December 06, 2010

Vikings stadium site search includes ammo plant

The rebooted Minnesota Vikings stadium campaign may not have a funding plan, but it is narrowing in on sites: three in Minneapolis, according to team execs, and one in the suburbs. And that one in the burbs is a doozy: a former army munitions site in Arden Hills that would bring together three counties to help finance the project.

That could be tricky, however. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that representatives of the three counties "haven't met for two months as they struggle to come up with a financing plan and wait as Minnesota's new political landscape is mapped and the governor's race is settled." And none of the three counties sound like they want to go first in terms of committing money to the project: Washington County Commissioner Dennis Hegberg said, "We're not all that anxious to throw in sales-tax dollars," and suggested that a stadium could get funding from the entire metro area, which is pretty unlikely given that it'd mean Minneapolis officials approving tax money to help the Vikings move out of town.

Oh, and did I mention that this is also a Superfund site?