The St. Paul City Council passed a resolution Wednesday in support of keeping 10 acres of public land near Snelling and University avenues off the tax rolls to accommodate a proposed Major League Soccer stadium.

The nonbinding resolution, sponsored by council members Dai Thao and Chris Tolbert, passed unanimously. It calls for keeping Metro Transit’s vacant “bus barn” property tax-free for a professional stadium, with one major catch. It asks Minnesota United team owners to pay for stadium design, construction and operations solely through private funds.

“I know there’s a lot of fears and uncertainty about the possibility of a stadium,” said Thao, who represents the neighborhood.

The resolution, however, sends a clear message to team owners about “what we’re willing to offer and what we’re not willing to compromise on,” he said. “… We want to spur the right kind of economic development that is worthy of the people.”

Tolbert noted the city has yet to see a formal proposal from Minnesota United team owners. The resolution does not commit the city to a stadium agreement or spell out whether the land would be conveyed to the city.

“This doesn’t guarantee anything,” Tolbert said. “There’s no deal here.”

SHOW OF UNIFIED SUPPORT

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman has talked up the possibility of a professional soccer stadium at the vacant 10-acre site since at least 2013.

Negotiations with team owner Bill McGuire were recently rekindled when Coleman toured the location with MLS Deputy Commissioner Mark Abbott this month.

On Wednesday, the mayor praised the resolution as a means of showing the city’s unified support for bringing in professional soccer.

“With today’s vote, we demonstrate strong local support and unity when it comes to making St. Paul the home of Major League Soccer in Minnesota,” said Coleman, in a written statement. “A soccer stadium at this location will serve as a powerful catalyst for the kind of development we want to see.”

MLS, which has 20 teams, hopes to expand to 24 by the year 2020, and the Twin Cities are in the running.

Minnesota United team owners publicly identified a site near the Minneapolis farmers’ market as their preferred location for an 18,000 to 20,000-seat stadium in March.

Minneapolis city officials have convened a working group, which expects to report back to Minnesota United with its findings by December. Hennepin County officials also have been involved in talks with the team.

The result is the two cities are both in the running.

On Wednesday evening, Minnesota United gave its first written comment about stadium issues since July 1, when MLS’ deadline on a Minneapolis stadium plan passed and attention turned to St. Paul.

“We are pleased to see continued support for bringing Major League Soccer to Minnesota,” United president Nick Rogers said in a statement. “Today’s unanimous vote by the St. Paul City Council is a positive endorsement of our project and we look forward to continued discussions about locating an MLS soccer stadium on the Midway site.

St. Paul City Council President Russ Stark, who lives near the Snelling and University avenues site, sponsored a series of resolution amendments that called for keeping the stadium available for public events, and emphasize the importance of including the neighboring Midway Shopping Center in redevelopment efforts. The council approved those amendments.

Without incorporating the shopping center into the planning, a soccer stadium’s “value is much more limited to the city, and to that whole area,” Stark said. He noted the possibility of funding a public park or plaza, as well as links to public transit.

Stark acknowledged that stadium discussions seemed to be “moving quickly” for neighborhood residents, causing unease. Nevertheless, “universally, to a person, everyone wants to see something change on that lot,” he said. “The current condition is clearly unacceptable.”

DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONS

The resolution’s wording raises some questions.

In emails to the mayor’s office, McGuire has previously called redevelopment of RK Midway’s Midway Shopping Center “essential” to his soccer stadium proposal, presumably to take advantage of property tax dollars that would be generated by the project and rerouted into public infrastructure improvements, such as roads, sidewalks, lighting and sewers.

It’s unclear if a “tax increment finance” loan would remain in keeping with the spirit of the resolution, but principals with RK Midway have made no public statements to date about the mall’s potential involvement in a stadium proposal.

The mall is anchored by a Rainbow Foods supermarket and surrounded by smaller retailers, including a Perkins restaurant and Foot Locker sneaker store.

The 10-acre “bus barn” property overlooking Interstate 94 off Pascal and St. Anthony avenues was home to a Metro Transit bus storage facility until demolition in 2002, and has not generated tax dollars for more than 50 years.

The blighted, vacant parcel remains owned by the Metropolitan Council, which has been working with the city to redevelop the site hand-in-hand with the neighboring RK Midway strip mall.

Combined, the 35 acres of public and privately-owned properties have been referred to by city planners as the Snelling-Midway SmartSite. The Union Park District Council on July 24 voted to support “further exploration” of the vacant Metro Transit land for a possible soccer stadium, provided that development planning incorporate all 35 acres.

POLITICAL FOOTBALL

All seven St. Paul city council seats will be on the Nov. 3 ballot, and several candidates seeking the office have sought to turn the proposed MLS soccer stadium into a campaign issue.

On social media, council candidates Tom Goldstein, David Glass and Jane Price have all railed against the prospect of the city partnering with Minnesota United on a stadium proposal.

“Consider the ragged, poorly maintained fields that hundreds of East Side kids play on due to St. Paul Parks funding shortfall,” said Prince, the DFL-endorsed council candidate in Ward 7, in an online post Wednesday to her Facebook fans.

“These are the skewed priorities that need to change,” said Goldstein, a Hamline-Midway resident running for city council in Ward 4, in a written campaign missive on Sunday.

“I for one think there are better ways to spend our tax dollars, rather than investing in pipe dreams and denying the citizens of St. Paul better roads and better basic services,” said Glass, a council candidate in the Como-North End area, in an online statement Sunday.

To promote the Minneapolis location, Hennepin County officials Peter McLaughlin and Mike Opat recently proposed using the county’s 0.15 percent sales tax to fund $10 million in infrastructure improvements, such as streets and sidewalks.

Their proposal calls for the team to donate the privately-funded stadium to the Minnesota Ballpark Authority, which already oversees Target Field in Minneapolis.

Whatever location is embraced by Minnesota United, the team will likely need a series of approvals from the state Legislature on property tax exemptions, tax exemptions for construction materials and other particulars. McLaughlin on Wednesday said the team showed little enthusiasm for taking his proposal to lawmakers and has not been in steady contact.

“The ball’s in their court, and they haven’t talked to me,” said McLaughlin, referring to the team. “I can’t read their minds.”

Andy Greder contributed to this report. Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172. Follow him at twitter.com/FrederickMelo.