Candidate Questionnaire Responses

Mary McKelvey, At Large

After the Hiawatha Golf Course flooded in 2014 and unpermitted pumping issues were discovered, MPRB Commissioners directed a citizen advisory committee (CAC) to work with park staff to develop a new master plan to guide the future of the site. The master plan was presented in 2020 and the MPRB Commissioners voted on it twice in 2021, failing to pass the plan each time. As of now, no master plan exists for the Hiawatha Golf Course Area, and the pumping issues and flood risk remain unaddressed.

1. What are the next steps MPRB should take with regards to planning for the future of the Hiawatha Golf Course Area?

The contours of the land and water are going to dictate what's possible in the park. Golf has been a landmark there in the past century. I've noticed that since the second vote on the Hiawatha Master Plan failed to pass, the community that seems most adamant about preserving 18 holes of golf has asked different questions of me as a candidate, including whether I would push the city to buy out neighboring homes in low-lying areas. I believe they also understand that the status quo is not ecologically sustainable.

I know it has been a long community engagement process, and there is disagreement about the data to support the Plan or to not support the Plan. I'd like to see the DNR, the MPCA, the Watershed District, and the City with the MPRB at the table, at the same time, so each can claim their portion of responsibility for a healthy watershed. No one agency can solve this alone. The unfiltered, overloaded drainage of the large area north of the lake, as well as throughout the Minnehaha Creek, needs to be addressed no matter what happens with the golf course. I'd like to re-set the process and hold space to listen to both the people who want to keep 18 holes of golf, and to those who are urgently concerned about the environmental impact on the watershed. This will be a new board; we could reengage community members, including water management experts. I'd like to see comparisons with water management in other golf areas. I'd like to come up with a revised Plan that would keep as much of the golf course as possible - with the caveat that it has a hydrologically sustainable design and maintenance methods that are ecologically sustainable.

2. According to the master plan document, “Water management alternatives that address fully the range of issues faced by a property situated below the elevation of an adjacent lake render the opportunity to create an 18-hole golf course impracticable, if not impossible.” Would you support a plan for the site that retains 18 holes of golf and does not address pumping levels or flood risk?

A plan to retain the course with no changes will be a problem for golfers soon. Not only that, potential financial partners, who often are needed to realize a Plan, would probably not be interested in funding projects that don't address the flood risk. Even those who insist on 18 holes understand that pumping levels, flood risk, neighborhood homes, and possible deterioration of the berm that separates the course from the lake are all issues that need to be addressed.

3. Would you support a plan for the site similar to the master plan developed in 2018-2019 that provides a 9-hole golf course and integrates other land uses (such as walking, cycling, paddling, and picnicking) when possible?

I have said that I would have voted for the Master Plan if that were my choice as a Commissioner. My #1 priority for a Hiawatha Plan is a design that is ecologically sustainable. My top recreational priority on that land is golf, due to its historic and racial significance. Another top question of equity is to maintain a beach at Lake Hiawatha that is safe for swimmers. Even though I enjoy walking, cycling, and paddling, and do support other recreational uses, I will wait on those plans until golf is figured out, especially with Nokomis so close by.

4. Would you support a plan that removes golf entirely from the site and replaces it with other land uses, such as walking, cycling, paddling, picnicking, and natural space?

I think golf should stay there if possible ecologically. There are places around its edges and shared spaces that serve other recreational uses. Hiawatha Golf Course is more than just another place to golf in our park system. It is the most accessible place for kids' and high school programs to learn in Minneapolis, it is deeply rooted in history of being the first place to have a clubhouse accessible to people of color. It is also more physically accessible because it is relatively flat compared to the other courses in the system. Until other ways to socialize that connect business people become more prominent than golf, I would not want to remove access for historically marginalized groups. We have seen during COVID that golf can be financially profitable and a benefit to the community.

I would also advocate that MPRB Golf Courses, including Hiawatha, take the opportunity to lead on environmentally sustainable golf, including strictly limiting pesticide and fertilizer use, keeping native plants and trees along the fairways, planting lower maintenance, native grasses and mowing less in the fairways, adding ways onsite to filter water and create connections for wildlife and plants. I believe this is already done in Scotland. If we can do it successfully in Minneapolis, it could have great impact as a model of environmental sustainability for other golf courses.

5. Hiawatha was a historically important course for black golfers in Minneapolis in an era when they faced widespread discrimination. How should plans for the site honor this legacy and serve current communities of color?

I agreed with all of Commissioner Vetaw's suggestions, including the name change of the Clubhouse to honor golfer Solomon Hughes (that vote passed in August), as well as funding access to golf training programs and the business of golf course management for people of color. Leagues for BIPOC golfers of all ages should be promoted, and with partnerships, made financially possible and accessible. If it is determined that the land at Hiawatha will not sustain golf in the long term, then I would invest in these same programs more at Theo Wirth Park, which also has a history of access for the Black golf community, and it would promote accessibility on the North side.

6. What should be done about trash entering Lake Hiawatha from the “north pipe”? More generally, how should MPRB address water quality concerns in Lake Hiawatha?

From what I understand, some 900 acres of our city eventually drain into that one north pipe and flow into 55-acre Lake Hiawatha (and onto the Minnehaha Creek and Mississippi). Most of that stormwater grabs a ton of unfiltered city street waste along the way. That is a mess, and we're called to deal with it. Park Commissioners have most say over Parkland, which needs to be redesigned in Hiawatha to act as a natural filter before it flows directly into the lake. We need to employ staff and volunteers to get the garbage out of the filtered areas on a regular basis. We need to advocate and work with the city to redirect and filter some of this upstream stormwater into other filtered spaces before it converges on Hiawatha, designed with Best Stormwater Management Practices. That will slow the stormwater and filter the pollutants and garbage. With the Minnehaha Watershed District, we need to work at having a more consistent flow from Grays Dam along the Creek, too. When the Creek goes dry, it kills wildlife along the whole corridor. As the Minnehaha Creek Regional Trail Master Plan comes to fruition, its stormwater management and filtration build-out will be publicized, and I will pay close attention to each installation.

7. Two major issues MPRB is facing at this site and citywide are correcting historic inequities and planning for a more variable future climate. How would you balance the needs of MPRB properties to be sustainably designed and managed with the need to equitably serve all Minneapolis communities?

Moving to sustainable design throughout the system is the most equitable, because it will need the least amount of repair and will use the least fossil fuels to run and maintain. Many of our park lands are built in areas where homes would not be viable because of floodplains or high water tables. Placement of any new built amenities should keep in mind the floodplain in times of excess water. Pools or other water amenities should be available in neighborhoods where many homes do not have air conditioning or don't have access to the lakes. Clean water throughout our park system, both to drink and to swim in, is an equity concern. Learning how to swim is a top equitable recreation (and safety) concern. Best management practices for trees, turf and plants to survive times of heat and drought should be practiced and shared in each community, both for planting and maintaining. Minneapolis will experience times when it will be too wet, too hot, too dry and too cold, so we need to plan for it all. Minneapolis residents are tough and used to extreme weather, but with climate change, we need to prepare more for extreme water and heat events.