Thanks to Barb Lickness for providing additional context to the "border battle" between Ventura Village and Seward.
After forwarding the matter from Z&P on 4/23 to the full Council without recommendation, I attended the Seward Neighborhood Group's monthly board meeting the following evening. To my surprise, I learned that Ventura Village and Seward have not actually talked to each other about the issue, and most board members were learning about it for the very first time. (The official notification process was complicated by the fact that Ventura Village's original application to separate from East Phillips, Midtown Phillips and West Phillips did not appear to impact any neighborhood outside of Phillips until the matter appeared before the Planning Commission and the Hiawatha/Soo Line boundary emerged as a historical question mark.) I will be encouraging my colleagues to table the matter for an additional two cycles (to Friday, June 2nd) so that Ventura Village and Seward can sit down and talk about the border. I hope the two can come to a mutual agreement. If not, the Council will have to make a decision, and opinions so far are split among Council members. I'm most interested in hearing from both neighborhood organizations about what the impact any boundary might have on future development in the 1/4 mile LRT station area. So far, both Ventura Village and Seward agree on the station area plan that has been approved by the Planning Commission. If there is no significant impact, I hope the two neighborhoods will agree to "share" the station by agreeing to the Soo Line boundary. It's a matter of pride for a neighborhood to be able to say they have a LRT station in their neighborhood, and I hope the success of LRT will lead to broader community interest in transit oriented development. Gary Schiff Minneapolis City Council Ward 9 Zoning and Planning, Chair ph: 612-673-2209 http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/council/ward9/ _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
