20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan This historic agreement helps address racial and economic equity across some 160 neighborhood parks and provides more than $12 million annually to maintain, repair and replace facilities.

Capitalizing on data collection in neighborhood parks in summer 2022, MPRB staff implemented a series of repair and replacement projects at neighborhood parks in 2023.  

Park Amenities 

• Replacement of exterior (freestanding) drinking fountains (some
  around 50 years old) the following parks: Folwell, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Lynnhurst,
  Longfellow, Waite, Whittier, Shingle Creek, Pershing, Windom NE and Columbia
• Wading pool maintenance: interiors were grinded, sandblasted and painted at Bottineau, Windom NE, Hall, North Commons, Brackett, Peavey, Central Gym, Hiawatha School, Bossen, Keewaydin, McRae and Loring parks 
• Recreation center paint projects included Pearl’s exterior (pictured) and interior; gyms at Bottineau, Farview (pictured), Powderhorn and Bryan Coyle; and exteriors at Morris, Pearl, Phelps and Powderhorn locations.
• Folwell Recreation Center’s roof was replaced and interior updates included ADA/all-gender restrooms plus storage space; and flooring, cabinets, and countertops in its two kitchens and its arts & crafts room.

Court Re-surfacing

• 3 basketball courts at Perkins Hill and Folwell parks and at Wirth Beach
• 8 tennis courts: five at Webber Park, two at North Commons Park and one at Victory Park.  

Park Building and Recreation Center Repairs and Updates

• Shingle replacement on the South Side Operations Center roof
• Roof design for Powderhorn Recreation Center (construction planned for 2024).  
• Restroom remodeling at Lake Nokomis Community Center and Luxton Recreation Center (meet current ADA standards and MPRB guidelines for all-gender access) 
• McRae Recreation Center updates included a new furnace and the addition of air conditioning.
• Spark’d Studio construction at Whittier Recreation Center
• Interior updates at Folwell Recreation Center and the range of improvements at Van Cleve Recreation Center

Court renovations complete

Work wrapped up in October at courts at neighborhood park locations (and at regional parks with other funding sources). Repairs ranged from new color coating and line striping; some included an asphalt overlay; and the most extensive, a full-depth renovation of the entire surface.  They included:

• Basketball courts at Bryant Square, Elliot, Fuller, East Phillips, Sibley and Riverside parks
• Tennis courts at Nokomis Park (the neighborhood park within Nokomis-Hiawatha Regional Park) and Northeast Park
• Basketball and tennis courts at Lake Hiawatha (neighborhood), Matthews and Powderhorn parks
• Bike polo at Central Gym Park

Other rehabilitation and repair work

In August, announcements were made for an array of repairs and rehabilitation projects at three locations:

• New furnaces and air conditioning to be installed at McCrae Recreation Center
• Folwell Recreation Center
  • abatement work and remodeling of unused locker rooms into ADA-compliant/gender neutral restrooms plus storage space
  • updated flooring, cabinets, and countertops installed in the two kitchens and arts & crafts room
  • roof replacement
• Van Cleve Recreation Center
  • another locker room-to-restroom-plus-storage conversion
  • air conditioning
• Van Cleve Park also saw the replacement of an 800-foot trail segment in a high-use area, which was done in just a day and a half.

Replacing furnaces and roofs is not all that attention-getting, but utterly necessary. Same goes for fixing a sagging roofbeam or faulty elevator, and repairs for sinkholes and cracked sidewalks.  These types of critical needs typically fall outside capital investment projects, and aren’t part of routine maintenance, either.

However, NPP20 funds allowed MPRB to expand its rehabilitation program in neighborhood parks: its six-year budget – $20.4 million from 2019 to 2024 – is five times more than the pre-NPP20 budget of $3.97 million.

Here’s an overview of rehabilitation accomplishments in neighborhood parks from 2017 to 2012 – that is, the first five years of NPP20:  

7 recreation centers with restrooms renovated for current ADA requirements and all-gender access
Audubon, Bossen, Bryant, Farview, Lyndale Farmstead, Matthews, Painter 

8 recreation centers or buildings with extensive repairs, rehabilitation and updates
Audubon, Bossen Field, Farview, Fuller, Kenwood, Logan, Lyndale Farmstead, Painter, Phillips 

9 roof replacements at park buildings 
Recreation centers: Brackett, Farview (also siding), Logan, Longfellow, Luxton (also siding), Whittier
Other buildings: Loring (maintenance), Cavell (restroom), Godfrey House (siding only)  

12 parks with renovated sport courts
basketball at Bryant Square, Elliot, Fuller, Hall, Holmes and Van Cleve parks; basketball and tennis at Cavell, Kenny, Logan, Lyndale Farmstead and Pearl  

13 parks with lighting replacements or repairs

Audubon, Bossen, Bryant Square, East Phililps, Elliott, Farview, Folwell, Fuller, Matthews, McRae, Lake Nokomis, Powderhorn, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior

20 recreation centers with HVAC replacements or interior electrical upgrades  

26 parks with accessibility improvements at parking lots, pathways to recreation centers, center entries 

56 parks where play equipment was repaired/replaced 

66 parks with concrete path repairs/replacements

• 3 restroom facility overhauls to provide equitable access regardless of ability, gender or cultural background, at Farview, Lyndale Farmstead and Matthews recreation centers (construction planned for 2021 at Bryant Square and Audubon recreation centers)
• 4 roof replacements: recreation centers at Logan and Farview parks; other buildings at Loring and Cavell parks
• 5 furnace replacement projects at Beltrami, Kenwood, Farview, McRae and North Commons recreation centers
• 23 parks with concrete sidewalk segment-replacement projects completed (this work completed at 66 total park locations, since NPP20 funding allocations began in 2017)