Edina celebrates transformation of industrial site into beloved park
The Edina City Council held a retreat on March 15 to reflect on the 14-year development of Centennial Lakes Park, a project that converted an industrial gravel pit into one of the region's premier public green spaces. The event featured an oral history of how city officials and planners overcame regulatory hurdles to prioritize public recreation over commercial development.
Centennial Lakes Park stands today as a testament to long-term urban planning vision. The site, which was an open mining excavation in the 1950s and 60s, underwent a dramatic transformation between 1986 and 2000. What began as a mound of gravel became a 122-acre park featuring lakes, trails, and recreational amenities that now draw residents and visitors year-round.
The path to creating the park required city officials to make significant regulatory changes. As one former project stakeholder noted during the retreat, "We had to amend our zoning ordinance to make a project like this work." Early proposals had called for office warehouses on the land, but city leaders chose instead to prioritize public green space. The development also cleverly integrated stormwater management systems—typically required infrastructure—into the park's design, turning a functional necessity into a central feature.
The City Council retreat included a televised oral history event, which aired on Comcast channel 813, documenting the project's background and the people who shaped it. Tom Cornell, a reporter for Edina TV, moderated discussions about the site's history and the urban planning decisions that made the transformation possible.
As the city looks forward, Cornell offered a closing reflection on the park's significance: "Let's hope the city keeps that vision and maintains this park system that's really second to none in the United States." The retreat underscored Edina's commitment to preserving and maintaining the public spaces that define the community's character.
This story was created by artificial intelligence (a large language model) based on the proceedings captured in the video below.
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Other Topics from This Document
Conversion of industrial land to public park space
Urban planning and zoning ordinance amendments
Stormwater management design integration
Oral history of Edina commercial development
Also from this meeting
▸Meeting Analysis
- From industrial gravel pit to urban oasis: The 14-year transformation of Centennial Lakes.
- How Edina city officials bypassed early proposals for office warehouses to prioritize public green space.
- Engineering the amenity: Transforming required stormwater retention ponds into the heart of a public park.
“There was a big mound of gravel here back in the '50s and 60s... it was a open mining excavation.”
“We had to amend our our zoning ordinance to make a project like this work.”
“Let's hope the city keeps that vision and maintains this park system that's really second to none in the United States.”
▸Source Document
[Music] concerts paddleboats farmers markets winter festivals Centennial Lakes Park really has a little something for everyone in every season but 40 years ago the future site of the park was significantly different thanks to a recent Roundtable discussion attendees had the chance to hear how plants for the park came together from the people who were the most involved the before there was this there you go there was a big mound of gravel here back in the ' 50s and 60s and then uh Hedberg who owned the property essentially stopped uh mining it it was a open mining uh excavation uh they had a uh movie theater Outdoor Theater across the street but basically it was industrial type usage in 1986 when the owners of The 100 Acre Site decided to put it up for sale it was the last developable commercial plot in Edina and we had to amend our our zoning ordinance to make a project like this uh work plus the city had a variety of expectations like affordable housing we wanted housing we wanted commercial we wanted office space and of course we wanted a public park we wanted to create something for all the people of Ed so this property had a a massive requirement of uh storm water storage and of course the question became how can we turn that into an amenity on the site development started in the mid 1980s and we didn't finish until the year 2000 so about 11 years we had to go through a few different ups and downs in the markets here with h The Office Buildings but it all came together in about 11 years all of the thoughtful planning has resulted in an oasis in the middle of Edina the uh storm water retention Pond actually became a great amenity for the park between you know paddle boating in the summertime as well as fishing we do some great kids fishing programs here and do like the farmers market then you also have it for the uh ice skating rink in the winter time so you're going to hear from each of these men tonight about the decisions in the development of Centennial Lakes it all could have turned out so differently which is why the city of Edina in conjunction with United properties and Centennial Lakes Office Park decided to host this oral history event so you know other things before Centennial Lakes that were that were considered Believe It or Not were um office warehouses it developed of course over the years to what we see now and I think uh people really come to appreciate it let's hope the city keeps that vision and maintains this park system that's really second to none in the United States as far as I'm concerned for Edina TV I'm Tom Cornell if you were unable to attend the centenial Lakes oral history event you can view it during the month of July on Comcast channel 813 as well as on din TV's YouTube channel
This story was created by artificial intelligence (a large language model) based on the proceedings captured in the video below.
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