BE IT RESOLVED, that the following agreements be approved to provide funding for the selected organizations in the 2021 grant cycle during the period of March 23, 2021 through December 31, 2022, for the Natural Resources Good Steward projects that will improve water quality; and during the period March 23, 2021 through December 31, 2023 for the Natural Resources Opportunity projects that will improve water quality:  

Good Steward Grants:

•  PR00003082 with the City of Minnetonka with the amount not to exceed $25,000; 
•  PR00003083 with Children’s Dental Services, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $25,000; 
•  PR00003085 with Back Channel Brewing, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $25,000; 
•  PR00003086with the City of New Hope, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $18,355;
•  PR00003088 with Heirloom Properties, LLC, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $17,000;
• PR00003087 with University Baptist Church, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $6,900;

Opportunity Grants:

• PR00003089 with the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission with the amount not to exceed $75,000;
•  PR00003090 with the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $74,743;
•  PR00003091 with Three Rivers Park District, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $50,000;
•  PR00003092 with Boisclair Corporation, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $40,257; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that following review and approval by the County Attorney’s Office, the County Administrator be authorized to sign the agreements on behalf of the county; that the County Administrator be authorized to approve one 12-month extension of the agreements; that costs incurred by the grantees after the board approval date be eligible for reimbursement upon execution of the agreements; and that the Controller be authorized to disburse funds as directed.

History: Natural Resources grants provide financial and technical assistance to landowners and local governments that will implement projects to preserve and restore the county’s natural resources and improve water quality.

There are two types of Natural Resources grants:  

1. Good Steward grants are primarily for smaller projects that improve water quality, enhance natural areas, and promote environmental stewardship to the community. This program requires a 25 percent funding match from the grant applicant.
2. Opportunity grants are ideal for larger projects seeking to leverage multiple funding sources. These grants are intended to help partners take advantage of other funding opportunities to implement large projects that improve water quality or preserve, establish, or restore natural areas.

The availability of the grants is promoted through communication with cities, watershed management organizations, and other partners, along with mailing lists and the Environment and Energy Department’s e-newsletter, Green Notes.  

Request for proposals for Good Steward grants were open for four weeks in October and November 2020. The county received 18 Good Steward grant applications requesting a total of $340,598 to complete nearly $1.2 million in project activities. Six applications were chosen for funding, which will leverage $117,255 of county grant funds to collectively implement $357,788 worth of water and natural resource restoration projects. 

Opportunity grant requests are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. During this grant period we received 11 applications for an Opportunity Grant, each proposing activities that would improve natural and water resources in Hennepin County. These applications requested a total of $785,257 to complete more than $7.56 million in project activities. Four applications were chosen for funding, which will leverage $240,000 of county grant funds to collectively implement $3.65 million of water and natural resource restoration projects.

A committee consisting of county staff and external reviewers evaluated the applications based on the project’s impact on reducing erosion, improving water quality, protecting groundwater resources, protecting and/or restoring wildlife habitat, and meaningfully engaging the public, along with the ability of the applicant to effectively and efficiently complete the project. 

Since 2013, the county has provided $2.178 million in Natural Resources grants for 69 projects that protect natural resources and improve water quality. Funding for these grants comes from the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund. For 2021 grants, Solid Waste Enterprise Funds will be supplemented with a small amount of funding from the State of Minnesota Cost-Share Program, as well as funding from the Outdoor Heritage Fund as described in current request section. 

Current Request: This request is to authorize the County Administrator to negotiate Natural Resources Good Steward and Opportunity grant agreements with organizations referenced below for projects that preserve, protect, or improve natural resources and water quality in the county: 

Good Steward Grants: 

• PR00003082 with the City of Minnetonka, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $25,000; for a project that will partner with the Friends of Cullen Nature Preserve to implement the first phase of a habitat management plan to restore degraded mature oak woodland brushland and savannah and protect critical habitat in the 31-acre Cullen Nature Preserve in Minnetonka. For this grant, restoration and enhancement funding from the Department’s Outdoor Heritage Fund grant will be used.
• PR00003083 with Children’s Dental Services, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $25,000; to install permeable pavement in a parking lot at the company’s headquarters in NE Minneapolis. The project will capture runoff and pollutants including 195,000 gallons of rain water, 58 pounds of sediment, 0.32 pounds of phosphorus each year. Children’s Dental Services is also developing innovative materials to educate patients and other visitors about water including coloring pages and interpretive, multilingual signage.
• PR00003085 with Back Channel Brewing, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $25,000; to install a 2,000 square-foot rain garden on the brewery’s property directly adjacent to Lake Minnetonka in Spring Park. Currently, runoff from 4.67-acre commercial property discharges directly into the lake untreated. This project will capture and treat 130,000 cubic feet of water per year and keep 1,645 pounds of sediment and 2.3 pounds of phosphorus out of the lake annually, while also providing pollinator habitat. For this grant, half of the grant funds will be provided by State Cost-Share funding from the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources.
• PR00003086 with City of New Hope, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $18,355; to develop a public-private partnership with a private landowner to install a curb-cut rain garden on their Meadow Lake Road property. The anticipated 600 square-foot rain garden is estimated to keep 1.5 pounds of phosphorus per year out of Meadow Lake, which is impaired for excess nutrients. The city plans to use this as a demonstration project for other residents to adopt similar practices.
• PR00003088 with Heirloom Properties, LLC, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $17,000; to implement an innovative rainwater harvesting system in a new apartment complex to be constructed in South Minneapolis. This system will capture stormwater runoff from the roof and other impervious surfaces on the property and store it in a 3,500-gallon tank for reuse in toilets inside the building and irrigation outside of the building. Project partners estimate this project will capture 90,000 gallons of water annually and offset potable water use inside the building by 76,000 gallons and outdoor irrigation by 14,000 gallons. In addition, the stormwater management features, including a rain garden, will annually keep 34 pounds of sediment and 0.19 pounds of phosphorus from entering the Mississippi River. 
• PR00003087 with University Baptist Church, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $6,900, to install rain gardens and other stormwater management practices on its property in the Dinkytown Neighborhood of Minneapolis. Hennepin County grant dollars will specifically go to stormwater conveyance improvements outside the church, which will be paired with other partner investments to install four rain gardens. Collectively, rain gardens and other conservation practices on the church’s property will treat 133,000 gallons of water per year and will annually keep 179 pounds of sediment and 0.64 pounds of phosphorus out of the Mississippi River. Educational signage and activities specifically for children, as well as for the general public, is also planned. 

Opportunity Grants: 

• PR00003089 with the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $75,000, to install an iron-enhanced sand filter along a channel north of nutrient-impaired Upper Twin Lake in the City of Crystal. Currently, a wetland just east of Crystal Airport is exporting large amounts of water-soluble phosphorus that is difficult to treat with conventional strategies. This project will build off successes of a small pilot, to construct a filter along approximately 400 feet of the channel banks. The project is estimated to capture 50 pounds of phosphorus per year. 

• PR00003090 with the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $74,743; to dredge man-made lagoons along Bassett Creek in Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis. The lagoons, built in the 1930’s for aesthetic and recreational purposes, are acting as de facto stormwater ponds and have filled up with sediment over the last 90 years. This project will excavate and properly dispose of these pollutant-laden sediments, increasing both the water quality and flood capacity of these water features as well as downstream waters. Because of the large, 40 square-mile drainage area to the site, this project could have annual benefits approaching 156,000 pounds of sediment and 600 pounds of phosphorus captured annually. 
• PR00003091 with Three Rivers Park District, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $50,000, to conduct a second alum treatment dosing in Hyland Lake in Bloomington. Alum, or aluminum sulfate, binds to and immobilizes phosphorus in lake bottom sediments and effectively inactivates the phosphorus, greatly reducing the likelihood this phosphorus can contribute to poor water quality algae blooms that occur due to excess phosphorus. Three Rivers Park District partnered with the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District to conduct the first treatment in 2019 and sought additional dollars to complete the recommended second treatment. This alum treatment will control 50% of phosphorus originating from the lake-bottom sediments, equivalent to approximately 218 pounds. Completion of this project will make substantive progress to removing this lake from the State of Minnesota list of impaired waters. 
• PR00003092 with Boisclair Corporation, or affiliated entity, with the amount not to exceed $40,257, to complete Phase 2 of stormwater management and green space accessibility improvements in Brook Gardens, an affordable housing community in Brooklyn Park. The project will install nine rain gardens across the community, annually keeping 1,670 pounds of sediment and 4.5 pounds of phosphorus out of Shingle Creek, which is directly adjacent to Brook Gardens. Hennepin County funded Phase 1 through an Opportunity Grant in 2020. 

Impact/Outcomes: The Natural Resources grants will provide funds to protect water quality and enhance natural resources in Hennepin County. These grants will help implement stormwater best management practices, which include installing rain gardens and other features that use native plants and slow water movement to naturally filter and retain water. Where possible this water is infiltrated, improving groundwater recharge. Other projects will capture rain water on-site and reuse it for other residential purposes, thereby reducing both rain water runoff as well as potable water needs. Some projects will undertake woodland and native vegetation restorations that will improve developed woodland and natural habitats, as well as pocket habitats in residential and commercial areas. Other projects will use innovative strategies to improve phosphorus capture, treatment, and management to improve water quality in our local lakes.

Some of the projects may help reduce racial disparities in health and environmental quality. Three of these projects are located within areas that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency identifies as areas of environmental justice concern, and three more projects will benefit public waters that are within easy walking distance of areas of environmental justice concern.

The Natural Resources grants also support the county’s efforts to adapt to a changing county climate that is warmer and wetter. Projects that help natural systems manage more stormwater can help reduce localized flooding and mitigate risk to people, buildings, roads and other infrastructure from a changing climate. Projects that restore natural areas provide habitat for wildlife species that must alter their range in response to climate change. 

The Natural Resources grants are a part of the county’s strategic approach to prioritizing, partnering, and pursuing other funding sources to improve water quality and protect natural resources. Opportunity grants are meant to leverage significant external funding sources. The 10 Natural Resource grants awarded totaling $357,255 will leverage an additional $3.58 million of funding from state, city, watershed, non-profit, and private sources.