Listening Session and Survey Background

As part of planning the 325 Blake Road Restoration and Redevelopment, MCWD recently conducted a series of listening sessions and a survey with the community and project stakeholders, in partnership with the City of Hopkins. The listening sessions and survey asked community members and partners to share their visions for the project, which aims to transform a former industrial site into a vibrant space where people and nature thrive together.

The sessions were part of a series of engagement opportunities to ensure the project reflects community goals. This summer, project partners will seek community ideas on the creek restoration, public spaces, stormwater features, and trails. When a master developer is selected, the project partners will engage the community on how a transformative, transit-oriented, water-centric development will be integrated into the site.

What We Heard | Listening Session and Survey Findings

Participants shared their ideas about the project’s potential for enhancing the natural, social, economic, and built environments at the site and the surrounding area. Some of the things we heard most frequently included:

View the full report

Next Steps | How We’ll Use the Feedback

MCWD’s design team is now using these ideas as they begin to design the site’s public spaces and plan for the relationship between the public spaces and the private development. We will seek community response and ideas to this design work at a public meeting this summer.

Once a developer is selected, the MCWD, City of Hopkins, and other project partners will collaborate to design complimentary natural and developed spaces. Visions for the site shared during the listening sessions will serve as a guide for assessing tradeoffs between community aspirations, space constraints, and market realities. These partners will seek further ideas and input from the community on the re-development aspect of the project.

Stay Involved!

We will be seeking community ideas about the public space, trails, and restoration work on the site via a community open house in late June. Keep an eye out for an invitation to this event.

Forward

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