Minneapolis grants consent for Blue Line Extension through city’s north side

The Minneapolis City Council signed off Wednesday on the proposed route of a light rail line that will run through a section of the city’s north side. 

The council granted municipal consent for the Blue Line Extension, a 13-mile route through Robbinsdale, Crystal and Brooklyn Park. 

However, some council members said they could only get to a yes vote after some of their concerns with the route were addressed. 

Council member LaTrisha Vetaw added an amendment to the municipal consent resolution, which raises concerns about a section of the route that crosses Theodore Wirth Parkway at-grade and threatens to disrupt emergency vehicle traffic to nearby North Memorial Hospital.  

“Those two issues, the at-grade crossing and it affecting Theo Wirth and Victory Memorial Parkway, and also the hospital’s concerns have been the conversations I’ve had, most of the conversations I’ve had, with Ward Four residents,” she said. “And so I just wanted to make sure that was included in our resolution. It is something that I'm going to be very vigilant about moving forward on this project.”

The amended resolution passed by the council includes language noting the objections by the hospital and the city's park board and encourages the Met Council’s project office to consider alternatives to an at-grade intersection such as a tunnel, trench or elevated track.

Council member Michael Rainville, who represents a section of downtown that will be impacted by the extension, said at first he wasn’t going to support the resolution. Then he had a conversation with Metropolitan Council chair Charles Zelle that eased his concerns. 

“I have two blocks in my ward of this line of this route, but it’s going to greatly impact the condo owners,” he said. “There’s two condos and the Salvation Army. So part of my yes is that you figure out how they will not suffer economic loss. That’s a must.”

Rainville added that he also has concerns about the potential for crime on a light rail platform planned in his ward.

The route will travel through a large section of Council member Jeremiah Ellison’s ward. He said he wants to make sure concerns about displacement of his residents are taken seriously. 

“When I think about the kind of infrastructure that northsiders deserve, the light rail is that, but when I also think about the kind of impacts that come with transit-oriented development, we know that displacement becomes a real threat to the identity and to the people that live along some of these routes,” said Ellison.

A long-time northsider, Ellison said he’s encouraged that as the project goes forward, anti-displacement will remain a high priority. 

“I feel like with the resolution that we’ve attached to this document, to this action, I feel like we are well equipped to ensure that anti-displacement not only has a voice in the municipal consent process but that it that it becomes a real thing that we’re going to execute down the line.”

Last month, dozens of people spoke at a public hearing about the proposed route. Some of the people who spoke out against the route were northside residents or business owners concerned about safety risks posed by the trains and were concerned about how the route would limit access to some businesses and institutions. 

Earlier this week, the cities of Crystal and Robbinsdale also granted municipal consent for the project.

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