Howard J. Miller and Kate Hunt recently asked a billboard company to post a sign over Highland Village criticizing St. Paul’s plans for the vacant Ford Motor Co. campus: “High-Rises = Overpopulation = Gridlock.”

The ad was rejected, but the retired couple’s resolve against the city’s zoning plans remains steadfast.

On the other side of the debate, Rob Wales is no less certain the city is on the right path.

“They’re overreacting to specific numbers, like (projected maximum) population size at the Ford site,” said Wales, an IT professional who envisions housing rolling out gradually. “Residents say ‘Oh, there’s going to be a huge influx of cars.’ The traffic studies show it’s going to be at specific times of day.”

With St. Paul’s “zoning and public realm” plan for the Ford site expected to go before the St. Paul City Council for approval by the fall, the two sides are approaching a showdown.

Fans of high-density zoning believe drawing new residents and businesses to one of the city’s most desirable riverfront neighborhoods will increase tax base and allow St. Paul to serve as a national model for environmentally sustainable neighborhood planning.

Critics say the city’s zoning plans will allow developers to overbuild, which will have heavy impacts on parking, schools, sight lines and traffic for blocks all around.

"My biggest concern is it's going to be another Galtier Plaza," says Howard Miller, on Mt. Curve Road near Ford site pic.twitter.com/JGGm8AEuJR — FredMelo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) May 4, 2017

The Highland Park District Council opted May 4 to reschedule a vote on whether to support the city’s zoning plans. At full build-out, the plans project 2,400 to 4,000 housing units, as well as retail and offices on the site south of Ford Parkway between Mississippi River Boulevard and Cleveland Avenue.

LIVABLE FORD VILLAGE

Miller, a social worker, and Hunt, who has a background in public health, retired to Highland Park — Hunt’s childhood neighborhood — after careers that included six years in Portland, Ore., where the two enjoyed biking and walking to work.

They’re no strangers to the concept of pedestrian-friendly residential streets connected to retail and recreation. But when a developer announced plans to convert a one-story Edina Realty building at the edge of their street into a luxury housing structure called “The Finn,” the couple paid approximately $400 to appeal the decision to the St. Paul City Council.

“That kind of has motivated us,” said Hunt, who lost the battle in a 7-0 council vote. “That was a one-story building and a surface parking lot. Now it’s four stories, wall-to-wall. The neighbors were concerned about the massive size crammed into that small space.”

Construction of The Finn, at 725 S. Cleveland Ave., is almost complete, but it could be a small harbinger of even larger projects on the horizon.

Miller and Hunt, who live on Highland Parkway, have teamed with neighbors on lightly traveled Mount Curve Boulevard to launch Livable Ford Village, a coalition opposed to the city’s zoning plans for the now-vacant site of Ford’s former Twin Cities Assembly Plant.

ON THE WEB: stpaul.gov/Ford

With the possible addition of land owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, St. Paul planning officials envision a maximum of 4,000 housing units spread across 135 acres split into six zoning districts. Building heights would “step up” as they travel from the west toward the east.

Miller and Hunt say that’s too much housing, traffic and building height.

“That is a 30 percent increase to the neighborhood population,” said Hunt, who believes parking and traffic impacts will be felt throughout the surrounding neighborhood.

Near the Mississippi River, housing is to be located in condominiums situated in mansion-style two-story buildings. At the site’s far eastern reaches between Cretin Avenue and Finn Street, building heights could reach as high as 7 to 10 stories. Miller and Hunt oppose high-rises and prefer to see row houses and apartment buildings, if not single-family homes.

“If you’re standing on Cretin Avenue, in the middle of 7-to-10 story buildings, what does it feel like?” Miller said. “Suddenly the trees are gone, the gardens are gone. You’re left with hulks.”

St. Paul planning and city council officials have hosted a series of meetings in residents’ homes — small group chats with neighbors to explain the plans step-by-step and hear concerns.

St. Paul has neither committed to nor ruled out using “tax increment financing,” or TIF, to spur a projected $1.37 billion in assessed market value development at the site.

Last year, the city council agreed to a maximum of $275 million in TIF development loans that may be paid back through property taxes.

City officials say they may not use those funds, at least not in full, but it’s there if they need it to help build streets, parks or affordable housing. Miller foresees real estate developers demanding it to finance market-rate housing.

“I have a hard time believing that a developer would turn their back on $275 million,” he said.

Some $1.36 billion in development could be supported by up to $275 million in TIF — loans paid back through taxes pic.twitter.com/XYV3MBwz5s — FredMelo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) May 4, 2017

SUSTAIN WARD 3

An equally vocal coalition is ready to respond to Livable Ford Village’s criticisms.

Inspired by the city’s willingness to embrace high-density zoning, a group of about 15 friends and neighbors from Highland Park and Mac-Groveland have launched Sustain Ward 3, an effort to encourage what they call fiscally and environmentally responsible development.

“We want to promote projects that allow our community to grow,” said Wales, who recently bought a home in Highland Park with his fiancee, Amanda Willis. “We don’t want to restrict St. Paul to single-family housing, the standard way things have been going. We’re … pro-active and extremely supportive of the city’s plan at this point.”

Wales points out that Highland Park residents often complain that their property taxes are too high.

That’s a symptom, he said, of the city lacking sufficient tax base — the sum total value of all its taxable properties. New apartment high-rises, condos and commercial establishments could absorb some of the tax burden from homeowners throughout the city, including areas such as Highland Park that were hit with heavy tax increases after the recession.

“A perfect way to level out tax increases is to grow tax base,” Wales said.

As for those 7-to-10 story buildings envisioned on the eastern edge of the site?

“There are existing buildings in the area that are that high,” Wales points out. “We’re probably not going to see a downtown landscape built on the Ford site. … They’ve got it zoned out responsibly to where it is sloping toward the river.”

Jeff Zaayer, a landscape designer and fellow founding member of Sustain Ward 3, said density is essential to street-corner retail.

Without sufficient density, he said, the Ford site could actually threaten nearby business districts. “Otherwise, all they’re going to be doing is building retail space that is going to displace other retail space in Highland Park and St. Paul,” Zaayer said.

Wales said the Ford site is an opportunity for St. Paul to lead the way nationally by showcasing solar power, steam power, hydro-power and above-ground storm water treatments, while allowing seniors to “age in place” and move into senior housing in the same part of the city where they once occupied single-family homes.

WHAT’S AHEAD

The site’s Zoning and Public Realm Master Plan will be presented to the St. Paul Planning Commission on May 19, when the Planning Commission will likely open a public comment period that runs through July 3.

A public hearing before the Planning Commission is tentatively scheduled for June 30.

Ford’s real estate division continues to own 122 acres of land. That land will be rezoned by the city before it is sold to a master developer.