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"Out of scale and out of character": Robert Roscoe 7/25/05 letter to park commissioner

I am writing this letter to request that the DeLaSalle athletic field expansion on Nicollet Island not be constructed. As you know, Nicollet Island is a historic property as part of the Saint Anthony Falls Historic Distrcit. In general, the athletic field as proposed is incompatible with the landscape and structures on the island, especially the athletic fields' size, its required closing of Grove Street, the large obtrusive retaining wall, the distorted rise of topography, and the highly visible lighting fixtures that will greatly disturb the quiet character of the river environment. 



Grove Street was platted in 1866, in the earliest beginnings of island settlement by western expansion of the United States. The ability of people walking about the island to comprehend the built and natural environment at eye level has always beeen a special quality of the island and forms an inherent aspect of Nicollet Island's historical character.
 


The Minneapolis Park Board has always been a wise and careful steward of its propoerties that form an integral part of the city's heritage, but this proposal would be an unfortunate departure from the Park Board's long-standing service to maintain its cultural resources. Please re-consider your support for this enlargement that would be so out of scale and out of character with the special place Nicollet Island has been to the people of Minneapolis, the region and our state. 


Sincerely, 


Robert Roscoe


(Robert Roscoe is a Minneapolis architect and past president of the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission. The letter is addressed to Park Commissioner Marie Hauser.) 

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