Item Description:
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Authorize county staff to pursue 2026 state general obligation bonding appropriations
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Resolution:
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BE IT RESOLVED, that the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners does hereby authorize county staff to request 2026 state general obligation bonding appropriations for:
• Recycling Recovery Facility ($26.0 million - seeking to reallocate the $26 million in State bonds from 2023 that were identified for the Anaerobic Digestion Facility project)
• West Broadway Safety and Mobility Improvements ($10.1 million)
• Washington Avenue Multimodal Reconstruction ($6.5 million)
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners supports the efforts of others in their request for 2026 state general obligation appropriations:
• Avivo ($26.7 million; received $1.7 million bonds in 2020 for design)
• St. David’s ($10 million)
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Hennepin County 2025 legislative platform be updated to include the projects and requested state bonding amounts noted above.
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Background:
Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes 16A.86, the Minnesota Department of Management & Budget has solicited requests from local governments for possible inclusion within the State’s 2026 capital bonding appropriation. The requests are preliminarily submitted to the state in June 2025, with final signoff scheduled for October 2025.
County staff has reviewed the Board approved 2025-2029 Capital Improvement Program and other projects consistent with prior Board Briefings and determined that the county projects noted above are strong candidates for state bonding due to their significant regional impact.
• The Recycling Recovery Facility (CP 1010846) is a high priority for Hennepin County due to zero-waste goals set in the Solid Waste Management Plan, Climate Action Plan and the plan to Reinvent Hennepin County’s Solid Waste System. Recycling recovery facilities have the highest diversion potential of all the actions identified in the county's Zero Waste Plan - diverting 25% of the materials in the trash to recycling instead. In 2023, this effort received $26.0 million in state bonding for the proposed Anaerobic Digestion Facility. The county is seeking to repurpose this prior funding allocation for the Recycling Recovery Facility in Brooklyn Park.
• West Broadway is identified as a high-crash corridor by the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County. Investment in this half-mile portion of West Broadway is needed to address traffic safety issues, poor pavement condition and needed multi-modal connections along a key commercial corridor in North Minneapolis adjacent to the METRO Blue Line Extension (BLE) light rail project.
• The Washington Avenue multimodal reconstruction project will improve mobility and safety for all roadway users, as well as multimodal connectivity throughout Cedar-Riverside, a legacy neighborhood between the University of Minnesota and Downtown Minneapolis. This project will implement first and last mile connections for the planned H Line Arterial Bus Rapid Transit project, tentatively scheduled to begin service in 2029, in close coordination with Metro Transit.
In certain circumstances, the county has supported state bonding requests from other entities when it is in the best interest of Hennepin County and our residents. The county may act as fiscal agent for up to three non-county entities that meet the county’s requirements as approved in Resolution 21-0472. For 2026, the following projects have met these requirements.
• Avivo has requested the county’s continued support for renovations and additions to their Minneapolis campus. In 2020, Avivo received $1.7 million in state bonding to support predesign and design services efforts.
• St. David’s Center is requesting support for their bonding request toward the renovation of their Minneapolis campus to help children with developmental and emerging mental health needs.
recommendation
Recommendation from County Administrator: Recommend Approval