ST PAUL, Minn. — There's no doubt Minnesota has one of the most beautiful state capitols in the nation, but not there's a new plan to make those surrounding green space more inviting to more people.
For the next 30 days, you can make your views heard on the Capitol Mall Design Framework Engagement website.
"The 2023 legislative session the legislature gave us funding to study how we can make the mall more welcoming to more Minnesotans, how can we better connect it to local communities, better connect it to Minnesotans across the state, how can we activate it more," Erik Cedarleaf Dahl, the executive director of the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board, told KARE.
The process began in October and included public design workshops that allowed citizens from across the state to brainstorm ideas about how to make a space that people could spend time in, rather than just passing through it en route to the Capitol.
"We really spent a whole day with Minnesotans from everywhere from Brainerd to Duluth to Rochester," Cedarleaf Dahl said. "We all talked about what can we do on the mall to make it more inviting, and what does it need to better connect to the Rondo Community, or better connects to downtown."
The draft plan envisions a more park-like setting, complete with more seating and even picnic areas to draw families to the space.
Accessibility is another important goal, which is why those familiar diagonal walkways jutting out from the Capitol would be replaced as they are too steep for wheelchair users.
"The plan currently calls for removing those and adding about 120 trees on the shoulders here, and putting in ADA accessible sidewalks through those," Cedarleaf Dahl explained.
One idea is to narrow Martin Luther King Boulevard which runs in front of the Capitol, and convert part of that pavement to foot traffic.
"What we would do what we call a road diet, or traffic calming, where we would paint murals on the street where the pedestrians are and make it more pedestrian friendly."
One of the renderings in the draft plan shows something called an Ethno-Botany garden.
"In the lower mall right now it's envisioned as native gardens that would include native species from all around Minnesota."
The Legislature appropriated $5 million to the project in 2023. There was a request for an additional $12 million in the 2024 bonding bill, but that didn't pass before the clock ran out on the session Sunday night.
Cedarleaf Dahl expects landscaping work to begin later this year, with the first phase wrapping up by the end of December.
"I'm really excited to someday bring my kids here once we've done the trees, and the paths and the plaza down there and show them this is something their dad, and the legislature, the governor’s office all made happen. I’m really excited to do that."
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