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Memo- The Blake School Concept PlanPlanning & Economic Development MEMORANDUM TO: Honorable Mayor and Hopkins City Council Members FROM: Kersten Elveruector of Planning & Development DATE: December 7, 201 SUBJECT: The Blake School Concept Plan Representatives of The Blake School are ready to move forward with a concept plan for The Blake School campus expansion that involves the properties they have purchased on Harrison Avenue. Attached are the concept drawings and associated narrative that they plan to submit with a concept review application. As part of the concept review process, The Blake School would hold a neighborhood meeting and also present the concept to the Zoning & Planning Commission and City Council. This is anticipated to occur in January and early February. Before the concept review application is submitted, The Blake School would like an opportunity to present the concept at a Council work session, scheduled for December 13, 2011, in order to obtain City Council feedback on the plans and renderings. BLAKE SCHOOL 1900 December 8, 2011 Challenging the mind, engaging the heart To Hopkins City Council members, My name is Marc Bogursky, and I have been the Director of Business and Finance for The Blake School since July 2010. For the previous eleven years, I served as Blake's Upper School Director on our campus in Minneapolis. Along, with Ken Nivala, Blake's Director of Building and Grounds, I will be attending the City Council work session this Tuesday, Dec. 13. I have been asked by Kersten Elverum to provide you with a narrative describing the rationale, time line and plans behind Blake's purchase and use for the properties it currently owns on Harrison Avenue. I have tried to provide you with a concise, but detailed, history of what has already happened and what would happen in the future if the City of Hopkins agrees to our plans. (The associated drawings provide visual information about those plans.) I will be happy to answer any follow-up questions when I meet with you this Tuesday. During the 2008-09 school year, The Blake School engaged in a master planning process for the development of its main campus in Hopkins. While the timetable for implementing all of its varied components was not set, the existence of a master plan should allow Blake to implement individual elements of the plan with the confidence that the separate pieces will eventually fit within a cohesive whole. It is quite reasonable to expect, however, that the Hopkins Campus master plan would not be fully accomplished for quite some time, perhaps decades, as Blake will need to engage in significant fundraising efforts to bring the plan to fruition. Additionally, much more detailed design work for each of the elements will still need to be completed. The Hopkins Campus Master Plan, for now, exists mainly as a conceptual blueprint for Blake's future utilization of its facilities and grounds. (See drawing A.) Though the time line for starting even the first elements of the master plan remain uncertain, Blake has identified four projects that rank at the top of our priorities list. These projects, along with a brief explanation of the needs these projects would address, are: • Artificial turf field (to replace current grass stadium field) — Given the large number of sports teams in both the fall and spring that play their home games on our stadium field, an artificial turf field would provide a more resilient, consistent, and ultimately higher quality playing surface. Additionally, we could expand the number of days on which our teams could use the field as we could clear snow in the late fall or early spring from artificial turf, something which isn't feasible with a grass field. Also, with the increasing use of artificial turf fields by other schools (and in the sectional and state tournaments), Blake athletes would benefit from more practice opportunities on this playing surface. Right now, Blake only has grass fields for use by our upper and middle school football, soccer, baseball, softball, and lacrosse teams. • Construction of a lower school dining room — With only one dining room on the Hopkins Campus to serve approximately 600 students in grades PK through 8, we are required to schedule lunch periods from 10:55 am until around 1:10 pm. While having students eating lunch before 11 am and after 1 pm is not ideal, an even larger issue is that our youngest Business Office • 110 Blake Road South • Hopkins, MN 55343 TEL: 952-988-3450 FAX: 952-988-3455 students are challenged by navigating a space and serving stations that must also accommodate older and larger students. A separate dining room would allow for more flexible scheduling and improved accessibility. • Construction of a new field house — Blake's athletic facilities on the Hopkins campus are utilized by both our upper school and middle school students. (The US students travel to Hopkins from the Minneapolis campus at the end of the school day.) During the winter season (and during inclement weather in the fall and spring), our current gymnasium is used regularly by three or more teams, with practice and/or games running from approximately 3:30 until 9:30 pm. However, because our gym cannot reasonably accommodate two teams fully practicing at the same time, Blake needs to rent use of local basketball courts (at 43 Hoops in Hopkins) and our middle school athletes must travel to our Minneapolis campus to provide facilities for all our teams. During the school day in the winter (and other times during the year), the current gym is also overscheduled in support of our lower school and middle school physical education program. A field house, with multiple competition size courts, would resolve a number of space related challenges. • Improved roads/traffic flow — With Upper School students arriving on campus, buses departing to take students home, and lower and middle school parents lining up to pick up other students, the Hopkins Campus is severely congested at the end of each school day. It is better, but still crowded, at the start of the day and on those afternoons and evenings when multiple athletic and/or co -curricular events are taking place. Furthermore, commercial deliveries on campus present additional challenges given our present road configuration. A connected and continuous road layout — with cars, buses and other vehicles being able to enter and exit campus in different places without having to turn around as is currently necessary — will create a more efficient and safer traffic flow. It is important to note that Blake has no plans to increase our enrollment from its current level. Consequently, we are anticipating improved, but not -increased, trafficoncampus or in -the -surrounding - neighborhood when this element of the master plan is implemented. We have long understood that any changes to our Hopkins Campus would require Blake to add water retention capacity on our property. With that understanding in mind, Blake commissioned an engineering study a few years ago. The study revealed that a significant portion of the needed retention capacity could be achieved in a cost effective way with the enlargement of the existing retention pond in the northwest quadrant of the campus. (This pond is just west of the driveway leading to Blake's Stadium and Ice Arena parking lot.) Therefore, when property on Harrison Avenue, contiguous with the existing campus, became available for purchase, Blake chose to pursue that opportunity. Besides addressing water retention needs, owning some residential property was seen as a way to support other goals of the School. Consequently, from June 2008 to November 2009, Blake bought the eight properties at 13, 15, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33 and 37 Harrison Avenue, half of which we bought through bank foreclosures. After much deliberation and discussion, including with Hopkins city officials, Blake has crafted the following plan for the eventual use of all eight properties. • #13, 15, 17 (and the city half -lot on the corner of Harrison Ave. and Excelsior Blvd.) — These properties would all be used for the enlarged water retention pond discussed above, with the house currently located at #17 being torn down. This use would require a change in the current zoning to institutional use. The landscaping of the pond would include attractive plantings (including trees) that would act as a safety barrier to the pond, which on most days, would not hold much, if any, retained water. (See drawing C.) The detailed design and engineering plans for the pond have not yet been created, as the time line for building the pond is dependent on fundraising for the first elements of the master plan. Realistically, sufficient funds would probably not be raised until the end of 2012, allowing us to break ground during the spring of 2013. All plans will be in full compliance with Minnehaha Creek Watershed District regulations and will be submitted for both community input and city approval before construction begins. #21, 25, 29, 33, 37 — All five properties will remain residentially zoned. Already two of the properties are being rented to Blake employees, which provides them with reasonably priced homes close to where the residents work and go to school. In addition, Blake benefits from having employees on campus to provide supervision and/or emergency support during non - school hours at night, on weekends, and during holidays. The houses at 21 and 37 are not currently in condition to be occupied, and Blake plans to renovate or rebuild these homes in 2012. These properties will likely be used to house additional Blake employees, including potential participants in a teacher internship program the School is contemplating beginning no earlier than the 2013-14 school year. Plans are currently under way to use the house at 33 for a residential daycare facility for the children of employees beginning in August 2012. All the properties will be maintained in good repair and attractive landscaping features will be added. (See drawing D.) As mentioned above, Blake would take ownership of the current city half -lot on the corner of Harrison and Excelsior, and the zoning for three of the properties Blake currently owns (13, 15, 17) would need to be changed to institutional use. Accordingly, the School plans to submit an application to the Zoning and Planning Commission in early 2012. Additionally, Blake is requesting of Hopkins the vacation of the alley that runs between the western border of Blake's campus and the houses on the west side of Harrison Ave. (Interestingly, in the not too distant past, Blake -used -to own the land -on which the -alley and the Harrison Ave. houses -are situated.) This will provide Blake with the required `set back' from its property line when it eventually reworks its roadways on campus. In coordination with these transfers, Blake will, at its sole expense, reroute the city water main that currently lies underneath the alley, so it does not run beneath the retention pond. The new water main route will provide easier access to city personnel in the event of servicing needs. Blake will also significantly augment the barrier plantings between the homes north of First Avenue and Blake's campus, protecting the privacy and improving the sight lines for the residents in those homes. (See drawing B.) I hope I have provided a clear overview of Blake's plans for the properties it owns on Harrison Avenue. There is much still to be determined and discussed before final design plans are created, and we welcome feedback from and conversation with the Council and neighborhood residents. It is Blake's strong desire to continue to be a `good neighbor' and to maintain and enhance a positive partnership with the city of Hopkins. We believe the plans detailed above will positively serve the City, the neighborhood and the School. of Business and Finance NEW WA NEW TRI AND LA LOT 6 DEMOU #21, LOT RENOv, AND LA IMPROV #2S, LO' LANDSC IMPRO% #25, LO' LANDSC IMPROV #33, LO' LANDSC IMPRO, #3l, LO' DEMOU NEW HG LANDS( ,ONRY SCREEN WALL DSCAPE BERM :MAL WATER RETENTION POND (FLUCTUATE5) !RENT POND SIZE (FLUCTUATES) OCATE WATER MAIN a WATER BOUNCE EDGE UN LINK FENCE :ATE ALLEY It PLANTINGS THE BLAKE SCHOOL HARRISON AVENUE COORDINATION BLAKE HOPKINS, MINNESOTA SCHOOL DESIGN IMAGES ■ DECEMBER 09, 2011 ARCHITECTURE is ENGINEERING ■ DESIGN 1900 'E ALLEY B- SITE PLAN 2 LANDSCAPTING E 0 hil 11141 IVA 1SP OR p THE BLAKE SCHOOL THE HARRISON AVENUE COORDINATION BLAKE HOPKINS, MINNESOTA S C H O O L DESIGN IMAGE�DECEMBER-b9�OTi- rig 00 ARCHITECTURE ■ ENGINEERING ■ DESIGN 7 9 - HARRISON AVE. LOOKING SOUTHEAST THE BLAKE SCHOOL HARRISON AVENUE COORDINATION HOPKINS, MINNESOTA DESIGN IMAGES ■ DECEMBER 09, 2011 ARCHITECTURE ■ ENGINEERING ■ DESIGN D - HARRISON AVE. LOOKING NORTH BTHE LAKE SCHOOL 1900