Parks, Trails & Recreation Master Plan

HUBER PARK

CONT.

influx of the population began. In 1854, Holmes platted Shakpay Village, or what was come to be known as Shakopee. But, Holmes did not establish the City of Shakopee completely alone. In 1851, he hired a guide named William “Bill” Quinn to help him search for suitable sites for the town. Quinn was the son of Peter Quinn, an Irish immigrant, and Mary Louisa Finley, a woman who was part Native American. Quinn was fluent in at least three languages (Chippewa, Dakota, and English) and held a variety of jobs including interpreter, scout for the army, and clerk. It is believed that Quinn helped show Holmes the site of Tinta Otonwe, which would eventually become incorporated into the City of Shakopee. The recently restored historic bridge crossing the Minnesota River is named after Holmes, as is one of the main roads in the downtown core. There is currently no City-owned/sponsored amenity or feature honoring Quinn’s contributions to the founding of the City. Approaching Downtown Shakopee from the north, heading down the Highway 101 bridge, Huber park is not noticeable from the Minnesota River. Dense vegetation framing the vehicular bridge and along the riverbank render views into the park impossible. The historic Holmes Street Bridge, however, is prominent, and very welcoming if pedestrians happen to be using the trail at the time. It is challenging to see that there is a great park just waiting to welcome you into this historic City. The views into Huber Park continue to be impeded when heading east along the edge of the park. Overgrown trees and a row of Hawthorn trees block views into the park, and signage is minimal. Finding the entrance to the park off of Fillmore Street adds another layer of difficulty to a park visit, as a strip of unremarkable buildings with non- park related commercial services anchors the corner of 1st Ave/101 and Fillmore St where the park vehicular entrance is. Again, signage is minimal, and parking feels almost intended only for commercial activities.

The playground is well-loved and meaningful to the City, but is now out dated and needs to be replaced. Newer improvements on the site, such as the park shelter, restrooms, and picnic tables, add amenities for casual park users and supports smaller sized park festivities. The amphitheater is the stand-out jewel in the park, with a modern design and unique seating rings built into the green turf, softening the amount of hardscape that would otherwise be there. Across the amphitheater, the picnic tables fall awkwardly into a linear pattern with no apparent reason to their layout other than the efficiency of following a simple linear concrete path. The tables have little to do with their context, and occupy a very large amount of higher elevation open green lawn in the park that could be used for more flexible purposes. Seasonal flooding is evident in the park, and the lower state trail regularly floods in the spring. The rest of the trail system does a good job of supporting trail users when they are also not under water in heavier flood events. The stormwater ponds are unremarkable, and seem to be ambiguously formed as close to the river’s edge as possible. The river is hardly noticeable from the park. Dense riverbank vegetation that stabilizes the steep slope creates a wall that is hard to visually penetrate. Signs along the riverbank warn of steep slopes and dangerous waters, casting a sense of fear of the river for trail and park users. Moving west under the Highway 101 bridge, another large bituminous surface parking lot is extremely underutilized aside from cyclists passing through on the regional trail. Being so far below grade from the street level of downtown at this point, the only points of access to this part of the park are up an unwelcoming and highly engineered ADA ramp that hugs the 101 structural wall, through a large and often dark tunnel under 101, or up Levee Drive and around the senior living community building and back down 101 to the east. Connectivity between these spaces is not intuitive, seemingly unsafe, or uncomfortable. If someone desired to get into Huber Park from the east side of Downtown, the new pedestrian plaza assists in identifying the controlled signal crossing, but a stronger connection to the park can be made with better paving material or striping on the road itself

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Park + Trail Planning

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SHAKOPEE PARKS, TRAILS, AND RECREATION MASTER PLAN | PARK + TRAIL PLANNING