/Recommendations
A.2023 Work Plan Updates
VIII.Chair And Member Comments
IX.Sta1 Comments
A.Additional Sidewalks for Morningside C Roadway Reconstruction
X.Adjournment
The City of Edina wants all residents to be comfortable being part of the public
process. If you need assistance in the way of hearing ampli4cation, an
interpreter, large-print documents or something else, please call 952-927-8861
72 hours in advance of the meeting.
Date: January 19, 2023 Agenda Item #: IV.A.
To:Transportation Commission Item Type:
Minutes
From:Andrew Scipioni, Transportation Planner
Item Activity:
Subject:Approval of Minutes - Regular Meeting of December
15, 2022
Action
CITY OF EDINA
4801 West 50th Street
Edina, MN 55424
www.edinamn.gov
ACTION REQUESTED:
Approve the minutes of the Transportation Commission regular meeting of December 15, 2022.
INTRODUCTION:
See attached draft minutes.
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Draft Minutes: Dec 15, 2022
Draft Minutes☒
Approved Minutes☐
Approved Date:
Minutes
City Of Edina, Minnesota
Transportation Commission
City Hall Community Room
December 15, 2022
I. Call To Order
Chair Johnson called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m.
II. Roll Call
Answering roll call: Commissioners Ahler, Brown, McCarthy, Plumb-Smith, Richman, Rubenstein, Johnson
Absent: Commissioner Kitui, Lewis, Kanti Mahanty, Sweeney
Staff present: Transportation Planner Andrew Scipioni
III. Approval of Meeting Agenda
Motion was made by Commissioner Richman and seconded by Commissioner Ahler to
approve the agenda. All voted aye. Motion carried.
IV. Approval of Meeting Minutes
Motion was made by Commissioner Richman and seconded by Commissioner Brown to
approve the November 17, 2022 meeting minutes. All voted aye. Motion carried.
V. Community Comment
Michelle Lavelle-Henry, 6521 McCauley Trl, testified about Item D1 on the Traffic Safety Report of
November 29, 2022. Lavelle-Henry noted that they have witnessed increased traffic volumes and more
speeding from distracted drivers. The new multi-use path and crosswalk are appreciated, but it is not enough
to address the concern. Lavelle-Henry requested that a rectangular rapid-flashing beacon be installed at
Gleason Rd and McCauley Trl.
Aimee Martinez, 4200 Oakdale Ave, testified about Item B3 on the Traffic Safety Report of November 29,
2022. Martinez noted that drivers on W 42nd St often do not stop for the stop signs and there are many kids
in the neighborhood. Martinez requested a marked crosswalk at the intersection to increase awareness of
pedestrians.
David Sieben, 4208 Oakdale Ave, testified about Item B3 on the Traffic Safety Report of November 29, 2022.
Sieben concurred with Martinez’s comments about speeding on W 42nd St and lack of stop sign compliance at
Oakdale Ave/Monterey Ave.
VI. Reports/Recommendations
A. Traffic Safety Report of November 29, 2022
The Commission reviewed and commented on the Traffic Safety Report of November 29, 2022.
• Item B3: Request for signage improvements for all-way stop at W 42nd St/Oakdale
Ave/Monterey Ave
Draft Minutes☒
Approved Minutes☐
Approved Date:
Motion was made by Commissioner Richman and seconded by Commissioner
McCarthy to recommend that staff provide additional data on stop sign compliance
and consider enhancing the existing stop signs with flags. Motion was made by
Commissioner Ahler and seconded by Commissioner McCarthy to amend the
motion to also recommend that staff review the concern again after street
reconstruction is completed. Motion was made by Commissioner Johnson and
seconded by Commissioner Richman to amend the motion to also request that staff
report back with additional data no later than the January 19 regular meeting. All
voted aye. Motion carried.
B. Draft PACS Fund Increase Proposal
The Commission reviewed the draft report recommending an increase in funding for the Pedestrian
and Cyclist Safety (PACS) Fund.
Motion was made by Commissioner Richman and seconded by Commissioner
Rubenstein to approve the PACS Fund Increase Proposal report. All voted aye. Motion
carried.
C. 2022 Work Plan Updates
• #1 Tree Boulevard Policy – Initiative completed.
• #2 Public Transit Checklist – Initiative terminated.
• #3 PACS Fund Policy – Commission approved the final report.
• #4 SRTS Demonstration Projects – Initiative terminated.
• #5 TIS Process Review – Initiative terminated.
• #6 Transit Connectivity – Initiative completed.
D. Commissioner Richman Presentation
Commissioner Richman shared her experiences serving on the Commission and provided advice for
future Commissioners.
VII. Chair and Member Comments – Received.
VIII. Staff Comments – Received.
Motion was made by Commissioner Richman and seconded by Commissioner Plumb-
Smith to approve an advisory communication to City Council on the topic of Question 31
in the City’s 2023 Quality of Life Survey. All voted aye. Motion carried.
IX. Adjournment
Motion was made by Commissioner Johnson and seconded by Commissioner McCarthy to
adjourn the December 15, 2022 regular meeting at 8:23 p.m. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Draft Minutes☒
Approved Minutes☐
Approved Date:
TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ATTENDANCE
J F M A M J J A S O N D # of Mtgs Attendance %
Meetings 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12
NAME
Ahler, Mindy 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 92%
Brown, Chris 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 75%
Johnson, Kirk 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 83%
Kitui, Janet 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 75%
Lewis, Andy 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 83%
McCarthy, Bruce 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 75%
Plumb-Smith, Jill 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 83%
Richman, Lori 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 75%
Rubenstein, Tricia 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 75%
Kanti Mahanty, Stephen (s) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 58%
Sweeney, Isaiah (s) 1 1 1 3 75%
Kane, Bocar Resigned 0 N/A
Clark, Anna (s) 1 1 Term Expired 2 25%
Date: January 19, 2023 Agenda Item #: V.A.
To:Transportation Commission Item Type:
Other
From:Andrew Scipioni, Transportation Planner
Item Activity:
Subject:Bicycle Friendly Community Report Card Discussion, Information
CITY OF EDINA
4801 West 50th Street
Edina, MN 55424
www.edinamn.gov
ACTION REQUESTED:
None.
INTRODUCTION:
The League of American Bicyclists renewed the City of Edina’s status as a Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly
Community (BFC). This designation recognizes the City’s efforts to provide safe accommodations for bicycling
and encourage people to bike for transportation and recreation. Edina has held this designation since 2014 and is
one of 30 recognized communities in Minnesota.
Staff will review the City's BFC Report Card, which includes snapshots of key data, public survey results,
subcategory scores and top recommendations to maintain or improve the current award level.
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Bicycle Friendly Community Report Card, Fall 2022
Edina, MN
Edina’s BFA Program Stats
# of Local Bicycle Friendly Businesses: 0
# of Local Bicycle Friendly Universities: 0
# of Local League Cycling Instructors: 1
Minnesota’s Bicycle Friendly State Ranking: #5
Community Profile
Population: 53,494
Area: 16 square miles
Population Density: 3343 people/square mile
Land Classification: Mixed Suburban/Urban/Rural
Poverty Rate: 4.7%*
Median Household Income: $108,576*
Percent of the Population that Speaks a
Language Other Than English at Home: 13%*
Percent with Disability: 9%*
Percent of Households with No Vehicle Available: 5.6%*
*Source: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/all?q=Edina%20city,%20Minne-
sotaKey Outcomes
Commuter Ridership: 0.7%
(Bicycle Mode Share among commuters, according to the Census
Bureau’s American Community Survey 5-Year Estimate)
Overall Bicycle Mode Share: Unknown
(Reported by applicant)
Annual Average Bicyclist Crashes in last 5 years:
(Reported by applicant)
Annual Average Bicyclist Fatalities in last 5 years: 0
(Reported by applicant)
Fall 2022 BFC Public Survey Response Summary for Edina, MN
Edina’s Bike Links
Bike Network Map, if available:
N/A
Bike Plan, if available:
https://www.edinamn.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5433/
Final-Master-Plan-Report-PDF
How satisfied are you with how this community is designed
for making bike riding safe? (n = 10)
Is it safe or dangerous to ride a bicycle in your
neighborhood, or does it depend? (n = 10)
What is the number one change you would most like to see the local government make in this community for bicyclists? (n = 10)
1. More bike lanes (40.00%)
Very Satisfied (10.00%)
Somewhat Satisfied (20.00%)
Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied (20.00%)
Somewhat Dissatisfied (0.00%)
Very Dissatisfied (50.00%)
Award: Bronze | Fall 2022
Award History: Bronze since 2014,
previously Honorable Mention in 2010.
BICYCLE FRIENDLY COMMUNITY REPORT CARD
Page 1 of 5
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Edina, MN
MN
Survey:
Edina, MN
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Edina, MN
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40+50+10Safe (10.00%)
It Depends (50.00%)
Dangerous (40.00%)a+100+503010The 5 Es Category Scores Edina Max Score
this round
Engineering 21%62%
Education 11%60%
Encouragement 16%61%
Evaluation & Planning 20%64%
Equity & Accessibility 11%57%
Percentages shown above are the points received out of points available in that category.
See pages 2-3 for Edina’s subcategory points earned within each Category.
Note: Edina only received 10 responses to the BFC public survey in Fall 2022. The League strongly encourages BFC applicants to distribute the public survey
as widely as possible the next time your community applies to the BFC program, to get input from as many cyclists — and potential cyclists — as possible.
About this Report Card
The following scores are based on the online application submitted by Edina in the Fall 2022 Bicycle
Friendly Community (BFC) submission round. These scores reflect a combination of automatically-gener-
ated points earned through the online application, as well as judge-assigned points and bonus points given
by BFC reviewers.
The League updated its Bicycle Friendly Community application and awards criteria in the Summer of
2022, after nearly a year of research, focus groups, interviews, listening sessions, and other outreach. The
updated application includes a new section on Equity and Accessibility, and other changes throughout.
As such, this Bicycle Friendly Community Report card is a beta version as we refine our new scoring
system and develop a greater understanding of how to convey new information.
All Fall 2022 BFC Report Cards (including this one) will be republished with updated scores if there are
changes to the points system after the next round of Bicycle Friendly Community applications. To learn
more about the BFC application and awards criteria, please visit https://bikeleague.org/community.
Page 2 of 5
Edina earned 21% of the points available in the Engineering Category. Below is the breakdown of points that Edi-
na earned in each subcategory of the Engineering section compared to the total points available in that respective
subcategory from the Fall 2022 BFC application.
Engineering Subcategories Edina’s Subcategory Points
in Engineering
Policies and Design Standards for the Built Environment 8 / 38 pts
End-of-Trip Facilities 10 / 41 pts
Bicycle Network 29 / 126 pts
Network Maintenance 10 / 32 pts
Bicycle Access to Public Transportation 4 / 22 pts
Bike Sharing 0 / 25 pts
Other Bicycle-Related Amenities 2 / 6 pts
Regional Coordination 2 / 16 pts
Engineering Bonus Points 1 / 9 ptsENGINEERING
Edina earned 11% of the points available in the Education Category. Below is the breakdown of points that Edina
earned in each subcategory of the Education section compared to the total points available in that respective
subcategory from the Fall 2022 BFC application.
Education Subcategories Edina’s Subcategory Points in
Education
Youth Bicycle Education 4 / 71 pts
Adult Bicycle Education 9 / 47 pts
Motorist Education 5 / 28 pts
Bicycle Safety Education Resources 3 / 22 pts
Inclusive Education 2 / 22 pts
Education Bonus Points 0 / 8 ptsEDUCATION
Page 3 of 5
Edina earned 11% of the points available in the Equity & Accessibility Category. Below is the breakdown of points
that Edina earned in each subcategory of the Equity & Accessibility section compared to the total points available
in that respective subcategory from the Fall 2022 BFC application.
Equity & Accessibility Subcategories Edina’s Subcategory Points
in Equity & Accessibility
Equity & Accessibility Staffing, Committees, & Partnerships 8 / 38 pts
Equity Data Collection & Goals 0 / 20 pts
Equity & Accessibility Policies & Plans 12 / 38 pts
Equity & Accessibility in Engineering 1 / 35 pts
Equity & Accessibility in Education 1 / 35 pts
Equity & Accessibility in Encouragement 2 / 35 pts
Equity & Accessibility in Evaluation & Planning 3 / 35 pts
Equity & Accessibility Bonus Points 1 / 15 ptsEQUITY & ACCESSIBILITYEdina earned 16% of the points available in the Encouragement Category. Below is the breakdown of points that
Edina earned in each subcategory of the Encouragement section compared to the total points available in that
respective subcategory from the Fall 2022 BFC application.
Encouragement Subcategories Edina’s Subcategory Points in
Encouragement
Encouragement Policies, Programs and Partnerships 1 / 22 pts
Route-Finding Support 5 / 10 pts
Bicycle Culture and Promotion 17 / 99 pts
Access To Bicycle Equipment and Repair Services 6 / 49 pts
Reducing Work-Related/Fleet VMT 0 / 10 pts
Encouragement Bonus Points 2 / 8 ptsENCOURAGEMENT
Edina earned 20% of the points available in the Evaluation & Planning Category. Below is the breakdown of
points that Edina earned in each subcategory of the Evaluation & Planning section compared to the total points
available in that respective subcategory from the Fall 2022 BFC application.
Evaluation & Planning Subcategories Edina’s Subcategory Points in
Evaluation & Planning
Staffing And Committees 13 / 42 pts
Public Engagement for Bicycle Planning 5 / 33 pts
Planning, Funding, And Implementation 12 / 46 pts
Evaluating The Bicycle Network 0 / 21 pts
Evaluating Ridership 1 / 21 pts
Evaluating & Improving Safety Outcomes 9 / 38 pts
Evaluation & Planning Bonus Points 1 / 8 ptsEVALUATION & PLANNING
FEEDBACK TO IMPROVE:
To maintain and improve on Edina’s Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community award, BFC Reviewers recommend…
»Continue to improve and expand the low-stress bike network for all ages and abilities, and ensure that your
community follows a bicycle facility selection criteria that increases separation and protection of bicyclists
based on levels of motor vehicle speed and volume.
»Follow through on the City’s 2011 Living Streets Resolution by creating and adopting a Living Streets or Com-
plete Streets policy with specific guidelines and goals for implementation. Ensure that there is a strong and
transparent implementation and compliance process for the new policy going forward.
»Integrate land use, transit, and bicycle planning decisions more intentionally to help build multi-modal connec-
tions to daily destinations, both within and beyond Edina’s borders.
»Continue to increase the amount of high quality bicycle parking throughout the community. Develop commu-
nity-wide Bicycle Parking Standards to ensure that APBP-compliant bicycle parking is available in areas near
popular destinations, transit stops, and urban activity centers. (See apbp.org/bicycle-parking-solutions)
»Consider re-launching a bike share system that is open to the public. Bike sharing is a convenient, cost effec-
tive, and healthy way of encouraging locals and visitors to make short trips by bike, make bicycling more acces-
sible to all, and to bridge the ‘last mile’ between public transit and destinations.
»Improve bicycle safety education for students of all ages by incorporating on-bicycle education opportunities
and by expanding the program to all K-12 schools. Providing bicycles in schools for on-bike education ensures
that all students can learn to safely ride a bicycle regardless of the availability of a bicycle in their household.
Work with the school district, local bicycle groups, and interested parents to expand and improve the Safe
Routes to School program.
»Expand bicycle education opportunities for adults. Consider ways to target demographics who currently do not
feel safe riding with classes or events that address their concerns and create an inclusive, welcoming environ-
ment.
»Increase the number of local League Cycling Instructors (LCIs) in your community, either by hosting an LCI
seminar in partnership with BikeMN, or sponsoring a City staffer or local bike advocate to attend an existing
seminar elsewhere in the state. Having several active LCIs in the area will enable you to expand cycling edu-
cation for youth and adults, recruit more knowledgeable cycling ambassadors, deliver Bicycle Friendly Driver
education to motorists, and have experts available to assist in encouragement programs.
»Develop education and encouragement outreach methods and programs that specifically target families, wom-
en, seniors, low-income, and non-English speaking communities, in addition to general non-targeted outreach
and media campaigns that discuss current and new bicycle facilities, safe driver and bicyclist behavior, and
events related to walking and biking.
»Continue to build bike culture and promote cycling during National Bike Month (May) and throughout the year
in your community through a variety of signature events, rides, celebrations, commuter challenges and more.
»Encourage more local businesses, agencies, and organizations to promote cycling to their employees and cus-
tomers and to seek recognition through the Bicycle Friendly Business program.
»Create an official Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) to create a systematic method for ongoing
citizen input into the development of important policies, plans, and projects. Ensure that the members of the
committee reflect the diversity and ability levels of cyclists in your community.
Edina, MN
Award: Bronze | Fall 2022 | Award History: Bronze since 2014, previously Honorable Mention in 2010.
BICYCLE FRIENDLY COMMUNITY REPORT CARD
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Other Reviewers? 2
FEEDBACK TO IMPROVE, CONTINUED:
MORE RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING YOUR COMMUNITY:
»League of American Bicyclists: https://www.bikeleague.org
»Resources for Building a Bicycle Friendly Community: https://bikeleague.org/BFC_Resources
»About the BFC Application Process: https://bikeleague.org/content/about-bfc-application-process
»The Five E's: https://bikeleague.org/5-es
»The League’s Benchmarking Project on Biking and Walking Data and Reports: https://data.bikeleague.org
»Bicycle Friendly State Rankings and Report Cards: https://bikeleague.org/state
»Bicycle Friendly Business Program: https://bikeleague.org/business
»Bicycle Friendly University Program: https://bikeleague.org/university
»Smart Cycling Education Program: https://bikeleague.org/ridesmart
»Advocacy Reports and Resources from the League: http://bikeleague.org/reports
»Federal Funding Resources from the League: https://bikeleague.org/content/federal-funding-resources
»Pedestrian and Bicycle Funding Opportunities from U.S. DOT Transit, Safety, and Highway Funds:
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/funding/funding_opportunities.pdf
BICYCLE FRIENDLY COMMUNITY REPORT CARD
Edina, MN
Award: Bronze | Fall 2022 | Award History: Bronze since 2014, previously Honorable Mention in 2010.
Page 5 of 5
»Begin the process of creating a new Bicycle Master Plan or updating your 2018 Bike Plan. Regularly updating
your bicycle plan is key to improving conditions for bicycling, adhering to evolving best practices and national
standards, and institutionalizing processes for continual evaluation and improvement. Ensure the new plan
includes specific and measurable goals and performance measures to track progress, and is supported by a
dedicated budget for implementation.
»Continue to develop a bicycle count program that utilizes several methods of data collection including auto-
mated bicycle counters to provide long-term data on bicycle use at fixed points and mobile counters to provide
periodic or before/after data related to changes in your community’s road or bicycle network. Observational
counts and surveys can supplement automated data in order to collect demographic information and examine
social equity goals.
»Consider what other local community groups exist in Edina who may be good potential partners to reach new
audiences and build on existing bike education, encouragement, and engagement efforts. Question F4 on the
BFC application provides a wealth of suggested community partners for you to consider, beyond the existing
bike clubs and organizations that are already active in this space.
»Take proactive steps to specifically engage with women, People of Color, people with disabilities, non-English
speakers, low-income residents, and/or any other marginalized communities to invite their input and participa-
tion in the development of the bike plan and any transportation roadway projects.
Date: January 19, 2023 Agenda Item #: V.B.
To:Transportation Commission Item Type:
Other
From:Andrew Scipioni, Transportation Planner
Item Activity:
Subject:Wooddale Avenue Bridge Project Discussion, Information
CITY OF EDINA
4801 West 50th Street
Edina, MN 55424
www.edinamn.gov
ACTION REQUESTED:
None.
INTRODUCTION:
The City is considering replacing the existing Wooddale Avenue bridge over Minnehaha Creek because the
existing limestone, (relatively weak building material) masonry railings and corrugated-metal arch are deteriorating.
In addition, the height and strength of the railings do not meet current standards and the narrow deck is
inadequate to safely accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists.
Construction of a replacement bridge is unknown at this time. Staff is completing the Section 106 review process
and must consult with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHP O) and other interested parties, such as
relevant state agencies, local heritage preservation commissions, and interested individuals, as it goes through the
process.
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Public Participation Plan
Information for Section 106 Consultation
Preliminary Cross Section
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PLAN I WOODDALE AVENUE BRIDGE I CITY OF EDINA 1
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PLAN
WOODDALE AVENUE BRIDGE PROJECT
Prepared by: Chad Millner, Engineering Director
Date: October 25, 2022
PROJECT PURPOSE
- Inform stakeholders of the challenges to repairing the Wooddale Avenue Bridge and share replacement
recommendations.
- Seek feedback on design of replacement bridge
DECISION TO BE MADE
- Obtain consensus on need to replace bridge
- Obtain consensus on design of replacement bridge
- Identify type and materials of new bridge
- Acceptance of roadway cross-section
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Project Review with Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC): August 17, 2020 and September 13, 2022
- Online Conversation (Better Together) and concept feedback input – Early November to Mid-December
- Minnesota State Historical Preservation Office (SHPO) – winter 2022 / 2023
- HPC Review Certificate of Appropriateness – spring 2023
STAKEHOLDERS
- Heritage Preservation Commission
- Parks and Recreation staff
- Nearby Neighborhoods
- Edina Residents and Businesses
- Engineering and Public Works Staff
- City Council
- Minnesota State Historical Preservation Office
- MnDOT Cultural Resources Group
- MnDOT State Aid Bridge Office
- MnDOT Metro State Aid
- US Army Corps of Engineers
- Edina Historical Society
- St. Stephens Episcopal Church
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PLAN I WOODDALE AVENUE BRIDGE I CITY OF EDINA 2
ROLES
RESIDENTS
Partner with the City to share ideas and preferences. Residents have the expertise in sense of place, neighborhood
feel, public attitudes, and community values
CONSULTANT VENDOR
Provide expertise in historical preservation, structural design, hydraulic modeling, permitting, and transportation
planning
STAFF
Provide opportunities to influence decision making by sharing expertise in transportation planning, bicycle and
pedestrian infrastructure & safety, hydraulic modeling, and operations & maintenance aspects of the design
Report all community input, views, and concern to City Council
Report back to the community on decisions made
HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Advisory to the City Council
- Encourage awareness of the project within the community
- Provide feedback on rehabilitation / replacement
- Review and vote on certificate of appropriateness application
CITY COUNCIL
Decision-making body.
- Consider the staff’s recommendation based on publics feedback/recommendations
- Consider HPC’s vote on certificate of appropriateness application
- Make final decision
PARTICIPATON LEVEL
CONSULT
- Goal: To obtain public feedback on analysis, alternatives and/or decisions
- Promise: We will work keep you informed, listen to and acknowledge concerns and aspirations, and
provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision
DECISION CRITERIA
IN SCOPE
- Confirm need for new bridge
- Identify type and materials of new bridge
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PLAN I WOODDALE AVENUE BRIDGE I CITY OF EDINA 3
OUT OF SCOPE
- Public infrastructure requirements – storm sewer, sanitary sewer, and water main systems
DECISIONS ALREADY MADE
- Staff Opinion: Complete replacement of existing bridge
- Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan Elements
- Hydraulic capacity under the bridge for Minnehaha Creek flows
- Railing safety standards
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
- Safety of the traveling public
- Role of Wooddale Avenue Bridge to Utley Park
- Sustainability
- Stormwater management and environmental impacts
- Balancing bicyclist and pedestrian needs
- Other public infrastructure – storm sewer, sanitary sewer, and water main systems
LEGAL OR TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
- ADA (Americans with Disability Act)
- Stormwater Management and Creek Flow Hydraulics
- MNDOT State Aid Rules
- MnDOT Bridge Office Design Manual & Standards
- AASHTO Bridge Design Specifications
- Section 106 Review
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION LEVEL: CONSULT
TECHNIQUES
- Community Meeting
- Better Together Edina website
- Onsite signage
- Social media (Next Door, Facebook,
Twitter)
- Online feedback collection
- Accessible alternatives to online activities
- Section 106 Consultation
- HPC Review
Bridge No. 90646 (Wooddale Avenue Bridge)
over Minnehaha Creek, Edina, Hennepin County, Minnesota:
Information for Section 106 Consultation
(SAP 120-150-011) Prepared by
Charlene Roise Hess, Roise and Company 100 North First Street Minneapolis, Minnesota 55419
January 2022
Prepared for
Mark Maves Short Elliott Hendrickson and Chad Millner and Andrew Scipioni Engineering Department
City of Edina
Bridge No. 90646, October 1937 (Minnesota Historical Society)
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 1
Introduction
Bridge No. 90646, also known as the Wooddale Avenue Bridge, spans Minnehaha Creek in Edina, an early suburb of Minneapolis. The 21-foot-long
bridge, built in 1937, was a product of a depression-
era federal relief program. The construction crew used readily available Platteville limestone for the headwalls and for retaining walls along the creekbank. The multiplate, corrugated-metal arch
structure features a single, 18-foot span. The bridge
was listed in the National Register in 2016 for its significance in the areas of Politics/Government (Criterion A) and Engineering (Criterion C) with a period of significance of 1937. It is also an Edina Heritage Landmark.1
Over time, both the stone headwalls and retaining walls and the corrugated-metal arch have deteriorated. Platteville limestone is a relatively weak building material. Moisture penetrates the masonry units, where freeze-thaw cycles cause strata to separate and spall, a problem further exacerbated by other causes. In the case of Bridge No. 90646, salt used to treat ice on the road
has sprayed up on the barrier, accelerating the decay. In addition, the height of the barriers does
not meet current standards and the deck can hold only a 31-foot-wide roadway and a narrow sidewalk, inadequate to safely accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists. The metal arch has decayed from rust, a condition that is challenging to analyze and repair, and the concrete footings have been undermined by scour.
To address these issues, the City of Edina is proposing to replace Bridge No. 90646. Because the project needs a permit from the Saint Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), this project must be reviewed under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The following report provides information to facilitate the Section 106 review of the proposed
undertaking.
This is the second Section 106 review involving the bridge. The first was in 2015, triggered by another permit application submitted by the City of Edina to the Corps. That project proposed to repair channel walls adjacent to the bridge that were damaged by flooding in 2014. A letter from
the Corps to Sarah Beimers at the State Historic Preservation Office stated: “Corps staff has
considered effects to archaeological resources and has determined there is a very low probability of impacts to significant archaeological resources.” Based on this conclusion and on additional information about the high degree of ground disturbance around the bridge site, the city assumes that no additional archaeological evaluation is needed.2
1 Kelli Andre Kellerhals and Gregory R. Mathis, “Bridge No. 90646,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 2014, prepared by The 106 Group.
2 Tamara Cameron to Sarah Beimers, letter, August 14, 2015, at Engineering Department, Edina City Hall. (hereafter ED-ECH).
Bridge No.
90646
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 2
Edina Context
When Euro-American explorers first came to this area, it “was part of the tribal estate of the Mdewakanton Dakota, one of the most important native groups in Minnesota, who by circa 1800 had established several important villages along the lower Minnesota River.” The Dakota hunted,
fished, foraged, and farmed throughout the region, including the area now known as Edina, but
subsequent development erased most traces of this activity.3 As Euro-American settlers began arriving in the mid-nineteenth century, a fledging community grew in the vicinity of what is now the intersection of Fiftieth Street and Wooddale Avenue.
Anchored by Waterville Mills, established in 1857 on Minnehaha Creek west of Wooddale, this
enclave was the second largest of three villages in Richfield Township, which was platted by government surveyors in the early 1850s. The largest village, Richfield Mills, was also along Minnehaha Creek, downstream on Lyndale Avenue. Although Richfield Mills became part of Minneapolis as that city grew, “its influence on the early settlement patterns of the area is not to
be ignored,” historians William Scott and Jeffrey Hess observed. “As the commercial and
administrative center of the township, it undoubtedly stimulated the growth of neighboring sections, including the area that was to become eastern Edina.” On the other end of the spectrum was Cahill Settlement, the smallest and most rural of the communities. Centered at Cahill Road and West Seventieth Street, this hamlet was populated predominantly by Irish-Catholic
immigrants.4
Most settlers drawn to Waterville Mills, on the other hand, were Protestant and traced their roots to England, Scotland, and the East Coast. This trend was reinforced in 1869 when a Scotsman bought the mill and changed its name to Edina Mills in honor of his motherland’s capital city,
Edinburgh. One of the only bridges across Minnehaha Creek was by the mill, which further
stimulated interest in the area. By the 1870s, it claimed a general store, post office, Episcopal mission (Trinity Church), school, and a smattering of houses, including an elaborate brick mansion erected by George Baird in 1886. A hall was built southeast of the intersection of Fiftieth and Wooddale in 1879 to hold the expanding activities of the local Grange chapter,
established by area farm families several years earlier. This cluster of buildings had become a
well-established community center by the time the Village of Edina was incorporated in 1888, although the area remained primarily agricultural.5
3 Robert C. Vogel, “Edina Historic Contexts,” 1999, 13, prepared by Robert C. Vogel & Associates for the City of
Edina Heritage Preservation Board. 4 William A. Scott and Jeffrey A. Hess, History and Architecture of Edina, Minnesota (n.p.: City of Edina, 1981), 5-6; Paul D. Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb: The History of Edina, Minnesota (Edina: Burgess Publishing, 1988), 9.
5 “Rural Edina: The First Seventy-five Years,” February 12, 1976, 7, 9-10, unattributed mimeograph in Hess Roise collections; Scott and Hess, History and Architecture of Edina, 6-8, 34-35; Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb,
10-11, 14-15; Vogel, “Edina Historic Contexts,” 18-20, 33-35. The Baird House at 4400 West Fiftieth Street is listed in the National Register and locally designated. According to “Rural Edina,” millstones salvaged from the Edina mill “can be seen at various locations in the village,” including one that “is embedded in the floor of the narthex of St. Stephens Episcopal Church.”
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By the early twentieth century, farming was on the decline as new residences filled former fields. A sign of change was the composition of the membership of the Grange, which initially allowed
only full-time farmers to join. The organization gradually transformed into more of a social club,
reflecting the evolving community. “Of 140 dated Grange membership applications between 1920 and 1937, only two of the applicants were farmers,” historian Paul Hesterman reported.6 Growth intensified in the early twentieth century, particularly after developer Samuel Thorpe
purchased a farm of about three hundred acres extending east from Arden Avenue and south
from Forty-fourth Street to Fiftieth Street and Minnehaha Creek in 1922. Laying out a plat with about 550 building lots, he “model[ed] his venture on J. C. Nichols’s Country Club District in Kansas City, Missouri,” historians William Scott and Jeffrey Hess wrote. “Thorpe landscaped his development with contoured streets, shade trees, parks, and an eighteen-hole golf course. He set
rigid building restrictions regarding minimum valuation, construction siting, architectural style,
and property maintenance,” as well as prohibitive racial covenants. Lots went on sale in 1924 and within six years the district had 269 houses. “This district was crucial in changing Edina from a rural community to a suburb,” Hesterman asserted.7
Minnesota golf historian Rick Shefchik explained that “Thorpe was promoting family living,
golf, and convenience as all part of the same experience.” The site chosen for the country club and golf course was south of Minnehaha Creek, with Wooddale Avenue as its eastern border. The golf course’s first nine holes were ready by summer 1923 and the final nine opened the following year. The clubhouse, originally oriented to Fiftieth Street, became a social center and
was quickly rebuilt after a fire in 1929.8
The original Country Club District was just the beginning of Thorpe’s vision. He obtained control of large blocks of land around the district for subsequent developments and envisioned a community center at the nexus of these holdings, where the Grange Hall was located. There was
a precedent for this idea—the Grange Hall had functioned as the office for the village
government and a community gathering space for decades. In January 1931, Thorpe Brothers submitted the concept to the Village of Edina’s Zoning Commission at a meeting held at the Grange Hall, but the proposal was not universally embraced. “There is considerable opposition” to this location, the Edina Crier reported, because many felt “that this property should be
reserved for Park purposes—a continuation of the plan which Minneapolis has inaugurated for
the preservation of both banks of Minnehaha Creek.” By April, the village had held a special election to authorize the council to establish a zoning ordinance, the first in the state. The ordinance called for the civic center to be located at the southwest corner of the intersection.9
Yet another corner was endorsed in a 1933 report of the Country Club Association’s Projects,
Planning and Development Committee. It recommended that a park and civic center be
6 Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 40. 7 The original section of the Country Club District was listed in the National Register in 1980. Sources: Scott and
Hess, History and Architecture of Edina, 13-14; Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 58; Vogel, “Edina Historic Contexts,” 44-46.
8 Rick Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways: Classic Golf Clubs of Minnesota (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012), 248-249.
9 “Zoning Commission Discusses Fiftieth Street,” Edina Crier, January 1931, 7; “A Short History of the Zoning Ordinance,” Edina Crier, April 1931, 1.
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developed on Block 18, a large parcel at the northwest corner of Fiftieth Street and Wooddale Avenue. This was part of Edina’s initial planning for a park system, with the assistance of a
survey prepared by the Minneapolis Park Board. Of particular interest was “the beautification of
Minnehaha Creek with parks along the banks.”10 As it turned out, none of these locations was to hold the civic center. It was established several blocks to the west, near the golf course’s northwest corner, where the Grange Hall was moved in
1935. The building remained the center of government until the village built a new hall in 1942.
The hall’s former site was soon transformed by construction of Saint Stephen the Martyr Episcopal Church, completed in 1939 as the new home for a congregation established early in 1937.11
Between Saint Stephen’s and the country club was the Wooddale Avenue Bridge over
Minnehaha Creek, a critical link in the developing community. No road was shown south of Fiftieth Street in this location in a 1913 Hennepin County atlas. An article in the Edina Crier in 1937, though, claimed that the crossing had been served by a bridge that had “floated down from Old Fiftieth street [by the Edina mill] with an ice jam some forty years ago” (in 1906), which
took out both the bridge and the mill dam. The dam was replaced by a concrete structure and a
new bridge was built by the mill, but the old bridge did not go to waste. The millwright, who also served as the village street commissioner at the time, “needed a bridge to provide easy access to his mill” from the southeast and “set the runaway bridge on the half-section line, which is now the center line of Wooddale avenue.” County records suggest there was an earlier bridge at this
crossing that was washed out by the 1906 flood.12
By the 1930s, the aging bridge at Wooddale Avenue was in need of replacement. Thanks to depression-era relief programs, over half of the $3,500 cost of a new bridge was provided by Works Progress Administration labor. The remainder was split by the village and Hennepin
County. Plans for the new structure, Bridge No. 281, were prepared by the county and dated
April 1937. They called for a 40'-long, corrugated-steel arch bridge with a 28'-4"-wide roadway edged on both sides by 4'-wide sidewalks and 2'-wide stone railing posts. Single 6" by 6" timber guard rails ran between the posts. The plans proposed sheathing the posts and headwalls with an estimated 124 cubic yards of uncoursed, irregularly finished stone, giving the bridge a “rustic
character” that would “blend with the wooded background of the surrounding area,” the Edina
Crier observed.13 At the same time, though, Saint Stephen’s was planning a limestone ashlar facade for its English Gothic edifice just northeast of the bridge. Within a short time, the bridge material had changed
to limestone ashlar “to harmonize with the new edifice of St. Stephen’s Episcopal church soon to
10 “Report of the Projects, Planning and Development Committee, Country Club Association, April 11, 1933,”
Edina Crier, May 1933, 5-8. 11 “Edina,” Select Twin Citian, October 1962, 43; “Rural Edina: The First Seventy-five Years,” 10.
12 “Runaway Bridge to Be Replaced,” Edina Crier, May 1937, 3, 6; “Havoc Wrought by Breaking of Old Dam at Edina Mills,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 3, 1906; “Board of County Commissioners,” Minneapolis Tribune, January
24, 1907; 1913 Hennepin Co Atlas (Minneapolis: Hennepin County, 1913), Village of Edina sheet, at John R. Borchart Library, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Edina subject files, Hess, Roise and Company, Minneapolis. 13 “Runaway Bridge to Be Replaced”; copies of original plans for bridge at ED-ECH.
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be built nearby.” Ben Moore, who headed the church’s building committee, was also the village recorder, a highly visible and influential position. By July, the bridge foundations were in place
and segments of the corrugated-steel arch were being installed.14
Saint Stephen’s and the new Wooddale Avenue Bridge reflected a new wave of Edina’s development to the south. In September 1936, the Edina Crier ran a lengthy article about the “Wooddale Section,” an expansion of the Country Club District. Samuel Thorpe had acquired a
forty-acre tract east of Wooddale Avenue between Fiftieth and Fifty-second Streets “years ago.”
A recent survey had produced a plat with twenty-six lots on about thirteen acres edged by Minnehaha Creek to the north and east. The plat was “approved and accepted” by Edina’s village council in November.15
As with Thorpe’s original district, utilities and streets (Wooddale Lane and Wooddale Court
[now Wooddale Glen]) were installed by the developer prior to selling the lots and were initially maintained by the Country Club District Service Corporation. “Restrictions to be established will be of the same general character as those applicable in the present Country Club District,” the Edina Crier reported, “with such modifications as experience has shown to be desirable.
Minimum size of houses will probably be regulated by square feet of floor area rather than cost.”
Trees on the heavily wooded land would be preserved when possible. “In all probability the idea of a uniform set-back from the street will be abandoned in favor of the idea of locating each house with some regard to trees, outlook and the contour of the site, as well as with due regard to the effect on adjoining property and the appearance of the whole district when developed.” In
contrast to the formal layout of the original Country Club District, the Wooddale Section would
be more informal “to appeal to those who like the rustic sylvan effect of artistic custom-planned homes, built apparently carelessly, but actually very carefully and thoughtfully.” By August 1937, the paper counted “six houses . . . finished or . . . being built” in the Wooddale Section.16
At the end of 1938, Thorpe Brothers moved its tract office from West Forty-ninth Street (now
Country Club Road) to a more visible location, the northeast corner of Fiftieth Street and Wooddale Avenue. The following year, a zoning controversy erupted when a developer proposed to erect an apartment building at the intersection’s southwest corner. After consulting with George Harold and Herman Olson, planners from Saint Paul and Minneapolis, the village
council amended the zoning ordinance to allow construction of only one- and two-family
residences on either corner. The site of the tract office was platted as Edina Court soon thereafter and was filled with single-family houses in the following decade.17 While Edina gained a number of new structures in addition to Saint Stephen’s and the Wooddale
Avenue Bridge during the Great Depression, construction virtually stopped during World War II.
This period was “a time of consolidation,” Hesterman wrote, when “the qualitative changes of the 1920s were assimilated and new institutions securing a new sense of community were formed
14 “Limestone Face for New Bridge,” Edina Crier, July 1937, 9. 15 “Announce ‘Wooddale Section’ Layout,” Edina Crier, September 1936, 9.
16 “Announce ‘Wooddale Section’ Layout”; “Plat for Country Club District-Wooddale Section,” 1936, at ED-ECH; “Urban Edina Builds 125 Homes; Six new ‘Sections’ Adjoin District,” Edina Crier August 1937, 1, 7.
17 “Firm to Move Tract Office,” Edina Crier, November 1938, 17; “Council Zones Darr Property for One, Two Family Houses,” Edina Crier, September 1939, 1.
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and tested.” Another development boom would arrive in the post-World War II years, filling in formerly rural areas with residential subdivisions.18
18 Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 73.
Plat of Wooddale Section of Country Club District, 1936. (Hennepin County Library)
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Area of Potential Effect
The section discusses the rational for the boundaries of the Area of Potential Effect (APE), illustrated below, and assesses the properties in the APE.
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The area surrounding Bridge No. 90646 is heavily wooded. To the northeast is the sprawling complex of Saint Stephen’s church, a visual barrier. It largely blocks the bridge from view from
the property across Fiftieth Street east of Wooddale Avenue, where Edina Court was developed
in the 1950s. Edina Court lots are also wooded, especially at the intersection. As a result, the areas north and east of Saint Stephen’s were excluded from the APE.
Top: Looking northeast from the bridge; Saint Stephen’s blocks the view to Fiftieth Street. Bottom: Edina Court with Fiftieth Street in the foreground and Wooddale Avenue to left,
looking northwest.
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Wooddale Park and Utley Park have a visual connection to bridge to the northwest. These properties are included in the APE.
Top: Looking north on Wooddale Avenue towards Fiftieth Street from the bridge. Utley Park and Wooddale Park are west (left) of Wooddale Avenue. Bottom: Looking east towards the bridge from Utley Park.
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The area southwest of the bridge is occupied by the Edina Country Club. Although trees and topography limit the visual connection between these properties, the country club, including the
entire golf course, is included in the APE.
Top: Looking north on Wooddale Avenue with an entrance to the country club on the left and the bridge in the background. Bottom: Looking northeast towards the bridge from in front of the country club clubhouse. The bridge is in the background near the center of the photograph.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 11
To the southeast is the Wooddale Section of the Country Club District, developed in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Houses along Minnehaha Creek on the north side of Wooddale Lane, as
well as 5105 Wooddale Avenue, are included in the APE. The house south of 5105 Wooddale
Avenue, 5107 Wooddale Avenue, was built in 2010, replacing a house dating from around the time the Wooddale Section was platted. Views of the bridge from that property are very limited and the bridge’s visibility becomes even more limited from properties further to the south. This justifies stopping the APE on the east side of the street at 5105 Wooddale Avenue.
Top: Looking north on Wooddale Avenue at its intersection with Wooddale Lane. The east
railing of the bridge is visible on the far left. Bottom: Looking east on Wooddale Lane from Wooddale Avenue.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 12
The APE includes the following properties:
Address Current name (historic) Inventory # Status Wooddale Ave. over Minnehaha Creek Bridge No. 90646 (Bridge No. 281; Wooddale Avenue Bridge) HE-EDC-0633 Listed in NRHP
4439 W. 50th Street Saint Stephen the Martyr Episcopal Church HE-EDC-0578 Previously inventoried, not
assessed
4500 W. 50th Street Wooddale Park (Woodlawn School) HE-EDC-0555 Previously inventoried; demolished
4521 W. 50th Street Utley Park HE-EDC-0668 Not previously inventoried
5100 Wooddale Ave. Edina Country Club (Thorpe
Country Club)
HE-EDC-0662 Not previously
inventoried
5105 Wooddale Ave. House HE-EDC-0663 Not previously inventoried 5009 Wooddale Lane House HE-EDC-0664 Not previously inventoried 5011 Wooddale Lane House HE-EDC-0665 Not previously inventoried
5013 Wooddale Lane House HE-EDC-0666 Not previously inventoried
5015 Wooddale Lane Blackbourn House HE-EDC-0579 Previously
inventoried, not assessed 5029 Wooddale Lane House HE-EDC-0667 Not previously inventoried
Bridge No. 90646/Wooddale Avenue Bridge (HE-EDC-0633) over Minnehaha Creek
The structure was listed in the National Register in 2016 and became an Edina Heritage Landmark the following year. Built in 1937, its history is well-documented in the National Register nomination. As the verbal boundary description explains, the nominated property
comprises only the bridge: “A rectangle measuring 21.0 feet long by 40.4 feet wide with a center
axis that coincides with the centerline of the bridge, whose corners encompass the edges of the bridge’s abutments and with a perimeter that encompasses the entire bridge.” The nomination was completed May 2, 2014, and does not mention the damage from flooding that year. In the analysis of integrity, the nomination notes “some minor deterioration, including rusting of the
bolt connections on the steel arch, spalling and expansion of the Platteville limestone, and deterioration of portions of the parapet walls.” All in all, the integrity of the bridge was found to be “excellent.” There is little discussion of the immediate setting except for an observation that “at this location the creek is narrow and rocky, and has sloped banks which are covered with dense growth of small trees and shrubs.”19
19 Kellerhals and Mathis, “Bridge No. 90646.”
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The stone channel walls adjacent to the bridge also likely date from the 1930s. They have deteriorated over time despite the city’s maintenance efforts. An inspection report in 1980, for
example, noted a “washout” along the northwest retaining wall. Also, “drainage should be to the
south catch basins; at the present time water flows over curb and down bank.” The problems had been addressed by the following year, but in 1987 the upstream retaining walls needed repair again. There were also issues with the railings/headwalls and metal arch. The 1994 report mentioned “scaling” of the “limestone guard rail.” Surface rust and “freckled rust” was
“prevalent” on the metal arch by 1996 and the northeast and northwest wingwalls were being
undermined. By 1998, scour along the north abutment was causing settlement of the pavement in the roadway’s southbound lane. Engineers recommended countering this erosion by placing riprap at the wingwalls. A few years later, they recommended reconstructing the northwest retaining wall and placing riprap along the bridge footings. By 2004, erosion at the northeast
slope required “corrective action.” The general condition of the bridge was rated “fair-good” by
the 2006 report, which also noted that “the structure has been reclassified as a culvert,” apparently because of its 18-foot span length. (Bridges are now defined as having spans of 20 feet or more; shorter spans are considered culverts.) Photographs accompanying the 2008 report documented “masonry railing components . . . crumbling throughout.” They also showed an
insulated utility pipe that crossed the creek below the deck, piercing the metal arch. The pipe was
apparently removed by the following year and the holes in the arch patched. The 2010 report noted scour undermining the wingwalls and the north footing.20 Flooding in 2014 produced more dramatic changes, causing large sections of two of the channel
walls to collapse. The city engineer prepared plans for repairing the damage in 2015 in
consultation with the Corps of Engineers and the State Historic Preservation Office. Implementation was anticipated for spring 2016 subject to the availability of funding, but flooding that year resulted in further deterioration. By 2020, riprap had replaced the northeast wingwall and engineers recommended the same approach for the southwest wingwall, which had
collapsed.21
In the meantime, the headwalls/railings also continued to deteriorate, a process exemplified by the bridge’s “WPA 1937” plaque. It was in place when the National Register nomination was prepared, but the stone framing it decayed rapidly thereafter. At some point, the surrounding
stone and mortar disintegrated and the plaque fell onto the sidewalk. A neighbor salvaged the
plaque and gave it to the city. It is currently stored at city hall.22 Photographs illustrating conditions over time are on the following pages. The photographer of the images from 2005 is unknown. Photographs dating from 2013 are from LHB and Mead and
Hunt. Both the 2005 and 2013 photographs are available from Edina’s Engineering Department.
Photographs taken in 2021-2022 are by the author.
20 Kellerhals and Mathis, “Bridge No. 90646”; Inspection reports for Bridge No. 90646, at ED-ECH. 21 Hans Erickson, TKDA, to Melissa Jenny, Saint Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, memorandum, September 29, 2015, at ED-ECH. 22 Kellerhals and Mathis, “Bridge No. 90646,” 7-5, Photo 9.
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Above: Looking northwest at the new bridge in 1937. (Minnesota Historical Society) Left: The new bridge was featured on the cover of the Edina Crier in September 1937.
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Photographs of the east headwall and creek walls taken in 2005 (top) and August 2021 (bottom). Looking southwest.
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The top photograph is from a 2006 bridge inspection report prepared by TKDA for the Edina City Engineer, March 21, 2007, 11 (at ED-ECH). It appears to be of the west headwall, looking east, and shows the stone detail around opening with the drainage pipe. A similar
detail was used at other corners including the northeast (bottom), photographed in 2013.
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The southeast corner of the bridge including the stone detail around the pipe, looking south.
The images are from 2013 (top) and 2021 (bottom).
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Detail of the east limestone headwall and metal arch, looking southwest (top). Looking west beneath the bridge. Circular areas where a pipe once penetrated the arch are visible in the background. Both photographs are from 2021.
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The south foundation looking southwest (top) and a detail of the east end of the north foundation looking northwest (bottom) in 2021.
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The south approach looking north in 2021 (top) and the roadway side of the east railing
looking southeast in 2013 (bottom).
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The southeast end of the railing with the “WPA 1937” plaque in 2005 (top) and 2013 (bottom).
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 22
The plaque was in place in 2013 (top) but the stone around it was decaying. By 2021, the plaque had fallen out (bottom).
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The roadway side of the west railing in 2005 looking southwest (top), and in 2013 looking
northwest (bottom).
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The south end of the west railing, looking north (left), and the west railing/headwall,
looking north-northeast (below), both showing 2013 conditions.
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The west railing/headwall looking east-southeast in 2021.
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Saint Stephen the Martyr Episcopal Church, 4429-4441 50th Street West (HE-EDC-0578)
This English Gothic church occupies a site bounded by Fiftieth Street to the north, Wooddale
Avenue to the west, Minnehaha Creek to the south, and residences to the east. The facade is clad in rough-faced limestone ashlar laid in random rangework. The main entry faces west. Steps lead to a pair of wood doors recessed in a smooth-faced limestone, compound Gothic arch. A substantial, buttressed tower rises above, holding a Gothic-arch, stained-glass window with stone
tracery directly over the door.
The building’s long axis parallels Fiftieth Street. The steep, slate-sheathed, gable roof over the nave is flanked by lower, shed-roofed, aisle bays, which display a series of lancet-shaped stained-glass windows with smooth-faced limestone surrounds. The roof’s elevation drops where
a transept crosses at the nave’s east end. On the north facade west of the transept, an open, gable-
roofed, porch has ornamental timber posts and trim supported by a stone base. Enclosed links connect the church with a single-story parish house to the east and a gable-roofed chapel to the south. Like the nave, the buildings are clad in limestone and take advantage of the site’s slope to introduce openings on lower levels.
The church was built by an Episcopalian congregation. This religion came to the area in 1872 when Episcopalians established a mission church, Trinity, near what is now the northwest corner of Fiftieth Street and France Avenue. In 1925, it was moved north to clear a site for a new building. Trinity Chapel continues to stand at 4924 France Avenue, although it has been altered
repeatedly to serve various uses.23
Many decades later, another congregation adopted the name Saint Stephen the Martyr and erected the church at the corner of Wooddale Avenue and Fiftieth Street. Saint Stephen, an early convert to Christianity, became a deacon and was stoned to death in 36 CE for defending his
faith. Considered the first Christian martyr, he is the patron saint of deacons and, somewhat
ironically, stonemasons. The congregation formed in spring 1937 and by June had acquired the former Grange Hall site. It quickly raised money for the project, estimated to cost $35,000, by promoting the building “as a boon to the community, as well as to the spiritual lives of its members,” according to Hesterman. “The arguments they used show how spiritual and social
values intertwined with economic considerations in the lifestyle Edinans were working to
create.”24 The congregation hired local architect Louis Bersbach to draw up plans for the church. A rendering of the edifice was featured on the cover of the Edina Crier in July.25 The newspaper
reported in August that excavation would be starting “immediately” although the fundraising
23 Setter, Leach and Lindstrom and Jeffrey A. Hess, “Survey: Historic Buildings of Edina, Minnesota,” July 6, 1979, 54, prepared for the Edina Heritage Preservation Board. The SHPO inventory number for Trinity Chapel is HE-
EDC-0581. 24 “St. Stephen, Christian Martyr,” Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed January 18, 2022,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Stephen; Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 86; “Episcopalians to Build New Church,” Edina Crier, June 1937, 1; “Progress of St. Stephen’s Building Direct to Be Reported at Dinner September 22,” Edina Crier, September 1937, 1. 25 “Hope Digging May Start in August,” Edina Crier, July 1937, 5.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 27
campaign had not yet met its goal. The excavation contractor, J. A. Danens and Sons,
anticipated removing around 3,000 cubic yards of
dirt from the site. An article in September said construction should start the following month and finishing the “Sunday school unit” was a priority. Photographs of work in progress were published
in the December Edina Crier.26
The design for the church, though, was apparently not finalized. In early 1938, the congregation hired Boston architects Cram and
Ferguson “to pass on the church plans.” The
Edina Crier reported that the firm had “planned and supervised the building of some of the largest and most outstanding church edifices of this country and abroad and are considered deans of
church architects.” The newspaper explained that
the “building is planned to allow for future expansion and at the same time provide a complete practical working unit. A fireproof stone structure, it will provide a beautiful English
Gothic church nave with adequate facilities for
present needs and yet readily adaptable to future growth.” The March issue said plans were awaiting “final approval” from Cram and Ferguson, which apparently was received that
month. By April, “final detailed plans are being
rushed by Architect Louis Bersbach preparatory to putting the building plans out for contractor’s bids.”27
A photograph of the groundbreaking ceremony
on July 25, 1938, appeared on the cover of the
Edina Crier the following month. It depicted Ben Moore, chair of the building committee and the village recorder, holding a shovel and talking
with the rector, Elliott Marston, while others
looked on. Although the congregation hoped its new home would be ready for services by
26 “To Start Digging for New Church,” Edina Crier, August 1937, 1, 6; “Progress of St. Stephen’s,” 1, 5; “Work
Progressing on St. Stephen’s Church” (photographs), December 1937, 10. 27 “Boston Architects Study New St. Stephen’s Plans,” Edina Crier, February 1938, 1; “Cover Carries St. Stephen’s Chancel,” Edina Crier, March 1938, 1; “View of Approved St. Stephen’s along Fiftieth Street,” Edina Crier, April 1938, 15.
Above: Bersback’s rendering on the cover of the Edina Crier, July 1937. Below: Photographs of the excavation
underway, Edina Crier, December 1937.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 28
Christmas 1938, it was finally completed and dedicated in March 1939. The total cost of the
project was around $70,000.28
The congregation and architects of the original structure were correct in anticipating that the building would be expanded. A single-story
frame and stone parish house measuring 80 feet
wide and 121 feet long was added east of the original building in 1951 at an estimated cost of $146,000. An extension of the original building’s front (west) facade in 1955 created a new entry
with a tower rising above it. A permit pulled by
Watson Construction Company in June of that year gave the dimensions of the new “entrance and auditorium” as 39 feet wide by 36 feet deep. The construction contract was valued at $90,000.
The extension directly south of the church was
constructed in 1967 to hold a chapel, classrooms, and an activity room. Plans for the project were prepared by the local architectural firm Raugland, Entrekin, Domholt, and King.29
Changes were also made to the interior from time to time. A 1993 project involved remodeling offices, converting a stage area to a choir room, and combining classrooms to create a children’s
chapel. The church’s kitchen was renovated the
following year. Mechanical and fire protection systems were upgraded as necessary, and air-conditioning was installed. 30
Most plans for renovations in recent years were
prepared by Miller Dunwiddie Architects, which specializes in projects involving historic properties. They developed a three-phase comprehensive preservation plan in 1999 that included improving accessibility among its goals. The first phase replaced the HVAC system in the church and parish house and remodeled offices
in the parish houses. The second addressed exterior maintenance. The third, which was not
implemented for financial reasons, proposed a new two-story structure between the church and chapel.31
28 “Progress of St. Stephen’s Building”; “New Episcopal Edifice Is Dedicated,” Edina Crier, April 1939, 7. 29 Saint Stephen’s Church building records, at ED-ECH.
30 Saint Stephen’s Church building records, at ED-ECH. 31 Saint Stephen’s Church building records, at ED-ECH.
Top: This photograph was taken March 14, 1939, around the time Saint Stephen’s
opened. (Minnesota Historical Society) Bottom: The front (west) facade was extended with completion of the tower in 1955. (1956; Norton and Peel, photographer; Minnesota Historical Society)
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The 1979 architectural survey of Edina recommended Saint Stephen’s designation as a local landmark for its significance “as an especially faithful interpretation of an English country
church.” A historian is in the process of preparing a National Register nomination for the
property. This appears justified under Criterion C for the building’s architectural significance and perhaps under Criterion A for its role in social history, although further research would be needed to make that determination. Because the property is significant for its architecture, not religious aspects, it meets Criteria Consideration A. Although the complex has received a
number of additions over time, it retains very good integrity. Most of the additions appear to be
significant in their own right and all respect the character of the original structure.32
Site of Wooddale School (now Wooddale Park), 4500 West Fiftieth Street (HE-EDC-0555)
Wooddale School opened its doors at
the northwest corner of Fiftieth Street and Wooddale Avenue in 1926 and remained part of the Edina school system until 1980. Elevated on a high
basement, the two-story brick structure
received a rear addition in 1936. Designed by the architectural firm Sund and Dunham, the school displayed the Spanish Colonial style. “The main
entrance is recessed behind a stone-arch
arcade supported by stone columns,” Scott and Hess wrote. “Above is a curvilinear parapet centered over the
32 Setter, Leach and Lindstrom and Hess, “Survey: Historic Buildings of Edina,” 49, 72.
Left: The south facade of Saint Stephen’s before construction of the chapel and other additions. (Bruce Sifford Studio, photographer; Minnesota Historical Society)
Right: The same perspective today.
Wooddale Park, 2021, looking northwest from the intersection of Wooddale Avenue (right) and Fiftieth
Street.
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second-story windows. The windows are set in a panel embellished with twisted columns, finials, and a broken pediment.” Closed as a school in 1980, the building was vacant when Scott and
Hess published their architectural history a year later. Although they identified the school as “an
important architectural and historical adjunct of the Country Club District” that “merits continued preservation,” the school was demolished in 1985 and the site is now Wooddale Park.33
Utley Park, 4521 West Fiftieth Street (HE-EDC-0668)
Wooddale Avenue forms the eastern boundary of this six-acre park, which has a memorial to Edina veterans at its east end. The memorial started in 1955 as a flagpole on a stone base and was greatly expanded in 2015 with granite pavers, bronze and polished granite plaques, additional flagpoles, benches, and extensive landscaping. The park’s northern edge is delineated by Fiftieth Street, which provides access to a large, asphalt-paved parking lot near the center of
the park. A park maintenance building with public restrooms is adjacent to the parking lot to the east, and picnic grounds and a small, modern gazebo are between the parking lot and the memorial. Two tennis courts and a basketball court are west of the parking lot. Trees are scattered across the moved lawn that covers much of the park. A dense concentration of trees lines Minnehaha Creek, which edges the park to the south and west. The Edina Country Club is
beyond the creek. “The family household of Edina pioneer miller and Founding Father Andrew Craik had once stood on this spot,” according to a local historian. By the 1930s, it was known as the Darr property and a water tower was its main feature. The tower was apparently erected by the
Country Club District Service Company, created by Samuel Thorpe to obtain and operate a water and sewer system for the community he developed. The company initially obtained water from the City of Minneapolis, but the supply became strained by the early 1930s as both communities
33 Scott and Hess, History and Architecture of Edina, 61-62; Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 55, 58, 64.
Left: Wooddale School around 1940. (Lee Brothers, photographer; Minnesota Historical Society) Right: The site (Block 18) in 1941. (Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Minneapolis, Minnesota (New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1941), vol. 6A, plate 718; at Library of Congress, www.loc.gov)
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 31
grew. The problem was somewhat ameliorated in 1936 when the company drilled artesian wells. This was perhaps when the water tower was installed on the future park site. It appears in the
background of a 1937 photograph of the newly erected Wooddale Avenue Bridge and on a
Sanborn map updated to 1951. The date it was removed is not known.34 By 1966, Edina’s “park system had evolved into a source of civic pride, growing from one park with 2.5 usable acres in 1955 to 22 parks and 425 improved acres.” Utley appears to have the
honor of being that first park. Its creation was serendipitous. In 1939, a developer proposed an
apartment building and stores on the site, which was strongly opposed by Country Club residents. The village council defeated the plan by rezoning the parcel, as well as property on the northeast corner of the intersection, for one- and two-family residential use.35
This was part of a larger plan to make Fiftieth Street from France Avenue to Highway 100 “one
of the most beautiful streets to be found anywhere,” a “miniature Pennsylvania avenue,” according to a lead story in the September 1939 issue of the Edina Crier. “In order to solve a lot of problems all at once, among them the problem of ‘what to do’ about the controversial issue of the Darr Property, the village council sometime back commissioned Mr. A. R. Nichols of the
well-known planning firm of Morrell and Nichols to draft some preliminary plans.” He proposed
retaining the existing 40-foot width of the roadway but expanding the right of way west of Halifax Avenue. This 100- to 120-foot corridor would hold “planting easements” with “evergreens, shrubbery, trees, flowers—even gardens and retaining walls.”36
The plan called for the Darr property to be “divided into five lots approximately 80 feet wide and
200 feet deep, with a ‘screen’ of beauty” separating the lots from Fiftieth Street. This concept was not implemented, though, and the property’s fate remained in limbo until the village bought the site for a public park. After World War II, a group of citizens sought to establish a veterans’ memorial on the land “but the noble endeavor clashed with post-war development urgencies,” a
local historian explained. Nothing happened until 1955 when Edina’s American Legion Post No.
471 installed a memorial flagpole “dedicated to the men and women who honorably served their country in times of war and peace.”37 It is not clear when the park was named in honor of Harold C. Utley, who had served on the
Edina Village Council and was a director of the Edina Civic Improvement Association. This
perhaps occurred after he died in 1963. At that time, he was living at 4604 Browndale Avenue, a few blocks north of the park. In addition his work as an accountant at Ernst and Ernst, where he
34 Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 59, 78-80, 92; Marshall Schwartz, “Edina Veterans Memorial, A Lasting Tribute,” 2015/2017, 4, prepared as part of the Edina, Minnesota Veterans Memorial Project, Edina Historical Society.
35 Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 82, 92-93; “Council to Act on Re-zoning Problem,” Edina Crier, August 1939, 1; “Council Zones Darr Property for One, Two Family Houses”; Schwartz, “Edina Veterans Memorial, A
Lasting Tribute,” 3. 36 “Edina Plans ‘Little’ Pennsylvania Avenue,” Edina Crier, August 1939, 1, 4.
37 Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 82, 92-93; Schwartz, “Edina Veterans Memorial, A Lasting Tribute,” 3. The dedication quote is taken from a bronze plaque at the flagpole’s base.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 32
had become a partner by the time of his retirement in 1960, Utley belonged to the
Minikahda Club, the American Legion, and a
number of other organizations.38 Over time, the park was improved with a single-story brick maintenance/restroom building, two
tennis courts, a full basketball court, picnic
benches, a small wood gazebo, and a parking lot. The east end underwent a major change through the efforts of a committee created in 2010 to develop a memorial to the city’s war veterans.
The next year the committee hired landscape
architects at Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH) to prepare a design. A newspaper reported in November 2011 that “the memorial will be a ‘V’ shaped granite plaza—for ‘victory’—that widens
to a black granite wall topped by a bronze eagle
landing on a wreath. The wall, which will have a shelf for bouquets and other memorials, will bear the names of thirty-two Edina residents who died in conflicts dating back to the Civil War. The
edge of the plaza will feature three flag poles and
benches backed by plantings of ornamental grasses.” (The memorial ultimately featured the names of thirty-four community residents who died during World War I and later conflicts.) The city would contribute up to $30,000 towards the project’s estimated budget of $400,000, with donations and grants covering the rest. Planners
hoped to have the memorial completed by July 4, 2012, but fundraising was slow as the country
struggled to recover from a recession. A groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held in September 2014 and the completed project was dedicated on Memorial Day 2015.39 The significance of Utley Park has not been previously assessed. The park’s function as a
memorial to local veterans was first realized in a modest way in 1955, years after the initial
concept was proposed, by the installation of a flagpole. The intent was more fully implemented by the 2015 memorial, which dominates the eastern end of the park. To the west, the park is an agglomeration of elements—a picnic area, restroom/maintenance building, parking lot, and sports courts—dating from different eras. Like Wooddale Park across Fiftieth Street, the park’s
design is utilitarian, responding to the needs and desires of local residents. It does not appear to
meet any of the National Register criteria for significance. Even if it did, the prominent 2015 memorial, which is too new to be considered a contributing feature under National Register guidelines, would compromise the park’s historic integrity.
38 “Harold C. Utley” (obituary), Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 23, 1963. 39 Mary Jane Smetanka, “Edina Veterans Memorial Plans Proceed,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 9, 2011; Mary Jane Smetanka, “Edina’s Veterans Memorial Approved,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 23, 2011; Schwartz, “Edina Veterans Memorial,” 4-6, 96.
The1955 memorial flagpole (top) and 2015
memorial (bottom) in 2021.
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Edina County Club, 5100 Wooddale Drive (HE-EDC-0662)
Developer S. S. Thorpe Sr. purchased a large parcel in the semi-rural village of Edina in the early
1920s for an upscale residential subdivision, the Country Club District. He dedicated a large plat of farmland southwest of Fiftieth Street and Wooddale Avenue for the subdivision’s namesake facility, originally called the Thorpe Country Club. The golf course would not be the first in Edina—some members of Minneapolis’s Bryn Mawr Golf Club split off and founded the
Interlachen Country Club in 1909, purchasing three farms in western Edina to establish a course
the following year. Interlachen, though, “had little early effect on the village” of Edina, according to Hesterman. Thorpe’s club “was designed as a civic center for the new residents” of the Country Club District—“a bond holding them together.”40
A 1922 promotional brochure stated that the facility “covers one hundred and twenty acres of
rich gently rolling land. . . . A picturesque and interesting 6,350 yard course [was] originally planned by Mr. Tom Bendalow [sic] [with] the engineering by Mr. Paul L. Mueller.” Other sources, though, assert that the course’s initial nine holes were laid out by a local golfer, James A. Hunter, and ready for the 1923 season. The next year, the course was modified and enlarged
to eighteen holes by Tom Bendelow, a prominent pioneering golf course architect. In any event,
Bendelow was primarily responsible for the ultimate design of the original eighteen-hole course. After becoming a skilled golfer as young man in Scotland, he arrived in New York in 1892 and soon made a career in emerging golf industry. In 1895, he set up courses in the area to promote golf on behalf of sporting goods producer A. G. Spalding and Brothers. Three years later, he was
hired by New York City’s Parks Department to redesign, reconstruct, and direct operations at
one of the nation’s first public golf courses, Van Cortlandt. His next move was to Chicago, where he managed Spalding’s golf department and set up or improved more than five hundred courses around the country. 41
He left Spalding in 1920 to become chief designer for American Park Builders, established by
Myron West in 1912. The firm specialized in city planning and landscape architecture, “designing comprehensive city plans, subdivisions, country clubs and golf courses, city park systems, and even cemeteries throughout the United States and Canada,” according to historian Carolyn Bennett. “Golf courses were of particular interest to Myron West. . . . [He] developed a
‘turn-key’ operation that enabled a community to organize itself and to establish a stand-alone
park or to choose a park design that would include a golf course and accompanying club house.” It was during his time at American Park Builders that Bendelow “undertook some of his biggest if not most notable design efforts,” according to a biographer. “Among his many designs were Lakewood County Club in Colorado; Dubsdread Golf Course in Orlando, Florida; Evansville
Municipal in Indiana; City Park Municipal in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and the three courses at
Medinah Country Club in Illinois, which may be some of his finest design work.” Bendelow’s
40 Paul Foss, Edina Country Club, 1924-1981 (n.p.: Edina Country Club, [1981]), n.p.; Hesterman, From Settlement
to Suburb, 61; Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 67. 41 Foss, Edina Country Club, 1924-1981, n.p.; Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 60; Shefchik, From Fields to
Fairways,” 248; Stuart Bendelow, “Bendelow, Tom,” in Shaping the American Landscape, ed. Charles A. Birnbaum and Stephanie S. Foell (Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2009), 20-22.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 34
courses in Baton Rouge and Denver, both named City Park Golf Course, are listed in the National Register. The Edina Country Club course dates from this period.42
A history of the Edina club notes the layout was “a businessman’s golf course” because most of the holes were oriented north-south, with only a few aligned east-west. “This enables after-working-hours golfers to avoid driving into the late afternoon setting sun,” and “when wives of members play their golf in the mornings, they also receive the benefit of Hunter’s planning, with
a bare minimum of holes playing into the bright morning sun.”43
According to a 1922 promotional brochure, “The putting greens are of genuine Creeping Bent Grass, planted
from stolons or runners by the new
vegetative method of planting,” and “there are over 750 large oak trees on the course.” The club history, though, reported that in 1931, “the golf course
was practically barren of trees with only
a few Lombardy poplars breaking the view to every hole from the clubhouse.”44
The clubhouse, built at an estimated cost
of $60,000, opened in summer 1924. Located at the north end of the course along Fiftieth Street, it was described in a Thorpe Brothers brochure that year:
“From the entrance on Fiftieth Street a
stairway leads to the main floor. On the right is the lounge with its large fireplace, and screened porch. On the left is the dining room and grill room. . . .
There is a roomy porch overlooking the
course across the entire front of the main building.” The building’s amenities were not enjoyed for long; it was destroyed by fire in 1929. A replacement was soon
erected in the same location.45
42 Bendelow, “Bendelow, Tom,” 20-22; Lillie Petit Gallagher, “Myron Howard West, Founder, American Park
Builders, Inc.,” in Vineyard 6, no. 1 (2005): 5; Carolyn Bennett, “Historic City Park and Golf Course, Baton Rouge, Louisiana,” in Vineyard 6, no. 1 (2005): 4-6.
43 Foss, Edina Country Club, 1924-1981, n.p.; Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 60; Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 248.
44 Foss, Edina Country Club, 1924-1981, n.p.; Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 249-250. 45 Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 60; Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 248-249.
Above: The course had few trees in this 1937 view. (Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 252) Below: An aerial view of the course’s layout in 2022.
(https://gis.hennepin.us/Property/Map/Default.aspx)
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 35
The golf program began to mature with the arrival of the club’s fourth head professional, Arnold Chester, in 1931. After beginning his career in his native Canada, Chester came to the Twin
Cities in 1926 to assist Minneapolis Golf Club pro Ernest Penford. He would remain at the Edina
course for thirty-one years. In 1941, he also became the club’s general manager. Two years after Chester moved to the Edina club, it hosted the Minnesota State Open, the first of many local tournaments that would use the links. Its first national tournament, the Women’s Trans-Mississippi in 1939, was won by Patty Berg from the nearby Interlachen club.46
It was early in Chester’s tenure that the club undertook “the first of what would be a nearly endless series of course renovations,” according to Shefchik. The changes to Bedelow’s design were based on recommendations from prominent golf course architect A. W. Tillinghast in 1936.47
The club faced a major challenge shortly after World War II as a result of the baby boom. When Edina needed a site for a new school for junior high and high school students, the school board announced its intent to take nearly thirty-one acres of the course by eminent domain. This would have reduced the course from eighteen to twelve holes. A group of club members mounted a
vigorous and successful campaign to defeat the referendum required for the project to proceed.
During the process, the group discovered Thorpe wanted to sell the facility. By 1946, they had made a deal with Thorpe and formed the Edina Holding Company to buy and manage the property.48
One of the company’s first actions was to hire architects McEnary and Kraft to design new tennis
courts and a swimming pool, which required relocating the eighteenth green and tenth tee. When the company paid off its mortgage on the property in 1952, members began making plans for a new clubhouse. The 1929 structure was aging and had not been winterized until the early 1940s. Increasing traffic on Fiftieth Street was making the existing location less desirable, and the
situation was likely to get worse. The Minnesota Highway Department was considering
widening the road from two to four lanes. The department was also working to upgrade Highway 100 on the club’s west side, making that area less attractive. A site along Wooddale Avenue, just south of Minnehaha Creek, seemed a good alternative, but the club did not own it. Chester had dissuaded a previous owner from building a house there and purchased the land himself, leasing
it to the club in 1947 for a driving range. He agreed to sell the property to the club for the new
clubhouse.49 In the process of building the new clubhouse, which opened in 1959, “the club ran afoul of the Edina City Council after dumping construction rubble onto the banks of Minnehaha Creek,”
according to Shefchik. While the club felt entitled to do this as the owner of the creek’s south
bank, the debris was an eyesore from Edina’s Utley Park on the north bank. To make amends and provide a visual barrier between the club and the park, “the club planted three thousand evergreens and three thousand bushes and shrubs along its side of the creek, obtained at no cost from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.” A club history credited Paul Foss as the
46 Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 249-251; Foss, Edina Country Club, 1924-1981, n.p. 47 Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 251.
48 Foss, Edina Country Club, 1924-1981, n.p.; Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 251-252. 49 Foss, Edina Country Club, 1924-1981,12-13, 23; Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 252.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 36
“designe[r] and . . . overseer for the beautification and tree-planting program” around the clubhouse and the adjacent parking lot, “including the hill down to Minnehaha Creek and the
planting of the 76 Hopa Crab trees above the creek from Fiftieth Street to Wooddale Avenue.”50
During the same period, Edina announced plans to widen Wooddale Avenue south of Fiftieth Street, proposing a ten-foot easement along the east side of the club’s property. This was resisted by the club because this area held “one of the most beautiful of flowering hedges running . . .
from the Minnehaha Creek bridge to Fifty-fourth Street,” according to a club history.
Negotiations with the village resulted in a reduction of the easement to seven feet with no parking allowed along the west side of Wooddale. The village planted a new hedge along the property, but it was not a flowering species, and the club subsequently installed a fence just west of the hedge.51
The change in the clubhouse location “necessitated a rerouting of the golf course,” Shefchik explained. “A new eighteenth hole—which used to be the fourth hole—was moved to the west; a new driving range was created between holes 10 and 18; and the sixth and ninth tees were moved back to the site of the old clubhouse. The eighth hole was lengthened by moving the green to the
site of the old pool. An Olympic-sized pool with an L-shape for diving was built next to the
clubhouse in 1960.” The club gained a new pool in 2003. The clubhouse was also modified repeatedly, including the addition of a dining room in 2006. Tennis courts, service buildings, parking lots, and other facilities were added, remodeled, and moved over the years.52
In the meantime, alterations to the golf course continued, sometimes brought on by the forces of
nature. The club’s history reported, for example, that a storm “blew over forty-eight of the older and larger trees on the golf course” in 1951. More often, though, human intervention periodically transformed the course. By 1981, the “sequence of holes” had been switched “nine different times” since the 1920s. As the club prepared to host the Trans-Mississippi Tournament in 1966,
it “filled in the pond on the tenth hole and reversed the nines.” It recreated the pond in 1971, then
removed it again in 1993. It added a pond to the seventeenth hole in 1968, a lake to the Par 3 course in 1971, a pond between the thirteenth and fourteen holes in 1977, and a pond at the third tee in 1977. Other more substantial renovations occurred in 1987, 1993, and 1996-1997. In the early 2000s, the club hired pro golfer and course designer Tom Lehman “to rebuild the course
with an eye toward restoring it—as much as possible—to the quality of the Tom Bendelow
original.” Lehnman described the much-remodeled course as having “totally lost its personality. . . . It looked like a course that had been built in the ’70s and ’80s rather than the ’20s.” He added: “The biggest issue was they relocated the clubhouse. . . . From a flow standpoint, moving the clubhouse created problems.” Also, “over the course of time, trees were planted, and you have a
tree hanging over the fairway 180 years out. You have to go around or over, which created an
uncomfortable shot. What we tried to do was take the corridors that were there, take out the trees, slide fairways one way or the other and get rid of the alleyways.”53
50 Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 252-253; Foss, Edina Country Club, 1924-1981, n.p.
51 Foss, Edina Country Club, 1924-1981, 14-15, 29. 52 Hesterman, From Settlement to Suburb, 69; Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 250-254; Foss, Edina Country
Club, 1924-1981, 31, 35. 53 Foss, Edina Country Club, 1924-1981, n.p., 25; Shefchik, From Fields to Fairways, 253-255 .
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 37
Based on this documentation of alterations, the National Register eligibility of the golf course does not appear to merit additional evaluation. The integrity of the Bendelow design has been
compromised, and restoring the design would be virtually impossible without demolishing the
current clubhouse. Also due to the alterations documented in the illustrations below, the clubhouse does not appear to qualify in its own right.
Left: The east facade of the clubhouse as it looked when it opened in 1959 (top) through at least
1981, when the club’s history included this rendering (center). By 2021, the hipped roofs and rustic stained
shingles, emblematic of the 1950s, had been replaced by a conservative design featuring flat roofs with balustraded parapets (left).
Above: The 1981 history included a photograph of “the sundeck overlooking the ninth green” (top). That facade has a completely different appearance in 2022.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 38
House, 5105 Wooddale Avenue (HE-EDC-0663)
When built in 1942, this two-story
house had a brick facade. The front (west) entry with a simple Classical Revival surround was centered between two narrow windows in a
two-story, gabled bay, with a
window above the door on the second story. To the north, a one-and-one-half-story extension held the door for a double garage,
approached by a straight driveway
from Wooddale Avenue to the west. At some point the exterior was extensively remodeled. The front
bay now has a hipped roof and is
clad in stone, and the other walls are stuccoed. The door surround features plain pilasters with recessed panels. A large, hip-roofed
hood supported with square
columns covers a stone stoop, which is approached by a curved driveway that connects with the driveway that remians in the
original alignment. The side-gable
roof over the house’s main section has been replaced by a tall, pyramidal-hipped roof with a brick chimney at its apex.54
These major alterations, which apparently occurred in the twenty-first century, have damaged the historic integrity of this property, making it ineligible for the National Register.
54 “5107 Wooddale Avenue,” Edina Tax Assessor Records, at Edina Historical Society (hereafter, EHS). The address now associated with this property is 5105 Wooddale Avenue.
Top: Original appearance of 5105 Wooddale Avenue. (Edina Tax Assessor Records, EHS) Bottom: The property in 2021.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 39
House, 5009 Wooddale Lane (HE-EDC-0664)
Three second-story wall dormers rise through the front (south) eave of this side-gabled house at
the northeast corner of Wooddale Lane and Wooddale Avenue. Four globe lights are installed beneath the second story, which is sheathed in wide-lap siding and projects slightly beyond the painted-brick first story. Two of the lights flank the front door, which is centered in the facade and has a Colonial Revival surround. A window with shutters is on each side of the door. The
building’s sides are clad with the same siding used on the second story of the front facade. An
exterior brick chimney rises above the roof ridge on the east side, passing through a screened porch. The roof of the porch serves as a patio with a spindle railing. A number of additions have been made to the rear of the house. The door of a double garage on the west side of the house is reached from Wooddale Avenue by a concrete driveway just south of Bridge No. 90646. From
the driveway south to the corner of Wooddale Lane, a planting bed fills the area between the
Wooddale Avenue sidewalk and a wood fence a few feet to the east. Tax assessor records at the Edina Historical Society indicate that this house was built in 1937 and its first owner was Harry Schoening. An unspecified addition dates from 1950 and other
modifications have been made since that time.55 While the front of the house retains its integrity,
additions clearly visible from Wooddale Avenue and Wooddale Lane have greatly enlarged the building’s volume. This diminishes the integrity of its design, which is typical for the period, and the property does not claim any known historical significance or an association with a significant person. It does not appear to meet any National Register criteria for designation.
55 “5009 Wooddale Lane,” Edina Tax Assessor Records, at EHS.
5009 Wooddale Lane
(2022)
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House, 5011 Wooddale Lane (HE-EDC-0665)
This two-story, end-gable house has a single-car garage tucked into the west end of its primary
south facade, next to the front entry. Another single-car garage is in a single-story extension to the west. A similar extension to the east is enclosed and holds a bay window. The flat roofs of both single-story sections are edged by low, wood-picket railings. The house is clad in multicolor brick. A bay window projects from the first floor east of the entry. Four second-story windows
on the front facade are ornamented by shutters.
Tax assessor records at the Edina Historical Society indicate that this house was built in 1941. An unspecified addition dates from 1958. A patio/deck was added in 1982 and two bay windows were installed in 1989. The single-story bay to the east was once a screen porch.56 The house’s
design is typical for the period, and the property does not claim any known historical
significance or an association with a significant person. It does not appear to meet any National Register criteria for designation.
56 “5011 Wooddale Lane,” Edina Tax Assessor Records, at EHS.
5011 Wooddale Lane (2022)
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 41
House, 5013 Wooddale Lane
The front (south) facade of this one-and-one-half-story house is veneered in various shades of
light-colored, random-rangework stone. Siding on the sides appears to be metal. A double-car garage is tucked into the west end of the front facade, next to the front entry. A broad bay window is east of the front door. Three gable-roofed dormers are on the gable roof’s steep south slope. The roof and the front facade step back slightly at the house’s east end.
Building records at the Edina Historical Society indicate that this house was built in 1939 and that the second floor received an addition in 1989. This was apparently when the second story was extended to the west over the westernmost garage stall, which was originally only a single story with a flat roof ringed by a wood-spindle rail. A deck was installed in 1995 and an
unspecified addition was made in 1996.57 The house’s design was typical for the period. The
property does not claim any known historical significance or an association with a significant person. It does not appear to meet any National Register criteria for designation.
57 “5013 Wooddale Lane,” Edina Tax Assessor Records, at EHS.
Left: 1989 photograph of 5013 Wooddale Lane. (Edina Tax Assessor Records, EHS)
Below: The property in 2022.
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Blackbourn House, 5015 Wooddale Lane (HE-EDC-0579)
The property is on the north side of a turnaround at the east end of Wooddale Lane. The large lot
is situated at a sharp curve in Minnehaha Creek, which edges it to the north and east. The front of the house is oriented to the south and consists of four sections: the main residential block; a small, low wing on the east end that is set back from the front of the main block; a garage to the west; and a recessed link between the garage and main block. A 1979 architectural survey
described the house as exemplifying “Cape Cod cottage design. From the front, it appears as a
low, one-story cottage with a large, grey shingled roof dominated by a massive white brick chimney. Small, shuttered windows contain diamond-shaped panes. The front facade is white brick but the side and rear walls are white clapboard. A garage wing flanks the house. Seen from the street side, the house looks deceptively small; because it is built on a sloping lot, the rear
elevation consists of three levels.” The garage originally had two stalls; a single stall was added
to the west in 1979. The dovecote was retained on the ridge of the garage roof. A deck has been installed on the east end of the house.58 The history of this building is well-documented. It was included in a historic building survey of
Edina completed in 1979 for the Edina Heritage Preservation Board by the architectural firm
Setter, Leach and Lindstrom and historical consultant Jeffery A. Hess.59 The house was one of four resulting from a Life magazine initiative during the Great Depression. The magazine retained eight leading architects to prepare house designs for four families around
the country including the Albert R. Blackbourn family, residents of South Minneapolis at the
time. In 1938, the Blackbourns were given two options for the design of a house on a large, creek-side lot on Wooddale Lane. One was by Frank Lloyd Wright and the other by prominent Boston architect Royal Barry Wills. Although the Blackbourns visited Wright at Taliesen in Wisconsin and were impressed by his hospitality and creativity, they concluded that his design
for the Edina house was too radically modern and expensive. Instead, they selected Wills’s more
traditional plan. Known for drawing inspiration from early East Coast houses, Wills used the Cape Cod style as the basis for the Edina commission. When construction was completed, the house was open for several weeks for public viewing. An announcement about the tours the Edina Crier included advertisements for many of the firms involved in the project including
builder H. R. Burton, excavator J. A. Danens and Son, landscaper L. G. Loftus Company, and
the Twin City Tile and Marble Company.60 The library and archives of Historic New England in Boston hold the extensive Royal Barry Wills Associates Collection (106 boxes and 180 flat file drawers), with most materials dating
from the 1920s through 1980. A biographical/historical essay in the finding aid explains that
Wills’s main interest “lay in residential architecture, with the goal of providing well-designed, well-constructed, and affordable suburban houses for middle- and upper-middle class
58 Setter, Leach and Lindstrom and Hess, “Survey: Historic Buildings of Edina,” 32; “5015 Wooddale Lane,” Edina Tax Assessor Records, at EHS.
59 Setter, Leach and Lindstrom and Hess, “Survey: Historic Buildings of Edina,” 32. 60 Setter, Leach and Lindstrom and Hess, “Survey: Historic Buildings of Edina,” 32; “Building Started on Life’s Model Home Designed for Blackbourns,” Edina Crier, January 1939, 2; “Open for Inspection Daily to July 2nd!” Edina Crier, June 1939, 12-13.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 43
Americans.” After founding his own firm in 1925, he “began to design houses in a variety of styles, but gradually his focus turned to the traditional New England Cape Cod-style house and
this cemented his reputation.” By the next decade, he was gaining widespread recognition for his
work, particularly after receiving “a gold medal from President Herbert Hoover for his 1932 winning entry in the Better Homes in American Small House competition,” the first of many national awards. The finding-aid essay mentions the Life magazine competition and the Blackbourn family’s selection of the design by Wills rather than the one by Frank Lloyd
Wright.61
Wills’s firm also prepared plans for the Mrs. R. E. Boutell House in Excelsior in 1937 (Job No. 534) and did two projects for the John W. Janson House in Saint Paul, one in 1962 (Job No. 1891) and the other in 1969 (Job No. 2193). While a query in the SHPO database identified the
M. H. Boutell House at 1123 Mount Curve in Minneapolis (HE-MPC6495), the database did not
contained entries for properties associated with Mrs. R. E. Boutell in Excelsior or John W. Janson in Saint Paul. Determining whether these properties are extant is beyond the scope of this project, especially given the Blackbourn house’s unique history and its influence as a result of local and national press coverage.62
The 1979 survey of historic buildings in Edina concluded that the property was significant as “the work of one of the most respected architects of the mid-20th century. The Blackbourns, in choosing Wills’ design over that of Frank Lloyd Wright, reflected the tastes of their times.” The study recommended that the property receive local landmark designation.63
Likewise, the property appears to qualify for the National Register under Criterion C for its architectural significance as a classic example of a Neo-Traditional house by Wills, a leading proponent of this style. While not Wills’s only commission in Minnesota, it was the most visible because of its association with the Life magazine project. The addition of the single-car garage
does not greatly affect the integrity of the design. It is compatible with the original double-car
garage but, by having its own door, is differentiated. Original windows appear to have been replaced, but the new units are similar to the original. Three skylights have been inserted in the front slope of the roof and windows have been added on the west facade, which was perhaps slightly lengthened and has a deck addition. These changes do not substantial diminish the
integrity of the house’s original design, which remains very good.
61 “AR029—Royal Barry Wills Associates Collection, 1925-2013 (bulk 1920s-1980): Finding Aid,” November
2019, 3, Historic New England Library and Archives, accessed January 13, 2022, https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/library-archives/royal-barry-wills/
62 The Historic New England archives for the Blackbourn, Boutell, and Janson jobs should be consulted if a National Register nomination is prepared for the Blackbourn House. Source: “AR029—Royal Barry Wills Associates Collection, 1925-2013,” 32, 77, 88. 63 Setter, Leach and Lindstrom and Hess, “Survey: Historic Buildings of Edina,” 32.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 44
Left: It is unclear if the Blackbourns occupied the house. It was open for public tours until
July 2, 1939, and in August the Edina Crier ran a full-page advertisement offering the property for sale. Below: The property in 2022.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 45
House, 5029 Wooddale Lane (HE-EDC-0667)
Situated at the southeast corner of Wooddale Lane and Wooddale Avenue, this house is clad in
variegated brick and stands two stories tall with a one-and-one-half-story double garage extending to the west. A small, gabled, single-story entrance bay projects from the west end of the house’s front (south) facade, with a bay window to the east. Two second-floor windows rise into the roofline as gabled dormers. A single-story porch was once attached to the house’s east
wall. It was apparently enclosed in 1976 and replaced in 1980 by a large, two-story, cross-gabled
addition that projects in front of the plane of the original front facade. Probably at the same time, the garage was widened to hold a second stall.64 Built in 1941, this house was expanded substantially in 1980 at an expense of around $80,000.
This major modification has damaged the integrity of the house’s original design, making it
ineligible for the National Register.65
64 “5029 Wooddale Lane,” Edina Tax Assessor Records, at EHS. 65 “5029 Wooddale Lane,” Edina Tax Assessor Records, at EHS.
Left: 5029 Wooddale Lane as it appeared before alterations. (Edina Tax Assessor Records, EHS)
Below: The property in 2022.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 46
Conclusion
The following table summarizes the conclusions in this section about the National Register
eligibility of properties in the APE.
Address Current name (historic) Inventory # NRHP Status/
Recommendation Wooddale Ave. over Minnehaha Creek Bridge No. 90646 (Bridge No. 281; Wooddale Avenue Bridge) HE-EDC-0633 Listed (Criteria A and C) 4439 W. 50th Street Saint Stephen the Martyr Episcopal Church HE-EDC-0578 Eligible (Criterion C,
possibly Criterion A; Criteria Consideration A)
4500 W. 50th Street Wooddale Park (Woodlawn School) HE-EDC-0555 Demolished; not
eligible
4521 W. 50th Street Utley Park HE-EDC-0668 Not eligible
5100 Wooddale Ave. Edina Country Club (Thorpe
Country Club)
HE-EDC-0662 Not eligible
5105 Wooddale Ave. House HE-EDC-0663 Not eligible
5009 Wooddale Lane House HE-EDC-0664 Not eligible
5011 Wooddale Lane House HE-EDC-0665 Not eligible 5013 Wooddale Lane House HE-EDC-0666 Not eligible 5015 Wooddale Lane Blackbourn House HE-EDC-0579 Eligible (Criterion C) 5029 Wooddale Lane House HE-EDC-0667 Not eligible
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 47
Analysis
The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Cultural Resources Unit (MnDOT CRU) has extensive experience identifying and maintaining historic bridges. A decade ago, it commissioned a study by consulting engineers and historians that analyzed about 140 historic
bridges owned by other agencies. Bridge No. 90646 was included in the study. Findings on the
bridge were provided in a report dated June 2014, which concluded the bridge qualified for the National Register under Criterion A for its association with the WPA and under Criterion C for its engineering. The report identified two character-defining features: 1. “Design and construction of a multi plate arch,” and 2. “Overall WPA Rustic Style design aesthetic as
represented through use of a randomly coursed limestone, masonry parapet/railing with stone
cap, curved limestone wingwalls, and limestone arch ring. This feature includes the concrete plaque identifying the bridge as ‘WPA 1937.’”66 The report considered the bridge “in fair condition” and “adequately serv[ing] its purpose of
carrying vehicular and pedestrian traffic.” The bridge description, based on a site visit in July
2013, provided additional details. “Remnants of smaller curved stone masonry walls were noted off each end of the existing wingwalls. These walls are somewhat intact on the east side but are missing nearly entirely on the west side. There are also small stone masonry walls present along the stream channel that abut each of the bridge wingwalls.” The report added: “The condition of
the existing stone masonry railings is fair to poor. The relatively soft limestone has weathered
and deteriorated with nearly all stones cracked, and widespread areas of mortar deterioration, especially on the roadside face of the railings. Crumbled stone and mortar has collected at the base of the railings. The solid limestone slab railing caps are nearly 100 percent deteriorated.” The stone below the railing “is in markedly better condition than the railing stones,” but
“widespread deterioration of the mortar was noted. Many areas of the mortar on the headwalls
were cracked and de-bonded from the stone.” The galvanized-steel arches “are in good condition overall,” but “active corrosion was noted at and near the connection of the arch to the concrete abutments with the most severe being at the southeast corner.” Some scouring of the footings was apparent, but inspection of the substructure was limited by high water.67
The report concluded, “With proper maintenance, stabilization and preservation activities, it is believed Bridge 90646 could continue to serve in its present capacity for twenty years or longer.” The report did, though, recommend an extensive rehabilitation, particularly for the bridge railings, calling for removing and replacing them “down to the arch crown elevation” with new
masonry units. It noted that the headwalls and wingwalls should be repointed and masonry units
replaced as needed. “When either the roadway and sidewalk need to be replaced, or the arch begins to show signs of corrosion,” the report “recommended that the sidewalk and bituminous surface be removed and replaced and at the same time, remove the earth fill above the steel multi
66 LHB and Mead and Hunt, “Bridge Number 90646,” Minnesota Department of Transportation Local Historic Bridge Report, June 2014, 1, II-6 – II-7, at Minnesota Department of Transportation website, accessed August 2021,
https://www.dot.state.mn.us/historicbridges/90646.html. 67 LHB and Mead and Hunt, “Bridge Number 90646,” 1, IV-9 – IV-10. Photograph 8 on page IV-14 is labeled “corrosion in southeast corner” but appears to be the southwest corner based the orientation of the photograph (arch to left, vegetation to right) and on Photograph 12 of the southwest corner (page IV-16).
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 48
plate arch and inspect steel surfaces for corrosion.” After any corrosion was addressed, clean aggregate, a drainage system, and perhaps a waterproofing membrane should be installed. The
bridge foundation should be underpinned at locations impacted by scour. All in all, the cost of
the activities recommended to maintain, stabilize, and preserve the bridge totaled over $600,000 in 2013 dollars. The report also suggested reconstructing the “severely deteriorated” masonry channel walls. The recommendations were based on the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties (Standards) and additional guidance specifically developed
for bridges by the Virginia Transportation Research Council.68
The Secretary’s Standards were also the basis for a treatment plan adopted by the Edina Heritage Board when the local landmark designation was approved. These guidelines prioritize preserving the bridge in place and in its current use; preserving and repairing original materials when
possible; and making needed modifications with materials and design similar to and compatible
with the original. The tenth and final guideline states that if the bridge “can no longer be preserved in place for reasons of public safety” and cannot be preserved by relocation, “the effects of demolition may be mitigated by historical and engineering documentation” following the standards of the Historic American Engineering Record, commonly known by its acronym
HAER.69
The Edina Engineering Department has considered the recommendations of the MnDOT report and the Heritage Board preservation plan and understands the significance of Bridge No. 90646. After evaluating alternatives, it plans to replace the bridge, an adverse effect to a historic
resource. The department will undertake consultation with the Corps, SHPO, HPC, MnDOT
CRU, and other interested parties to discuss ways to avoid, minimize, or mitigate the adverse effect.
68 LHB and Mead and Hunt, “Bridge Number 90646,” 1, IV-18 – IV-20. 69 “Wooddale Bridge—Plan of Treatment,” adopted by the Edina Heritage Board, n.d., at ED-ECH.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 49
Sources Consulted
Abbreviations ED-ECH Engineering Department, Edina City Hall EHS Edina Historical Society
“Announce ‘Wooddale Section’ Layout.” Edina Crier, September 1936. “AR029—Royal Barry Wills Associates Collection, 1925-2013 (bulk 1920s-1980): Finding Aid.” November 2019. Historic New England Library and Archives. Accessed January
13, 2022, https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/library-archives/royal-barry-wills/
Bendelow, Stuart. “Bendelow, Tom.” In Charles A. Birnbaum and Stephanie S. Foell, eds. Shaping the American Landscape, 20-22. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2009.
Bennett, Carolyn. “Historic City Park and Golf Course, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.” In Vineyard 6, no. 1 (2005): 4-6. “Board of County Commissioners.” Minneapolis Tribune, January 24, 1907.
“Boston Architects Study New St. Stephen’s Plans.” Edina Crier, February 1938. Bridge No. 90646 inspection reports. At ED-ECH.
“Building Started on Life’s Model Home Designed for Blackbourns.” Edina Crier, January
1939. Cameron, Tamara, to Sarah Beimers. Letter. August 14, 2015. At ED-ECH.
“Council to Act on Re-zoning Problem.” Edina Crier, August 1939.
“Council Zones Darr Property for One, Two Family Houses.” Edina Crier, September 1939. “Cover Carries St. Stephen’s Chancel.” Edina Crier, March 1938.
“Edina.” Select Twin Citian, October 1962. “Edina Plans ‘Little’ Pennsylvania Avenue.” Edina Crier, August 1939.
“Episcopalians to Build New Church.” Edina Crier. June 1937.
Erickson, Hans, TKDA, to Melissa Jenny, Saint Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Memorandum. September 29, 2015. At ED-ECH.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 50
“Firm to Move Tract Office.” Edina Crier, November 1938.
Foss, Paul. Edina Country Club, 1924-1981. N.p.: Edina Country Club, [1981].
Gallagher, Lillie Petit. “Myron Howard West, Founder, American Park Builders, Inc.” In Vineyard 6, no. 1 (2005): 5.
“Harold C. Utley.” Obituary. Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 23, 1963.
“Havoc Wrought by Breaking of Old Dam at Edina Mills.” Minneapolis Tribune, June 3, 1906. Hesterman, Paul D. From Settlement to Suburb: The History of Edina, Minnesota. Edina:
Burgess Publishing, 1988.
“Hope Digging May Start in August.” Edina Crier, July 1937. Kellerhals, Kelli Andre, and Gregory R. Mathis. “Bridge No. 90646.” National Register of
Historic Places Registration Form, 2014. Prepared by The 106 Group.
LHB and Mead and Hunt. “Bridge Number 90646.” Minnesota Department of Transportation Local Historic Bridge Report, June 2014. At Minnesota Department of Transportation website. Accessed August 2021, https://www.dot.state.mn.us/historicbridges/90646.html.
“The Life Home.” Advertisement. Edina Crier, August 1939. “Limestone Face for New Bridge,” Edina Crier, July 1937.
“New Episcopal Edifice Is Dedicated.” Edina Crier, April 1939.
1913 Hennepin Co Atlas (Minneapolis: Hennepin County, 1913), Village of Edina sheet, at John R. Borchart Library, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
“Open for Inspection Daily to July 2nd!” Edina Crier, June 1939.
“Plat for Country Club District-Wooddale Section.” 1936. At ED-ECH. “Progress of St. Stephen’s Building Direct to Be Reported at Dinner September 22.” Edina
Crier, September 1937.
“Report of the Projects, Planning and Development Committee, Country Club Association, April 11, 1933.” Edina Crier, May 1933.
“Runaway Bridge to Be Replaced.” Edina Crier, May 1937.
“Rural Edina: The First Seventy-five Years.” February 12, 1976. Unattributed mimeograph. At Hess, Roise and Company, Minneapolis.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 51
“St. Stephen, Christian Martyr.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed January 18, 2022,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Stephen.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Minneapolis, Minnesota. New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1941. Vol. 6A. At Library of Congress, www.loc.gov.
Scott, William A., and Jeffrey A. Hess. History and Architecture of Edina, Minnesota. N.p.: City
of Edina, 1981. Schwartz, Marshall. “Edina Veterans Memorial, A Lasting Tribute.” 2015/2017. Prepared as part of the Edina, Minnesota Veterans Memorial Project, Edina Historical Society.
Setter, Leach and Lindstrom and Jeffrey A. Hess. “Survey: Historic Buildings of Edina, Minnesota.” July 6, 1979. Prepared for the Edina Heritage Preservation Board. Shefchik, Rick. From Fields to Fairways: Classic Golf Clubs of Minnesota. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 2012.
“A Short History of the Zoning Ordinance.” Edina Crier, April 1931. Smetanka, Mary Jane. “Edina’s Veterans Memorial Approved.” Minneapolis Star Tribune,
November 23, 2011.
———. “Edina Veterans Memorial Plans Proceed.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 9, 2011.
“To Start Digging for New Church.” Edina Crier, August 1937.
“Urban Edina Builds 125 Homes; Six new ‘Sections’ Adjoin District.” Edina Crier August 1937. “View of Approved St. Stephen’s along Fiftieth Street.” Edina Crier, April 1938.
Vogel, Robert C. “Edina Historic Contexts.” 1999. Prepared by Robert C. Vogel & Associates for the City of Edina Heritage Preservation Board. “Wooddale Bridge—Plan of Treatment.” Adopted by the Edina Heritage Board. N.d. At ED-
ECH.
“Work Progressing on Saint Stephen’s.” Edina Crier, December 1937. “Zoning Commission Discusses Fiftieth Street.” Edina Crier, January 1931.
Bridge No. 90646—Section 106 Consultation—January 2022—Page 52
Archival/Online Resources
Edina Historical Society. Edina tax assessor records, photographs, local histories, and other
sources. Engineering Department, Edina City Hall. Inspection reports, photographs, and other information for Bridge No. 90646; various building records.
Hennepin County, Minnesota. Online property information, maps, and aerial photography. Hess, Roise and Company, Minneapolis. Edina history files.
Minnesota Digital Library. https://collection.mndigital.org/
Minnesota Historical Society, Saint Paul. Photographs.
5:24:27 PMSHEET NO OF SHEETSB2CHK:
DR:
CHK:
APPROVED:DES:X:\AE\E\EDINA\155032\5-final-dsgn\51-drawings\20-Struct\_bridge\Shts\cbr90646_ts.dgnBRIDGE NO10/21/202127XXXB3
30'-2"20'-2"
1'-2"1'-2"
PROFILE GRADE
50'-4" HEADWALL TO HEADWALL
& GUTTER B618
CONCRETE CURB
B3
EAST SIDEWEST SIDE
BIKE LANE
5'-0"
THRU LANE
11'-0"
THRU LANE
11'-0"
BUFFER
3'-0"
BUFFER
3'-0"
HEADWALL
6" AGG. BASE
5"BIT. PAVEMENT
STRUCTURAL BACKFILL
4" CONCRETE
RAILING (TYPE P-1, TL-2)
CONCRETE PARAPET
PROPOSED TYPICAL SECTION
PRECAST CONCRETE ARCH
19'-10" X 7'-2"3'-0"NOTES:
1
2
1 2
12
22'-2"18'-2"
1'-8"1'-8"
EAST SIDEWEST SIDE EXISTING TYPICAL SECTION
LIMESTONE
MORTARED STACKED
4'-6"16'-0"11'-0"4'-6"1'-0"
40'-4"
THRU LANE THRU LANE CONC. WALK
CONC. WALK
10'-0"
BIKE LANE
5'-0"
CORRUGATED METAL ARCH
18'-0"x5'-4•"
(MULTI-COLOR)
ARCHITECTURAL SURFACE FINISH
(ASHLAR STONE)
ARCHITECTURAL CONCRETE TEXTURE
TYPICAL SECTIONS
WOODDALE AVENUE
EXISTING <
12
1 2
WOODDALE AVENUE
PROPOSED <
WOODDALE AVENUE
EXISTING <
5'-6"`3'-6"3'-10" TO 4'-5"VARIES:AND MAY VARY FROM DIMESIONS SHOWN.
EXISTING DIMESIONS ARE APPROXIMATE
NOTE:
Date: January 19, 2023 Agenda Item #: VII.A.
To:Transportation Commission Item Type:
Other
From:Andrew Scipioni, Transportation Planner
Item Activity:
Subject:2023 Work Plan Updates Information
CITY OF EDINA
4801 West 50th Street
Edina, MN 55424
www.edinamn.gov
ACTION REQUESTED:
None.
INTRODUCTION:
Commissioners will provide updates on the status of 2023 Work P lan initiatives (unless an item is elsewhere on
the current agenda). See attached work plan.
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
2023 Work Plan Progress Report
Approved by City Council December 6, 2022
Commission: Transportation Commission
2023 Annual Work Plan
Initiative #1 Initiative Type ☒ Project ☐ Ongoing / Annual ☐ Event
Council Charge ☐ 1 (Study & Report) ☐ 2 (Review & Comment) ☒ 3 (Review & Recommend) ☐ 4 (Review & Decide)
Pedestrian Crossing Policy Review
Review existing crossing policy and recommend changes with
consideration for local amenities such as parks and schools.
Deliverable
Report and recommendations to City
Council
Leads
Chris Brown
Target
Completion Date
Q4 Sub-Committee
Budget Required: None
Staff Support Required: 1 hour per month from Staff Liaison, ~5 hours from other staff (Engineering, Parks & Recreation)
Initiative #2 Initiative Type ☒ Project ☐ Ongoing / Annual ☐ Event
Council Charge ☒ 1 (Study & Report) ☐ 2 (Review & Comment) ☐ 3 (Review & Recommend) ☐ 4 (Review & Decide)
Bicycle Network Planning for Bikes as Transportation
Develop a priority list of high-traffic corridors and ideas for bike friendly
improvements.
Deliverable
Report to City Council
Leads
Andy Lewis, Mindy
Ahler, Jill Plumb-Smith
Target
Completion Date
Q4
Sub-committee
Budget Required: None
Staff Support Required: 1 hour per month from Staff Liaison
Approved by City Council December 6, 2022
Initiative #3 Initiative Type ☒ Project ☐ Ongoing / Annual ☐ Event
Council Charge ☒ 1 (Study & Report) ☐ 2 (Review & Comment) ☐ 3 (Review & Recommend) ☐ 4 (Review & Decide)
France Avenue Corridor Review
Review the safety, accessibility, and amenities along the existing France
Avenue Transit Corridor for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders
between Minnesota Drive and Highway 62 (Southdale District).
Investigation will include site visits and review of similar case studies
that promote non-automobile transportation modes along similar scale
roadways and will include input from key stakeholders. Inquiry is in
response to the Climate Action Plan and new parking ordinances.
Deliverable
Report to City Council
Leads
Tricia Rubenstein, Bruce
McCarthy, Lori Richman
Target
Completion Date
Q4
Sub-committee
Budget Required: None.
Staff Support Required: 2-5 hours per month from Staff Liaison, ~10 hours from Communications for stakeholder engagement/website
Initiative #4 Initiative Type ☒ Project ☐ Ongoing / Annual ☐ Event
Council Charge ☒ 1 (Study & Report) ☐ 2 (Review & Comment) ☐ 3 (Review & Recommend) ☐ 4 (Review & Decide)
Boulevard Tree Planting
Review options for replacement and new boulevard tree planting
program (Greenspace + Trees Strategy GS1).
Deliverable
Report to City Council
Leads
Tricia Rubenstein
Target
Completion Date
Q4 Sub-Committee
Budget Required: None
Staff Support Required: 1 hour per month from Staff Liaison, ~5 hours from City Forester
Initiative #5 Initiative Type ☒ Project ☐ Ongoing / Annual ☐ Event
Council Charge ☐ 1 (Study & Report) ☐ 2 (Review & Comment) ☐ 3 (Review & Recommend) ☒ 4 (Review & Decide)
Cahill Small Area Plan
Appoint Commissioner to serve on the Cahill small area plan working
group.
Deliverable
Commissioner will actively participate
in the working group and provide
regular updates to the Commission.
Leads
Janet Kitui
Target
Completion Date
Q4 Working Group
Budget Required: Funds available through Hennepin County Planning Grant
Staff Support Required: 1 hour per month from Staff Liaison.
Approved by City Council December 6, 2022
Initiative #6 Initiative Type ☒ Project ☐ Ongoing / Annual ☐ Event
Council Charge ☐ 1 (Study & Report) ☐ 2 (Review & Comment) ☒ 3 (Review & Recommend) ☐ 4 (Review & Decide)
Parking
Consideration of future parking in Edina to identify parking initiatives to
pursue in the next 10-15 years, in what order and what
Commissions/resources should be assigned to each.
Deliverable
Recommendation to City Council
(Review and Comment from ETC, EEC)
Leads
Kirk Johnson, Janet Kitui
Target
Completion Date
Q4 Cross-Commission
Committee (PC lead,
EEC)
Budget Required: None
Staff Support Required: 2-5 hours per month from Staff Liaison, ~5 hours from other staff (Planning, Engineering)
Parking Lot: (These items have been considered by the BC, but not proposed as part of this year’s work plan. If the BC decides they would like to
work on them in the current year, it would need to be approved by Council.)
Transit service advocacy, pedestrian safety education, speed limit adherence
Date: January 19, 2023 Agenda Item #: IX.A.
To:Transportation Commission Item Type:
Other
From:Andrew Scipioni, Transportation Planner
Item Activity:
Subject:Additional Sidewalks for Morningside C Roadway
Reconstruction
Information
CITY OF EDINA
4801 West 50th Street
Edina, MN 55424
www.edinamn.gov
ACTION REQUESTED:
None.
INTRODUCTION:
On December 20, 2022, Council authorized the design phase to begin. Based on public hearing testimony, the
Council requested staff prepare a survey requesting feedback on constructing sidewalks on Kipling Avenue,
Monterey Avenue and West 40th Street.
Staff prepared three separate surveys, one for Kipling Avenue and Monterey Avenue residents, one for Edina
West 40th Street residents, and one for St. Louis Park West 40th Street residents. Staff also received one
petition from residents living along Kipling Avenue requesting sidewalk installation along Kipling Avenue, and one
petition from residents living along Grimes Avenue requesting sidewalk installations along Kipling Avenue,
Monterey Avenue and West 40th Street.
Staff recommends approval of additional sidewalks on Kipling Avenue, Monterey Avenue and West 40th Street.
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
20230117 Staff Report: Approve Additional Sidewalks
Sidewalk Petition - Kipling Ave Residents
Sidewalk Petition - Grimes Ave Residents
Sidewalk Postcard, Survey and Results
January 17, 2023
Mayor and City Council
Aaron T. Ditzler, PE, Assistant City Engineer
Approve Additional Sidewalks for the Morningside C Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction,
Improvement No. BA-462
Information / Background:
Following the December 6, 2022 public hearing, the Council authorized the design phase to begin on
December 20, 2022. Based on public hearing testimony, the Council requested staff prepare a survey
soliciting feedback on constructing sidewalks on Kipling Avenue, Monterey Avenue and West 40th Street.
Staff prepared three separate surveys, one for Kipling Avenue and Monterey Avenue residents, one for
Edina West 40th Street residents, and one for St. Louis Park West 40th Street residents. Staff also received
one petition from residents living along Kipling Avenue requesting sidewalk installation along Kipling Avenue,
and one petition from residents living along Grimes Avenue requesting sidewalk installations along Kipling
Avenue, Monterey Avenue and West 40th Street.
The attached survey results show mixed results. When answering if the resident supported a sidewalk on
their street without mention of location of the side of the street, there was 42% - 50% support for all
three additional sidewalks. When answering if the resident supported a sidewalk on their side of the
street, there was 25% - 50% support for all three additional sidewalks.
70 Edina properties were mailed a survey postcard and 34 Edina residents responded to the survey. 40% to
63% of Edina residents did not respond and 100% of St. Louis Park residents did not respond. Staff believes
our survey had a low response rate because of the attached petitions in favor of the sidewalks. For
reference, the Kipling and Grimes Avenue petitions were received prior to staff mailing the survey postcards
to the residents.
The Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety Fund (PACS) has budget to support constructing these additional
sidewalks. Recall, authorizing sidewalk installation requires a minimum of 3 out of 5 Council votes in favor to
pass.
STAFF REPORT Page 2
Recommendation
Staff recommends constructing additional sidewalks along Kipling Avenue, Monterey Avenue and West 40th
Street in the Morningside C Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction, Improvement No. BA-462. The
preliminary locations are along the west side of Kipling and Monterey Avenues and the south side of W. 40th
Street.
Staff is recommending installation for the following reasons.
1. The petitions and surveys show support. Staff believes our survey had a low response rate because
of the petitions in favor of the sidewalks.
2. Recommendation aligns with the guiding principles of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan,
although these locations are not specifically identified in that plan.
a. Provide safe routes for all ages and abilities
b. Develops facilities and address network gaps
c. Provide connectivity for everyday uses and needs
3. Installing during street reconstruction is more cost effective and efficient to reduce costs and
impacts.
4. The PACS fund has budget to install these sidewalks.
5. The streets will be narrowed from a proposed 27 feet wide to 24 feet wide, reducing the estimated
assessment per REU by a few hundred dollars.
KIPLING AVENUE & 40TH ST W SIDEWALK PETITION
Submitted by Ed Mathie, 4011 Kipling Avenue –December 19, 2022
During a recent Edina City Council meeting regarding the Morningside C Roadway
Reconstruction, the council indicated that it will consider adding sidewalks to Kipling Avenue,
Monterey Avenue, and the South side of 40th Street West, if residents indicate their interest.
I was asked to survey the residents of Kipling Avenue, and adjacent residents of 40th Street West.
Attached are the results of the petition circulated to residents, a quick summary of results, and
general commentary regarding resident feedback.
PETITION SUMMARY
Total Households:31 TTL households in survey area (map attached)
Yes/Signed:24 (77% of all HHs, 85% of HHs contacted)
No/Refused:2
Still Considering:2
Unable To Contact:3 each HH tried 3+ times
85% OF HOUSEHOLDS, where contact was made, signed the petition supporting sidewalks
OVERALL FINDINGS
Generally the response was very positive, in favor of adding a sidewalk to Kipling Ave and 40th
Street West. The most common feedback / questions were as follows:
Walking in the street is a hardship for children, elderly, dog walkers. The most common refrain
was that children/families, the elderly and dog walkers were in danger walking in the street. And,
this made our street less accessible than others.
Which side of the street? The primary question was ‘which side of the street?’. And, the most
common concerns seemed to be any possible loss of large canopy trees, followed by conflicts
with existing landscaping, and lastly the responsibility for snow removal. (Two residents were in
support of sidewalks, but declined to sign without knowing their tree/trees would be retained.)
Narrowing the street slows traffic (+), but makes walking in the street more dangerous (-). Many
residents understood the benefits of narrowing the street to slow traffic, but worried that without
adding a sidewalk, narrowing could be dangerous to pedestrians.
Why aren’t we connected to the neighborhood? There was also a general curiosity as to why
Kipling Avenue was not connected to the network of sidewalks in Morningside, and therefore a
feeling of disconnection from the rest of the Morningside neighborhood.
This is the right time to add sidewalks. Living adjacent to the reconstruction happening on 42nd
St. W, residents are acutely aware of the work planned for Kipling Avenue in 2023. Many said
adding sidewalks now, as part of the Kipling reconstruction, is the right timing.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions emathie@designcue.com or 952-212-0491
HOMES INCLUDED IN THIS PETITION SHADED GREEN
SIDEWALK
Petition Instructions
This petition form is to be used to ask the Edina City Council to consider the following types of improvements
ALLEY PAVING
WATER MAIN
STORM SEWER
PERMANEI{T STREET SURFACING WITH CURB AND GUTTER
CURB AND GUTTER ONLY
(WITHOUT PERMAD{ENT STREET SURFACING)
SANITARY SBWER
STREET LIGHTING
or another improvement you describe (called OTHER on this form).
You may use another petition form if you wish but the city council may reject such petitions unless they contain
the following information:
1. Type of improvement(s) requested, e.g., SIDEWALIL STORM SEWER, WATER MAIN, ETC.
2. Precise locations(s) of the requested improvements.
3. A statement that all who sign the petition understand that the city council may assess the costs of
these improvements against the properties benefiting from the improvements in amounts
determined by the Council.
4. Printed name of property owner, owner's signature and phone number, and property address.
5. Signature of person circulating the petition.
If you have questions, please call the City Clerk at952-927-8861 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
SHARON ALLISON
CITY CLERK
APRIL 2OO8
Cif.v of Edina, \Iinnesota
CITY COUNCIL
4801 \\ est 50th Street . Edina, \Iinnesota 55424
(952) 927-8861 . (952) 927-7645 F-\.\ . (612) 927-5161 TDD
PETITION TO THE CITY COLTNCIL
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DATE RECEIVED:
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To the Mayor ano Citv Council
The persons who have signed this petition ask &e City Council to consider the improvements listed abo
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NAME ADDRESS PHONE
The Minnesota Data Practices Act requires that we inform you of your rights about the private dato ite ue retluesting on this form.
Under the law, your telephone number is private data. This petition v'hen submitted will become puhlic ittibrmation. There is no
consequencefor refusing to supply this irlbrmation.
You may attach extra pages with signatures.
APRIL 2008
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Morningside C 2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey The City Council will consider authorizing the design and bidding phase for the Morningside C project on December 20. Council asked Engineering to get input from residents for support of a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk along Monterey and Kipling Avenues between West 40th and West 42nd Streets. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PW9T7R2 to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please submit them on the link referenced above or contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371. Morningside C 2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey The City Council will consider authorizing the design and bidding phase for the Morningside C project on December 20. Council asked Engineering to get input from residents for support of a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk along Monterey and Kipling Avenues between West 40th and West 42nd Streets. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PW9T7R2 to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please submit them on the link referenced above or contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371. Morningside C 2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey The City Council will consider authorizing the design and bidding phase for the Morningside C project on December 20. Council asked Engineering to get input from residents for support of a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk along Monterey and Kipling Avenues between West 40th and West 42nd Streets. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PW9T7R2 to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please submit them on the link referenced above or contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371. Morningside C 2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey The City Council will consider authorizing the design and bidding phase for the Morningside C project on December 20. Council asked Engineering to get input from residents for support of a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk along Monterey and Kipling Avenues between West 40th and West 42nd Streets. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PW9T7R2 to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please submit them on the link referenced above or contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371.
Kipling & Monterey Sidewalk
* 1. Are you supportive of sidewalk on your street?
Please note before answering.
The street width will be 24 feet wide from the face of curb to the face of curb. (Existing
width is 30’.)
Parking will be available only on the sidewalk side.
The sidewalk will be separated from the curb by a grass boulevard approximately 3 feet
wide.
Sidewalks are not assessed. Walks are paid for by the Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety
(PACS) Fund
Yes
No
No Opinion
* 2. Are you supportive of sidewalk on your side of the street?
Please note before answering.
Maintenance of sidewalks will be the responsibility of the adjacent property owners.
Maintenance includes removal of snow and ice within 48 hours and repair of concrete
due to cracks, depressions, trip hazards, etc.
Yes
No
No Opinion
* 3. What is your address?
Morningside C 2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey The City Council will consider authorizing the design and bidding phase for the Morningside C project on December 20. Council asked Engineering to get input from residents for support of a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk along the south side of West 40th Street between Natchez and Grimes Avenue. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8RWPRRG to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please submit them on the link referenced above or contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371. Morningside C 2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey The City Council will consider authorizing the design and bidding phase for the Morningside C project on December 20. Council asked Engineering to get input from residents for support of a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk along the south side of West 40th Street between Natchez and Grimes Avenue. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8RWPRRG to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please submit them on the link referenced above or contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371. Morningside C 2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey The City Council will consider authorizing the design and bidding phase for the Morningside C project on December 20. Council asked Engineering to get input from residents for support of a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk along the south side of West 40th Street between Natchez and Grimes Avenue. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8RWPRRG to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please submit them on the link referenced above or contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371. Morningside C 2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey The City Council will consider authorizing the design and bidding phase for the Morningside C project on December 20. Council asked Engineering to get input from residents for support of a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk along the south side of West 40th Street between Natchez and Grimes Avenue. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8RWPRRG to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please submit them on the link referenced above or contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371.
West 40th Street Sidewalk
* 1. Are you supportive of sidewalk on your side of the street?
Please note before answering:
The street width will likely be 24 feet wide from the face of curb to the face of curb.
(Existing width is 30’.)
Parking will likely be available only on the south side.
The sidewalk will be separated from the curb by a grass boulevard approximately 3 feet
wide.
Sidewalks are not assessed. Walks are paid for by the Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety
(PACS) Fund.
Maintenance of sidewalks will be the responsibility of the adjacent property owners.
Maintenance includes removal of snow and ice within 48 hours and repair of concrete
due to cracks, depressions, trip hazards, etc.
Yes
No
No Opinion
* 2. Are you supportive of sidewalk on your side of the street if parking is NOT allowed along
the south side of the street?
Please note before answering:
The street width will likely be 24 feet wide from the face of curb to the face of curb.
(Existing width is 30’.)
Parking will likely be available only on the north side.
The sidewalk will be separated from the curb by a grass boulevard approximately 3 feet
wide.
Sidewalks are not assessed. Walks are paid for by the Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety
(PACS) Fund.
Maintenance of sidewalks will be the responsibility of the adjacent property owners.
Maintenance includes removal of snow and ice within 48 hours and repair of concrete
due to cracks, depressions, trip hazards, etc.
Yes
No
No Opinion
* 3. What is your address?
2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey West 40th Street between Natchez Avenue and Joppa Avenue is scheduled for reconstruction in 2023 in association with the City of Edina’s Roadway Reconstruction Program. Edina residents have requested that a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk be installed with the project along the south side of West 40th Street between Natchez and Joppa Avenue. The City of St. Louis Park asked that the City of Edina to get input from St. Louis Park residents for support of the sidewalk. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YQB5VRK to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371 or submit them at https://www.bettertogetheredina.org/morningside‐c. 2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey West 40th Street between Natchez Avenue and Joppa Avenue is scheduled for reconstruction in 2023 in association with the City of Edina’s Roadway Reconstruction Program. Edina residents have requested that a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk be installed with the project along the south side of West 40th Street between Natchez and Joppa Avenue. The City of St. Louis Park asked that the City of Edina to get input from St. Louis Park residents for support of the sidewalk. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YQB5VRK to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371 or submit them at https://www.bettertogetheredina.org/morningside‐c. 2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey West 40th Street between Natchez Avenue and Joppa Avenue is scheduled for reconstruction in 2023 in association with the City of Edina’s Roadway Reconstruction Program. Edina residents have requested that a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk be installed with the project along the south side of West 40th Street between Natchez and Joppa Avenue. The City of St. Louis Park asked that the City of Edina to get input from St. Louis Park residents for support of the sidewalk. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YQB5VRK to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371 or submit them at https://www.bettertogetheredina.org/morningside‐c. 2023 Neighborhood Roadway Reconstruction Sidewalk Survey West 40th Street between Natchez Avenue and Joppa Avenue is scheduled for reconstruction in 2023 in association with the City of Edina’s Roadway Reconstruction Program. Edina residents have requested that a 5‐foot‐wide concrete sidewalk be installed with the project along the south side of West 40th Street between Natchez and Joppa Avenue. The City of St. Louis Park asked that the City of Edina to get input from St. Louis Park residents for support of the sidewalk. Visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YQB5VRK to complete the survey by January 4, 2023. If you have questions, please contact Edina Engineering at (952) 826‐0371 or submit them at https://www.bettertogetheredina.org/morningside‐c.
St. Louis Park W. 40th St Sidewalk Survey
* 1. Are you supportive of sidewalk on the Edina side of the street?
Please note before answering.
The street width will likely be 24 feet wide from the face of curb to the face of curb.
(Existing width is 30’.)
Parking will be available only on the south side. The north side will be signed
No Parking.
The sidewalk will be separated from the curb by a grass boulevard approximately 3 feet
wide.
These improvements will be paid for using city funds, there are no proposed
assessments to St. Louis Park property owners for this project.
Yes
No
No Opinion
* 2. Are you supportive of the sidewalk on the Edina side of the street if parking IS allowed
along the north side of the street?
Please note before answering.
The street width will likely be 24 feet wide from the face of curb to the face of curb.
(Existing width is 30’.)
Parking will likely be available only on the north side.
The sidewalk will be separated from the curb by a grass boulevard approximately 3 feet
wide.
These improvements will be paid for using city funds, there are no proposed
assessments to St. Louis Park property owners for this project.
Yes
No
No Opinion
* 3. What is your address?
Are you supportive of sidewalk on your street?Are you supportive of sidewalk on your side of the street?What street do you live on? Response Count % of actual responses% of possible responses Count % of actual responses% of possible responsesKipling Avenue Yes 5 42% 16% 3 25% 9%Kipling Avenue No 6 50% 19% 9 75% 28%Kipling Avenue No Opinion 1 8% 3% 0 0% 0%Kipling Avenue No Response 20 63% 20 63%Monterey Avenue Yes 8 44% 27% 6 33% 20%Monterey Avenue No 10 56% 33% 11 61% 37%Monterey Avenue No Opinion 0 0% 0% 1 6% 3%Monterey Avenue No Response 12 40% 12 40%West 40th Street ‐ Edina Yes 2 50% 25% 2 50% 25%West 40th Street ‐ Edina No 2 50% 25% 2 50% 25%West 40th Street ‐ Edina No Opinion 0 0% 0% 0 0% 0%West 40th Street ‐ Edina No Response 4 50% 4 50%West 40th Street ‐ St. Louis Park Yes 0 0% 0% 0 0% 0%West 40th Street ‐ St. Louis Park No 0 0% 0% 0 0% 0%West 40th Street ‐ St. Louis Park No Opinion 0 0% 0% 0 0% 0%West 40th Street ‐ St. Louis Park No Response 8 0% 100% 8 0% 100%