Inver Grove Heights City Council Hires Architect For Heritage Village Park

The plans for Heritage Village Park are about to get more detailed.

Last week, the Inver Grove Heights City Council voted 4-1 to approve an $18,530 contract with architectural firm Partners & Sirny to help design the park’s facilities — which may include picnic shelters, renovated historical buildings, a restroom facility and other structures. Councilor Bill Klein cast the lone vote in opposition to the measure.

The decision is the latest move in a years-long effort to develop the 80-acre park, which stands between Doffing Avenue and Concord Boulevard near the Mississippi River. Once a contaminated railroad yard, the park is slated to become a recreational locus for the city. Park plans call for a picnic area, fishing pond, events facilities and trails, among other features. The park will also serve as a trailhead for the Mississippi River Regional Trail, which will eventually extend 19 miles along the river to Hastings.

If that wasn’t enough, the park designs call for a connection to the restored Rock Island Swing Bridge, which opens later this month. City officials also plan to move two historically significant buildings — the old Inver Grove Heights Town Hall and a schoolhouse — to the park.

Once completed, the park will help revitalize an old neighborhood, encourage local commercial and residential development and improve public access to the Mississippi River, Inver Grove Heights Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson said.

Carlson estimates the park will cost as much as $6 million to complete. Much of that cost, Carlson hopes, will be paid for through grants. Already, the city has received nearly $1.1 million in grant funding for the project. The restoration of the Rock Island Swing Bridge, which cost $2.4 million, also received significant grant funding, Carlson said.

Partners & Sirny will be responsible for designing the floor plans for park buildings, creating a uniform style for the facilities and generating a cost estimate to construct the buildings. The firm will also assess the integrity of the town hall and schoolhouse to determine what renovations the buildings may need.

The city received proposals from six firms, but only interviewed three finalists for the project. The city does not have the capability to conduct the architectural study ‘in-house,’ Carlson said.

“We felt like they have a good handle on the history of the site and how that might reflect in the architectural designs,” Carlson said. Dakota County will likely contribute $5,000 to the cost of the architectural study, Carlson said.

The cost to hire the architectural firm had council member Bill Klein balking, however. While Klein doesn’t oppose conducting an architectural study for the park facilities, he advocated for another firm, which submitted a substantially lower bid to complete the study.

But that firm, Carlson said at last week’s meeting, didn’t have the same level of experience as Partners & Sirny.

“The city doesn’t print money, they tax people for that money,” Klein said on Thursday. “It’s the people’s money, why spend more than they need to?”