The City of Minneapolis has proposed redeveloping the former 3rd Police Precinct building into a democracy center, and on Wednesday, they shared the results of a community engagement survey during an open house.

“So this would house the city’s Department of Election and Voter Services,” explained Laura Mellum, Deputy City Operations Officer of Communications and Engagement.

“And this is really strategic for Election and Voter Services for a number of reasons. It would move the city’s early voting center there, which is a location that is more centrally located closer to transit and is also in an area with lower voter turnout,” Mellum continued.

The city just wrapped its months-long community engagement. Mellum said they heard from roughly 2,000 people; 63% of people citywide support the proposal, and 70% of people living in the 3rd Precinct are on board, she said.

“I would characterize this as clear support for the proposal,” Mellum added.

Sam Gould is a neighbor of the former 3rd Precinct building whose been independently engaging his community for well over a year now.

Asked if he thinks the city survey accurately reflects what his neighbors have told him, he said, “No, definitely not.”

“We set up a petition that very clearly states that people do not like how this process is going,” Gould said. “An aspect of it being a voting center, that’s fantastic, but we don’t need this major building with this incredibly important history that we can’t just sweep under the rug to employ 16 employees, have a gigantic warehouse, and then an undefined space for community use.”

The city said it plans to set aside 8,000 square feet within the building for community services, and Mellum said they got some ideas from the survey, like, “social services, business-related services and other types of community gathering or cultural events.”

Gould said neighbors want assurance they’ll be more involved in what those community services will look like before committing support.

“Anything that will lead towards growth and healing, it has to start with neighbors,” he said. “It needs to start with neighbors, not end with neighbors…It just seems really disingenuous.”

The open house goes until 7:30 p.m. at the Minneapolis American Indian Center on E Franklin Ave.

The city will next present the survey results to a Minneapolis City Council committee in a couple of weeks.

If it’s approved, the center would open in 2026 at the earliest, Mellum said.

Mayor Jacob Frey also sent a statement in support of the proposal:

“Community has been at the heart of the 3000 Minnehaha redevelopment, and they’re tired of waiting. Our City has already held seven engagement sessions with residents and conducted a survey to gather input on the future of the site. The survey results show clear support for transforming the site into a democracy center and a community space. We’ll continue to gather input to ensure our shared vision comes to life, but what we won’t do is sit on our hands while the Third Precinct sits vacant. It’s time to move forward,” said Mayor Jacob Frey.