West Broadway Alive! Plan
Plan Background
West Broadway has historically been the most significant commercial and cultural destination in north Minneapolis. Although much reduced from its boom years, it remains the main street of north Minneapolis. Planning for West Broadway was initiated in 2006 in order to lay the groundwork for the revitalization of West Broadway as a cherished community place, and the activated center of commercial activity in north Minneapolis. At the end of a two year process, a plan was produced that was titled "West Broadway Alive: A Revitalization Plan for North Minneapolis’s Main Street. The plan guides future development and public realm improvements, and offers a roadmap for revitalization by naming near- and long-term actions to be undertaken around which the energy and resources of stakeholders can be focused.
The first community meeting in the development of the West Broadway Alive plan took place on August 24, 2006. The fifth and final took place on July 17, 2007. Average attendance at community meetings was around 140. Numerous other forms of community engagement took place during the same period. The West Broadway Alive plan was endorsed by all of the neighborhoods that border on West Broadway, as well as the West Broadway Coalition. It now represents official City policy as it was formally adopted by the City Council on Friday, March 21, 2008.
West Broadway Alive! Plan (2008)
Future Land Use and Built Form
The future land use map in Minneapolis 2040 is generally consistent with the future land use recommendations from West Broadway Alive. Commercial mixed use categories are applied in an area west of Interstate 94, with some additional expansion of allowed commercial west of the Minneapolis Public Schools headquarters. Commercial mixed use categories are also applied in an area focused on the Penn Avenue and West Broadway Avenue intersection – again consistent with the small area plan recommendations. The addition of the ‘Destination Mixed Use’ category directly at the intersection will require street level commercial retail. Most of the remaining properties in the study area are placed in the ‘Urban Neighborhood’ designation. Built form guidance in Minneapolis 2040 is applied on West Broadway in a manner consistent with other high frequency transit routes throughout the city – with the ‘Corridor 6’ category fronting directly on the street and the ‘Interior 3’ category serving as a transition to properties farther off of the corridor. Properties nearer Interstate 94, primarily on larger parcels, are guided for the ‘Transit 10’ category to take advantage of the increased access to amenities afforded by the location.
