Next week, the St. Paul City Council will vote on the Ford Plan, rezoning the 135-acre Ford Motor Company site to create a mixed-use urban village composed of thousands of housing units, commercial spaces and retail development. Along with a preliminarily-approved $275 million Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, the plan will focus all of the City’s economic development resources for the next two decades in what is arguably Saint Paul’s most successful and prosperous neighborhood.

By contrast, recall 3M. When its corporate campus — a couple of miles from downtown on the East Side — went on the market about the same time as the Ford plant, the City took a pass on even having a couple of planners evaluate the site. When a chance for a new mixed-use urban village opened up for my community — albeit with less but ample acreage — the City never considered our wonderfully diverse neighborhood for the development of urgently needed workforce and affordable family housing and tax base.

Don’t get me wrong. I fully believe that it is possible for development to occur in two places at once in Saint Paul. For me, it is definitely not a zero sum game. But the development that occurs in places like the North End and the East Side demands loving care that can only be accomplished by creative and able City staff working with private and nonprofit partners, using incentives – like TIF financing – to make it happen.

I’ve been a vocal opponent of TIF, in a large part because it is supposed to be reserved for those areas where development would otherwise not occur. A case in point happened in Dayton’s Bluff earlier this month when we lost a prospective employer hoping to bring professional and service jobs to the Hamm’s Brewery — because the City didn’t have the time or resources to keep the project moving forward. Without TIF or other resources, the City simply couldn’t make it happen at Hamm’s.

So as my ward loses out again in our hot new neighborhood at Payne and Minnehaha, I am struck by the controversy in the Highland Park neighborhood where the City actually wants to award the resources denied us on the East Side. The anger and despair expressed by Highland Park neighbors divided over the Ford Plan exceeds any that I have experienced in my 30-plus years working in and around City Hall.

Ironically, Highland Park neighbors all seem to agree on the underlying principles of the Ford Plan: to build a sustainable, energy efficient, transit-oriented mixed-use neighborhood that will be an easily walkable and bike-able extension of their beloved Highland Village. The deep conflict seems to revolve around the amount and nature of the green space, the height and density of the housing and whether or not the neighborhood can bear the traffic loads from what is slated to become the most concentrated residential neighborhood in the Twin Cities.

This paper’s editorial board has asked the Mayor and the City Council to slow down and address this neighbor-against-neighbor antagonism before we commit to a long-term plan. I agree with the paper for that and another reason: As city leaders, we need to weigh the commitment of resources that we are making to Ford versus the housing and economic development needs throughout the city.

Some may consider it presumptuous for me to propose a compromise outside of my ward, but here goes:

Scale back the housing unit range now set at 2,500-4,000 units, to 2,000-3,000 units.

Add more green space, using Councilmember Tolbert’s amendment that reduces heights in the Ford site while allowing developers who create additional green space to build taller buildings

In response to the National Park Service and other environmental advocates, pull the Mississippi River Boulevard back from the bluff, affording more green space to the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area , and repair the section of the Grand Round that has become precarious due to erosion.

Finally, let’s start a crowd-funding initiative to save the Ford Little League ball fields and preserve one of our city’s and that neighborhood’s most enduring traditions.

Such a compromise would free up some TIF for neighborhoods facing significant challenges and could facilitate the development of 1,500 to 2,000 affordable housing units on promising sites in places like the North End, the East Side and along the proposed Gold Line Bus Rapid Transit and Rush Line corridors.

A strong and successful city has a balanced economic development approach that deploys its talented staff and not unlimited financial resources to strengthen the tax base and quality of life – not just west of Snelling but citywide.

Jane Prince is a member of the St. Paul City Council, representing Ward 7 on St. Paul’s East Side, including the neighborhoods of Dayton’s Bluff, Mounds Park, Swede Hollow, Battle Creek, Highwood, Conway and Eastview.