Located immediately northwest of downtown Minneapolis, the Heritage Park Neighborhood is a vital, amenity-rich, 900-unit urban neighborhood. SRF was retained by the City of Minneapolis to lead a team of 13 firms to develop a master plan for the public realm portion of the project. Following the principles of Context Sensitive Design (CSD), SRF and the planning team, along with the City of Minneapolis and the lead developer, led a public involvement process for the Heritage Park project. The planning team explored new solutions for the neighborhood that recognized and responded to the street network and housing styles in the adjacent older and historic neighborhoods.
The master plan addressed the following public realm elements to create a vibrant new neighborhood:
- Circulation
- Stormwater
- Open space amenities
- Utilities
- Geotechnical
The infrastructure projects presented unique challenges due to existing soil conditions. To minimize soil corrections, parks and open spaces were planned for the areas with the worst soils. Street widths were kept as narrow as possible and other hardscape areas were carefully planned to minimize runoff. An innovative approach to stormwater management was taken to provide water quality treatment for hundreds of acres of existing drainage through the combined use of hydrodynamic separators, wet forebays, wet meadows, and infiltration/filtration areas prior to discharge leaving the site.
Resilience & Sustainability
Water and Environment