The Opportunity Site is an approximately 80-acre area west of Highway 100 and east of Shingle Creek Parkway, between Bass Lake Road and Summit Drive. ACER Organizers are working to create and maintain a twelve-person task force representing various stakeholders that will inform the creation of a legally binding Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) in a way that benefits current and future Brooklyn Center community members.
What is a Community Benefits Agreement? A CBA is a project agreement between a developer and a broad community coalition that details the projects’ contributions to the community and ensures community support for the project. Addressing a range of community issues, a properly structured CBA is legally binding and directly enforceable by the signatories. A Community Benefits Agreement for the Opportunity Site will have to be completed by March 15th.
During task force development, ACER organizers have worked with groups like Pueblos and MN Zej Zog to gather a diverse group of people to make up a task force that will inform the development of the opportunity site. The 12 person task force is, like Brooklyn Center, very diverse with mixed cultural, gender, employment, and ownership backgrounds. As of December 2021, 3 meetings have been held by the task force. In one meeting, the developers—Alatus and Project for Pride and Living—presented their preliminary plan for the Opportunity Site to the task force. Additionally, at the same meeting, 2 Community organizations that conducted research surveying residents on their wants and need for the opportunity site also presented their data; MN Zej Zog is a Hmong community organization that does engagement work in Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Youth Alliance serves the youth of Brooklyn Center.
TASK FORCE RESULTS