Editor’s note: This is a response to a recent commentary about the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which argued the future of comprehensive planning is at stake in ongoing litigation over the plan. Supporters of the Minneapolis 2040 plan like Alex Schieferdecker are understandably upset that the 2040 plan has been successfully challenged
When I moved from small-town Oregon to Paris’s 11th arrondissement last summer, the city seemed like a poem in gray: cobblestones, seven-story buildings, the steely waters of the Seine. But soon I started noticing the green woven in with the gray. Some of it was almost hidden, tucked inside the
There’s a simple pleasure to walking through a neighborhood lined with big-leafy trees that shade the sidewalk, rustle gently in the wind and provide habitat for animals. But trees are far more than just a pretty landscape feature. Among other benefits, they also block wind, provide cooling, and help to
While well intended, current planning theory and the Minneapolis 2040 plan are failing in their objective. The district court decision last week in Smart Growth Minnesota v. Minneapolis, which halted enforcement of the 2040 plan on environmental grounds, is only the most recent evidence of the problems with using planning theory to
A Hennepin County judge has ordered Minneapolis officials to stop implementing the city’s long-range development plan amid concerns around its potential environmental impact. Wednesday’s ruling by Judge Joseph Klein does not kill the plan, known as Minneapolis 2040, and leaves open the possibility of restarting it once the city takes
Minneapolis cannot enforce its controversial long-range plan eliminating single-family zoning, but it could do so in the future if it meets certain conditions, a Hennepin County district judge ruled Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by a trio of environmental organizations. Judge Joseph Klein left open two routes by which Minneapolis could continue to enforce
Order_MSJ Smart Growth v. Minneapolis 27-CV-18-19587
“Just as St. Paul is ramping up efforts in its multiyear struggle to combat emerald ash borer by removing ash trees across the city, a national report is pointing out disparities in leafy canopies among neighborhoods nationwide, including locally. A new Tree Equity report by the nonprofit American Forests reveals tree cover
“If this heat wave had you ducking from the sun, you may have a new appreciation for how shady your neighborhood is — or isn’t. A leafy tree canopy can keep temperatures cooler by nearly 10 degrees compared to nearby paved areas. And trees have other benefits, too: keeping the
“The trees were supposed to stay. It didn’t matter that the owners of the squat building alongside were planning to redevelop the property. The four eastern red cedars stood on city land, where they had grown for the better part of a century. “There’s no way these trees are coming