Grandview District

Eight years ago, our family remodeled our house in the Highlands neighborhood.  My son Jack — who is now in college — was in fifth grade and my youngest (Squid) — now an 8th grader — was a kindergartner. 

The five of us lived in the basement for 6 months while construction crews arrived at 7 am every day, rogue compressors woke us in the middle of the night, and nothing but a blue tarp separated us from the elements we routinely encounter from December through April in Minnesota.  Anyone who has been through it knows it was a giant pain in the you-know-what.  But in the end, it was worth it.  We made a “place” for our family to live together and create some really great memories.

As we approach the second of our three community workshops, I’m reminded of that home remodeling experience.  Although I hope planning the future of the GrandView District won’t require my family (or yours) to move to the basement again, there are some things about the process that feel familiar.

• It takes a lot of time to plan the project. 

  My wife Maria and I spent months (if not years) thinking about what we wanted to accomplish with the project.  We went to Remodeler’s Showcases, we talked with friends who had done projects, we spent hours talking as a family about the things we wanted and needed for our home, we talked with our neighbors about how to make sure the finished product fit our neighborhood, and we even did a few drawings of what we envisioned. 

  In a lot of ways, the GrandView process has been similar.  In 2010, we gathered a wide variety of people in the community to think about what we want to accomplish with redevelopment of the old public works site and the entire GrandView District.  That work created a vision for the future (the 7 Guiding Principles) and even a drawing of what that vision might look like.

• You need the right professional assistance. 

  After spending a lot of time planning on our own, Maria and I realized that we needed to hire some people with experience and expertise to help us.  We wanted to make sure we found people who were qualified to do the job but also wanted to make sure they were the right people for us; people who could helps us achieve our vision instead of persuade us to build their vision. 

  Our 52-Member Steering Committee and nine-member Executive Committee worked hard this summer to do the same thing.  Instead of delegating the task to city staff, community members interviewed many interested consulting teams.  We put together a great consulting team that can help the community achieve our vision for the GrandView District.

Now we’re on the brink of turning our vision for the District into a design.  On October 6th, our consulting team shared seven initial Framework Concepts with the Steering Committee. 

During the workshop next week, we will be working to develop those Framework Concepts into a variety of designs that can implement our vision for the GrandView District.  Like the stage in our home remodeling project when our family reacted to ideas the architect proposed for our house so that we could create the right design for our family, this is the time when our community needs to guide our consulting team as they test GrandView District design ideas.

That makes it the perfect time to participate.  Whether you have been involved from the beginning, watching the process from a distance, or are hearing about this for the first time, we need your help. 

Our second Community Workshop will be held October 25-27.  The agenda has lots of different opportunities to participate.  Plug in wherever it works for you.  If you have any questions, or want some advice about how best to participate, feel free to contact me.

With any luck, together we’ll create a really great “place” for our community.  And I promise — I won’t ask you to move to the basement.