Concerns linger about MOA water park’s environmental impact

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A proposed term sheet calls for new spending and other strategies to improve the green credentials of the Mall of America’s planned $373 million Mystery Cove water park, but a city commission still isn’t convinced that the project will tread softly on the environment.

Under the term sheet, which is up for review Monday during a joint meeting of the Bloomington City Council and Port Authority, the developer would pay at least $5 million to implement “energy efficiency, fuel switching and renewable energy opportunities” for the project.

The developer would also submit annual reportsma to the city about the water park’s monthly energy and water bills, participate in the city’s energy benchmarking program, and make “best efforts” to achieve LEED Silver certification or meet state guidelines for sustainability.

What’s more, the project team would take advantage of Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy’s Design Assistance Program, which helps business owners “identify energy and cost-saving strategies for construction or renovation project.”

Holly Masek, Port Authority administrator, said Friday that the term sheet resulted from a collaboration between the Mall of America, the Port Authority and their consultants, and was developed “over several months.”

Monday’s meeting is a milestone, Masek said, because policymakers will be asked to direct city staff to advance water park development agreements based on the term sheet.

For its part, the Bloomington Sustainability Commission says it still has “significant concerns” about the project’s impact on the environment and the budget “committed to addressing those concerns,” according to a new memo.

Masek said Friday that the Port Authority has been “working with the sustainability commission on understanding their response to the project.”

In March, the commission said the water park — as designed at the time — would consume about twice as much energy as the most energy-intensive existing commercial, multifamily or public building in the city.

The Mall of America’s point person on development told Finance & Commerce that the commission’s assessment was based on an older design, which has since been updated, and that it’s an “apples-to-oranges” comparison.

The current design includes 144,000 square feet of interior pool hall space within a 220,000-square-foot building envelope, which is a third smaller than the previous plan, according to a city staff report.

“Our commitment to sustainability has not changed,” the Mall of America said in a statement. “The plans for the waterpark include spending a minimum of $5 million on sustainability efforts and we anticipate spending significantly more than that. We will continue working with the City and the U.S. Green Building Council in an effort to make this the most sustainable indoor waterpark in the country.”

Despite the scaled-backed design, the commission says the water park will be a “high-intensity energy user.”

Among other things, the commission is skeptical of the proposed OpenAire Roof — a centerpiece of the developer’s plan to reduce energy consumption. The commission hasn’t seen enough data to determine if that strategy is “viable,” according to the April 16 memo.

A case study to support the developer’s claims of energy savings, the commission said, is based on a much smaller, 6,000-square-foot “community pool,” a facility that doesn’t have the slides, wave pool or lazy river envisioned in the Mystery Cove project.

“Given the size of the proposed water park, at 24 times the size of the facility in the case study, and the energy use that will be required to operate additional features, the commission does not feel confident an OpenAire roof venting strategy will achieve a 30% overall energy savings,” the memo states.

In the April 16 memo, the sustainability commission requested a number of “bare minimum” requirements to mitigate the project’s impact on climate, including an agreement to achieve LEED Silver or Minnesota B3 sustainable design certification.

If the project doesn’t achieve certification, the developer should agree to spend at least $7.5 million on sustainable design initiatives ranging from natural landscaping to the use of solar or geothermal features that leverage federal tax credits.

If LEED or B3 certification comes through, the commission requests that the developer should pay $5 million to “implement additional sustainability initiatives,” according to the memo.

The anticipated timeline calls for design and entitlement approvals this year, with construction starting in 2025. Funded with mix of public and private sources, the water park could open in late 2027, according to city documents.

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