The Randy Stoecker Commons is a Planned Unit Development (PUD) that provides residents in the 4-block area between Cedar and 20th Avenues from 8th St. to 6th St., with shared community space. The residents of these blocks have access to the common areas and pay fees for their maintenance and upkeep.

The area was designed by residents in the block planning process conducted by the Cedar Riverside Project Area Committee (PAC) during the 1980s. People voiced the strong desire to maintain large open areas for shared use rather than divide the land into individual lots. The vision of creating a friendly space for children to play and families to congregate was an expression of the values of social justice, participatory democracy and collective living that drove the housing redevelopment accomplished by the West Bank CDC during this time.

Residents use the shared green space primarily as informal children’s play areas. From time to time, however, there are organized special events. An open-air puppet show has become an annual summer event, and the West Bank CDC held drumming and craft workshops in 2010.

A summer intern hired by WBCDC in 2009, Niko Kubota, documented the current use of the spaces and researched the potential for more structured use, possibly for community gardens or other shared activity. Residents have not discussed ideas for enhancing use of the space. Follow the links for Kubota’s analyses of each of the four blocks (know as block 49, block 50, block 67 and block 68.)

In the Spring of 2012 U of M Architecture School students also looked at the Stoecker Commons area.

The following features were built into the landscape based on the concept of shared community space:

• 19th Avenue was privatized and closed to thru traffic;
• Parking bays were constructed along 19th Ave. to keep the vehicular traffic on the perimeter and retain green space in the center of the blocks;
• Green areas with children’s play equipment was created on block interiors; and
• Timber Park was developed

 The diagram shows the location of Stoecker Commons with the housing units, shared parking lots and green areas. There are 121 housing units in Stoecker Commons of which 100 are part of Riverside Homes affordable rental housing and 21 are privately owned.

Parking – Stoecker Commons has several parking lots to serve residents and visitors of the area. Each residential unit has at least one parking stall reserved for its private use. There are also several designated parking stalls for visitors.

Green Space/Play Areas – Each block in Stoecker Commons has green space reserved for use by residents of that block. Three blocks have children’s play equipment on the green areas. Timber Park, located at the southwest end of 19th Ave. is a private park with play equipment shared by all residents in the Commons.

What is a PUD? – A PUD is a zoning designation that allows shared parking and other amenities rather than requiring private parking on each residential lot.

The City of Minneapolis approved the PUD zoning designation for this area in 1983. The West Bank CDC completed the extensive process of replating all of the land, and developing the legal documents for the PUD, called the Declaration of Easements in 2003.

This document grants each household the PUD a right to use the common area, assigns reserved parking stalls, and also requires the payment of maintenance fees for ongoing lawn care, snow shoveling and other maintenance activities. Residents of WBCDC-owned rental housing pay the maintenance assessments in their rent. Homeowners in Stoecker Commons are billed quarterly for maintenance assessments.