Building Power with East Phillips

During the last days of the 2023 legislative session, EPNI receives funding to buy the Roof Depot site.  $4.5 million in the capital investment bill is allocated for the city to relocate a proposed public works facility away from the Roof Depot site. Another $2 million in the bill is dedicated towards the purchase of the site. The community group raises the additional $3.7 million from investors.

Amidst a landmark legislative session, MCEA staff dedicate time to continuing lobby efforts for state funding to realize the community-led vision of the roof depot site.

MCEA Healthy Communities Program director, Evan Mulholland attends and speaks in a show of support. The rally connects the work being done for the EPNI farm to national and global movements for environmental justice and land sovereignty.

Meetings between EPNI, state legislators, and Mayor’s office results in a public statement from the City of the Administration’s willingness to sell the site and support the legislative appropriation of funds.

Public hearing on appropriations bills to fund EPNI’s purchase of the roof depot property for the indoor urban farm. MCEA staff attend for solidarity and provide administrative support. 

EPNI’s MERA case was denied. EPNI appeals the decision. The court stayed demolition of the building through an indefinite injunction, allowing time for the court of appeals to schedule a hearing for EPNI's appeal.

On February 21st, a peaceful occupation of the Roof Depot site in protest of the demolition and imminent community harm was broken up by dozens of police officers.

City council votes 7-6 to award $1.6 million dollar demolition contract to Rachel Contracting to tear down the Roof Depot building. Demolition slated to begin in March, 2023.

The City offers to split off a small portion of the Roof Depot land parcel for the Urban Farm. However, the agreement does not mitigate the additional pollution and traffic in the neighborhood from the Water Works facility.

Negotiations continue between City Council, Mayor, and EPNI to find a compromise agreement to accommodate both City plans and EPNI’s need for a community space without further pollution in the neighborhood.

One day after the City Council voted to explore community development of the Roof Depot site, Mayor Jacob Frey exercised his veto power to stymie the Council's decision. Mayor Frey explained he would allow community development to proceed if certain preconditions are met. Community leaders respond by requesting a sit down with the Mayor to find common ground to facilitate a community-led development of the disputed site.

The newly elected City Council voted 8-5 to again suspend the Hiawatha Expansion to allow further study for conveying the land for community development. The approved measure tasks the City to explore options for developing the property in partnership with community stakeholders, and sets a June 30, 2022 deadline for formal proposals to be submitted.

In a surprise 7-6 vote, the Minneapolis City Council reversed course and elected to proceed with a slimmed down version of the Hiawatha Campus Expansion. Rather than develop the entire site, the Council voted to set aside 3 acres for community development and to initiate an engagement plan with community stakeholders including the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute.

In a 7-6 vote, the Minneapolis City Council partially approved a staff directive led by Cano, Jenkins, Gordan, and Johnson to "suspend all aspects of the City of Minneapolis' proposed Hiawatha Campus Expansion." The motion included a section to grant EPNI exclusive development rights to the 7.5 acre site, but that section failed on a 6-6-1 vote. In a separate vote, the City Council approved the EAW by a 12-1 vote. The Council will finalize the Staff Directive on September 9th.

Today, the City Council debated the future of the Roof Depot site, with council members, Cano, Jenkins, Gordon, and Johnson voicing support for the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute-led vision that will add value - and not more pollution - to the East Phillips Neighborhood. The full council debated the financial implications of moving the municipal development elsewhere, and deferred any further action on the development to the Council's Policy & Government Oversight Committee, who will pick-up the debate at its August 18, 2021 meeting.

The East Phillips Neighborhood Institute obtains additional key support from state lawmakers Omah Fateh, Patricia Torres-Ray, and Hodan Hassan. The neighborhood group has also been working with the University of Minnesota Law School to develop a business model to facilitate community ownership in the proposed development.

In a letter sent to the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar declares support for the community's group's urban farm concept for the Roof Depot site.  The City-owned site is currently slated to be developed into a large public works maintenance facility and three-story parking garage, though the City recently put that plan on hold until August 5. If implemented in its place, EPNI's vision, which includes an urban farm, coffee shop, market and affordable housing, would help "address many of the core issues of injustice present" in the majority BIPOC and financially disadvantaged neighborhood,  Omar wrote in the letter, which was posted on EPNI's Facebook page. 

The Minneapolis City Council postponed the vote on the Environmental Assessment Worksheet conducted on the City's staff-led public works Hiawatha Expansion project proposed for the Roof Depot site in East Phillips until August. The delay is in alignment with the City's earlier vote to temporarily suspend all activity on the project so that city-staff can work with East Phillips residents on the development of an alternative, community-based vision for the Roof Depot site. The delay gives the commmunity more time to bolster support for the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute's innovative and sustainable  urban farm and community center proposal. 

In a major victory for East Phillips' community members, the Minneapolis City Council passed a resolution to suspend work on the City staff-led Hiawatha Expansion project proposed for the neighborhood's Roof Depot site until August 5. The resolution directs city staff to use that time to research the financial impacts of relocating the project to a more suitable ward, and to simultaneously work with East Phillips residents to develop an alternative, community-based vision for the Roof Depot site. 

MCEA staff filed a roughly 200 page response to the City's EAW. The response points out the EAW's failure to address key environmental effects, climate change and the impacts its proposal would have on existing pollution in East Phillips. It also highlights the city's failure to consider the environmental racism East Phillips has endured for decades. 

MCEA staff provide online training sessions through Zoom to assist community members in understanding the EAW and how to provide comments. MCEA online action contributes to over 1000 comments received by the City on the EAW.

The City of Minneapolis published its Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) on its public works consolidation plans for the Roof Depot site. MCEA staff, alongside other experts, carefully reviewed the 1,000 page document to prepare a response. 

City of Minneapolis completes environmental remediation work on the former Roof Depot site. City engages a consultant to prepare the Environmental Assessment Worksheet.

U.S. EPA proposes a “partial deletion” of the residential cleanup Superfund site after completing remediation activities.

City completes project design and holds community meetings. The community urges the City to adopt a plan that allows for non-municipal use, but the adopted master plan does not provide this opportunity.

The City acquires the Roof Depot site for $6.8 million, with the main goal to “relocate water distribution employees and operations to one central site.”

The City of Minneapolis begins negotiating with the owner of the Roof Depot with the eventual plan of relocating part of its public works department to the site. Around this time, community opposition grows. Neighborhood groups, such as the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, seek to use the Roof Depot site for developing economic opportunities for the community. Visions include an indoor farm and a bicycle shop.

Rep. Karen Clark proposes and the Minnesota Legislature passes a law requiring cumulative and past pollution be analyzed in the vicinity of the CMC Site before the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency can issue a permit.

US Environmental Protection Agency proposes the residential area surrounding the CMC site as a federal Superfund National Priority List site and dozens of yards are cleaned up in the surrounding area between 2008 and 2018.

Hiawatha Business Center is built on the CMC site after cleanup is completed.

Testing of residential yards reveals widespread arsenic contamination in East Phillips and surrounding neighborhoods from the CMC site. Subsequent followup testing reveals that dozens of residential yards in East Phillips pose an acute risk to human health.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) discovered the arsenic contamination at the CMC Site in 1994 when investigating the Hiawatha Avenue corridor for reconstruction.

A storage tank containing liquid sodium arsenite ruptures at the CMC Site, releasing approximately 3,000 gallons of liquid sodium arsenite onto an area of approximately 1,000 square meters.

Open air conveyor belts used to offload arsenic powder allow arsenic dust to be blown off-site into the surrounding neighborhood. The site is operated by a number of companies throughout the years, and becomes known as the CMC Heartland site.