Statement on Recent Progress on the Blue Line Extension and an Updated Timeline
Since 2019, my office and I have been closely involved with the planning and development process for the Blue Line Extension Light Rail Transit project. This effort has been underway for decades, and I am proud of the progress made in recent years towards ensuring fast, safe, reliable, and affordable transit service for the residents of North Minneapolis and our northwest suburban communities.
On Tuesday, August 22, 2023, the Hennepin County Board unanimously approved $75M for the Blue Line Extension project to keep work moving ahead on this critical project through 2024 and beyond. Hennepin has demonstrated a commitment to center residents, prioritize those with the most needs, and invest in a manner that allows the people and businesses who are already in the corridor to thrive.
Earlier this month, following an extensive community-centered and deliberative engagement process, project staff recommended a single preferred route, which will be voted on by the Corridor Management Committee at their September meeting. This major milestone will allow staff to advance design and engineering through the federal environmental review process and more clearly identify specific opportunities and impacts. After the environmental review process, each city along the route will take municipal consent votes in mid-2024 to confirm the route.
Below is an update on key progress over the last two years, an outline of the road ahead, as well as the leadership values and priorities that guide my decision-making as we continue on this ambitious journey of growth, improvement, and redevelopment.
Large scale community engagement
To date, Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council have conducted nearly 18,000 recorded conversations with a broad cross-section of stakeholders across the corridor. People from all walks of life have been engaged in dialogue about the future of this project. The hopes, fears, concerns, and desires of homeowners, renters, unhoused people, seniors, youth, business-owners, drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, have been recorded and aggregated, and the resulting data is being used to inform policymaker decisions from all jurisdictions. And this work will continue.
The purpose of the Blue Line Extension project is to benefit residents and businesses currently living in these communities. We need to make sure those neighbors are there to experience the transformative benefits and community prosperity this project can bring now and into the future.
It is vitally important that we continue to keep our communities informed and engaged in this work. The Blue Line Extension vision for transformational transit investment started with community and should be carried out with the perspectives of our neighbors centered at each and every stage.
Anti-displacement working group recommendations and next steps
Hennepin County has intentionally aligned our work on this project within our Disparity Reduction department to better coordinate action across our jurisdiction. Our goal is to make sure this project meaningfully reduces pre-existing disparities within the corridor.
In 2020 Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council convened an Anti-Displacement Working Group (ADWG), with contracted facilitation by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), to develop a response to broad community concerns about the risk for residential, economic, and cultural displacement pressures related to the light rail investment. The ADWG, composed of stakeholders from many different communities, met regularly over 18 months and discussed and debated all facets of urban redevelopment and large public works investments.
In April 2023, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) at the University of Minnesota, led by C. Terrence Anderson, released a ground-breaking report on the work and recommendations of the community-led ADWG.
I’m proud to report that Hennepin County recognizes the urgency Blue Line Extension neighbors feel for strong anti-displacement measures. I am enthusiastic about the positive reception the anti-displacement report has received and the commitments my fellow policymakers are making to achieve the desired community outcomes.
I was glad to see policy recommendations like tenant opportunity to purchase (TOPA); right to return; rent stabilization; commercial and residential land trusts; small business grants/small business support; inclusionary zoning; guaranteed basic income; and cultural placemaking in the ADWG report. I look forward to working across government jurisdictions to achieve the implementation of the community recommendations and ensure community prosperity and anti-displacement along with massive community investment in the corridor.
Vision for Community Works
This once-in-a-lifetime vision goes far beyond the rails and stations along the way. Our neighbors want access to safe, speedy, and reliable transit AND all of the services and amenities that are required for a community to grow and thrive alongside a major transit line. This vision includes affordable housing, affordable commercial real estate, small business support, entrepreneurial incubation, parks & green space, bicycle & pedestrian infrastructure, public art, signs & wayfinding, cultural institutions, district parking, lighting, clean energy, trees & landscaping, and so much more.
I’m thrilled to share that through the work of Hennepin County’s Housing and Economic Development division, we already have some early efforts underway to build wealth and generate community prosperity in corridor communities:
In the last 10 years alone, we’ve invested nearly $24M into affordable rental projects across the Blue Line Extension communities. These awards created or preserved 2900 units of affordable housing across 32 projects.
We’ve repaired hundreds of older single-family homes, including removing health risks like lead paint, for lower-income homeowners, helping to stabilize their housing as well as their neighborhoods.
In 2022, Hennepin’s Community Investment Initiative awarded $2.9 million in pandemic recovery funds to 6 affordable commercial and community developments near planned Blue Line Extension stations.
On July 5, 2023, Hennepin County announced the availability of $500k for affordable commercial real estate development projects exclusively in the Blue Line Extension Corridor through our Affordable Commercial Incentive Fund.
We are also initiating focused business outreach in nearby neighborhoods to connect businesses directly to Elevate Hennepin, the county’s flagship business support program providing professional business advisors and other valuable resources at no cost to local businesses.
These investments demonstrate Hennepin County’s steadfast commitment to advancing both short- and long-term strategies to maximize community prosperity and other benefits of light rail for current corridor residents. Stay tuned for more announcements in the coming months and years regarding further investments to meet community needs.
Where we are in the federal process
The image below outlines the next seven years and how long the stages of review, design, and construction will take. It is important to note that throughout this time the figure shows that Anti-Displacement measures will be implemented, and community engagement will continue.
