⚽️ Fight continues over Minnehaha Academy soccer field upgrades

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After two contentious neighborhood meetings about plans to upgrade their soccer and lacrosse field, Minnehaha Academy officials are proceeding with their request to the city for a variance that would allow tall field lights, artificial turf, and other changes to the field. Meanwhile, a group of immediate neighbors has stepped up pressure to reject or modify the plans.

The city's planning commission will discuss the request at a public hearing on May 20.

Background

Minnehaha Academy has operated at 32nd Street and West River Road since 1913. The "upper" campus houses its high schoolers — elementary and middle schoolers are down the river road at 42nd street — as well as its basketball gym and an outdoor field for soccer and lacrosse.

The private Christian school has been renovating its upper campus since a tragic 2017 natural gas explosion killed two staff members and destroyed two of the oldest buildings on the upper campus. During that process, pushback from neighbors about the initial design plans led to significant overhauls, including changing the facade from gray concrete to red Danish brick.

While the field wasn’t damaged in the explosion, the school has positioned the soccer field rebuild as the final stage of that upper campus renovation. 

The plan

As we covered in more detail in March, the school is proposing several upgrades to its field:

• Lights: Installing four tall light poles — two 80 feet high, and two 70 feet high — to allow for evening play. The school says that making the lights taller will minimize spillover into neighboring properties. For reference, the six field lights at Brackett Park are about 90 feet tall, and the five field lights at Longfellow Park are about 50 feet tall. 
• Artificial turf: Replacing the grass field with synthetic turf, which has become common for high school sports facilities, including at all Minneapolis public high schools. 
• Scoreboard: Adding a larger scoreboard and moving it to the northeast corner of the field for easier viewing.
• Bleachers: Replacing the bleachers with new wheelchair-accessible bleachers of similar size, and adding a small enclosed press box. 

The school hopes to have the work completed by the fall soccer season, but several of the improvements — the height of the light poles, the new field surface, the height of the press box, the height of the scoreboard, and the setback distance from the sidewalk (even though that won't change) — will require variances on city rules.

School officials say the renovations will put them on the same level as their competitors, who mostly have lit fields and artificial turf, and that allowing for playing into the night will be less disruptive on students' schedules and give more leeway for finishing games in case of delays. They also say that the artificial turf is safer for players and easier to maintain.

They presented the plans at a contentious meeting in March, then hosted a follow-up to answer questions raised at the first meeting. A group of neighboring residents aired their concerns at both meetings, and have organized an ad-hoc group that is lobbying against several of the changes.

In particular, the neighbors are urging the school to maintain its current daytime play and to avoid renting the facilities to other entities. In a public letter, the group said the changes would impact "our safe and healthy environment where we can take walks in the neighborhood, let our children play on the sidewalks and parks, and enjoy social and family activities without the hazard of increased traffic, environmental hazards, and noise and light pollution." You can read the full letter here.

Their primary concern is that adding nighttime play will drag what they describe as existing issues with traffic, on-street parking, noise, and unruliness later into the evening. The school hosts about 16 home soccer games a year between the girls' and boys' teams, plus some lacrosse.

It may also rent out the field for others to use, as it does with the gym for well-attended summer basketball games, which are another longstanding point of contention with neighbors. The group said they're concerned that allowing others to rent the upgraded facilities would mean heavier use throughout the year. (In 2017, the Park Board reported that "even with 415 athletic fields in the MPRB system, the eight premiere synthetic turf fields...are consistently the most popular fields in the system.”)

The letter also raised questions about the environmental impact of artificial turf, noting that the state plans to include some types of artificial turf in its ban on the use of PFAS — the so-called "forever chemicals" — that goes into effect next year, though it's unclear if that would apply to this project.

The city will host a public hearing on the variances required for the work on Monday, May 20 at 4 p.m. in Room 350 of the Public Service Center (250 South 4th Street). Residents can also provide written comments to hilary.dvorak@minneapolismn.gov.