Minneapolis Park Watch wants to know: Why should the taxpayers be expected to give DeLaSalle yet another football field?
Over the past 50 years, DeLaSalle High School, a private non-profit corporation, made choices to construct building additions and parking on its athletic fields. In 1971, Nicollet Island was designated a part of the National Historic District. In 1982, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board MPRB adopted a Central Riverfront Regional Park plan that governed the creation of Nicollet Island Park as it is today. In 1996 Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board adopted a Master Plan for the Island. None of the approved plans contemplated more playing fields – all focus on preservation, conservation and stewardship.
Brief History of DeLaSalle Land Use
1900
DeLaSalle Institute opened on Nicollet Island.
1923
DeLaSalle built a new school building on West Island Avenue
1942
The City of Minneapolis granted DeLaSalle's request to vacate an alley so DeLaSalle could build a football field. This allowed DeLaSalle to demolish part of the Eastman Flats rowhouses, evicting 300 low-income people in the process, and DeLaSalle built a football field on this land. DeLaSalle used this as a home football field.
1950
DeLaSalle replaced the on-campus Christian Brothers residence with a new building.
1952
DeLaSalle expanded to south Minneapolis, opening a second campus at 43rd Street and Wentworth Avenue.
1959
The City of Minneapolis granted DeLaSalle's request to vacate a block of Eastman Avenue. DeLaSalle built a school addition facing Eastman on part of its athletic field. Tennis courts, later demolished, were built in front of the new addition. DeLaSalle closed the Wentworth Avenue campus.
1971
Congress added Nicollet Island, as part of the St. Anthony Falls Historic District, to the National Register of Historic Places.
1982
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board developed the Central Riverfront Regional Park Plan. Except for DeLaSalle High School and the property adjacent to the school owned by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the land on Nicollet Island was designated as “open space” and therefore, eligible for inclusion in the Regional Park. The Park Board stated a goal of obtaining a less than fee interest in the DeLaSalle and Archdiocese property. A high school football field/stadium was not included in the Plan which was approved by the Park Board and Metropolitan Council in 1983.
1983
The Park Board and the City (MCDA) signed the Nicollet Island Agreement. The Park Board pledged to use its “best efforts” to include an “outdoor neighborhood recreational facility” consisting of a football field and two tennis courts on property adjacent to DeLaSalle. The Park Board agreed to maintain the streets on Nicollet Island as parkways.
1984
DeLaSalle requested and received a 24-foot by 480-foot encroachment along Grove Street from the City of Minneapolis so the high school could build a football field. This is the regulation-size football field on the DeLaSalle campus today.
1986
The Minneapolis Park Board bought a parcel of land, the former Twin City Tile and Marble site, across the street from DeLaSalle using a grant from the Metropolitan Council. The Metropolitan Council required a covenant on the property that prohibits using the land as an athletic field.
1988
Nicollet Island became part of the federal Mississippi National Riverfront and Recreation Area (MNRRA) administered by the National Park Service.
1991
The Park Board and MCDA were required to have completed, per their best efforts, the work outlined in the 1983 Nicollet Island agreement.
1996
The Park Board published the Nicollet Island Master Plan which does not include a football field/stadium for neighborhood or high school use. DeLaSalle Development Director Thomas Johnson represented DeLaSalle the advisory committee that created this plan. Grove Street was paved in a brick pattern approved by the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission. The Nicollet Island East Bank Association contributed NRP dollars to this expensive project.
1997
Time expired for any legal challenge to the 1983 Nicollet Island Agreement. Neither the neighborhood nor DeLaSalle took any action on the ”neighborhood athletic facility” mentioned in the 1983 agreement.
1999
DeLaSalle requested and the Park Board agreed to build three tennis courts on parkland across Grove Street from the DeLaSalle campus. No signs were installed to indicate the courts were open to the public.
1999
DeLaSalle and the Park Board signed a reciprocal use agreement that provided 1) DeLaSalle has a blanket permit (priority use) for conducting classes, practices, and matches at the Nicollet Island tennis courts and 2) the Park Board may hold up to six meetings a year at DeLaSalle, and may use the DeLaSalle parking lot on the 4th of July, New Years Eve, and when the parking is not needed by DeLaSalle. No signs were installed indicating when the parking was available to the public.
2002
DeLaSalle built a new school addition in the rear on its athletic field.
2004
DeLaSalle upgraded its football field including installation of a new field sprinkler system.
2005
DeLaSalle proposed to build a high school football/soccer stadium including concession stand, press box, and 70-foot tall field lights on its athletic field, one block of Grove Street, and a parkland parcel across the street from the DeLaSalle campus. This parcel is the former Twin City Tile and Marble site.
2005
The City of Minneapolis Planning Department prepared an an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) for DeLaSalle's proposed Athletic Facility. The City Council accepted the EAW and determined that an Environmental Impact Statement would not be required on the project.
2006
The Park Board approved a reciprocal use agreement with DeLaSalle that provides 1) DeLaSalle may build an Athletic Facility partly on parkland, 2) DeLaSalle and the Park Board will each have 112 days a year to either use or rent out (permit) the facility, and 3) the new facility will be closed to public use except by permit and when under the supervision of DeLaSalle or Park Board staff. The length of the agreement is 30 years, renewable up to 70 years.
2006
The Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission voted unanimously to deny DeLaSalle's request to demolish Grove Street between East Island Avenue and Nicollet Street and construct the proposed Athletic Facility. That decision is on appeal.
