Posted on 11 July 2016 by Calvin

As plans and approvals continue forward, June construction start date passes waiting for tax bill

By JANE MCCLURE

Plans for a Major League Soccer stadium and redeveloped Midway Center are set to go to the St. Paul City Council for a public hearing at 5:30pm, Wed., Aug. 3 at City Hall. The ambitious projects are moving ahead on paper while a property tax exemption hangs in the balance.

The plans won Planning Commission approval July 8.

About 50 people attended a June 10 St. Paul Planning Commission public hearing on the stadium, site plan and master plan for the block bounded by Pascal St. and St. Anthony, Snelling and University avenues. Almost 150 people attended a June 7 open house at Concordia University.

City staff recommended approval of the plans, with some measures to mitigate traffic, parking, noise and other issues. The mitigation measures will also be shaped by an Areawide Urban Alternatives Review or AUAR, which outlines steps to deal with potential impacts. Comments on the AUAR were due July 6, with city staff responses and a final report expected by July 18.

On July 13 the Metropolitan Council was expected to act on $1.25 million pollution cleanup grant for the former bus garage site and RK Midway-owned property to the east.

Planning Commission members have continued to review the plans, but they and others have asked what will happen if the Minnesota Legislature doesn’t have a special session and approve the property tax exemption for the stadium site. That was included in the tax bill that Gov. Mark Dayton recently pocket-vetoed. Dayton and state lawmakers have discussed the possibility of a special legislative session but haven’t been able to agree.

Minnesota United officials have been mum since the regular session ended, Minnesota United FC owner Bill McGuire told the Planning Commission in June that he is confident that there will be a special session.

Stadium construction was supposed to start in June but without an adopted tax bill, nothing will start.

Many citizens, members of the Snelling-Midway Community Advisory Committee and area district council members say that that more details are needed on both plans and that the fast pace of development means a lack of access to needed information. “This represents incredible risks and opportunities for our city and our neighborhoods,” said Snelling Midway Community Advisory Committee Co-chairman Eric Molho. The task force wrapped up its review of the site plan and master plan in May. While the group generally supports the plans, “the reality is, we know very few of the critical details.” Molho also said the advisory group had “significant concerns and frustrations” about the process and believes that more public engagement is needed.

“This has been a huge and very fast-moving project,” he said. Union Park District Council is forming its own task force to monitor stadium and shopping center planning. Hamline Midway Coalition broadly favors the ideas presented so far but wants more input on issues including open space, pedestrian safety, density and site design. Coalition representative Nathan Roisen said that his neighborhood is just as, if not more, affected by the project than Union Park is. Capital Region Watershed District also weighed in, asking for more attention to storm water management.

Many citizens also spoke at the Planning Commission and community meetings, raising worries about traffic, spillover parking, game time noise and disruption to an area that has been through years of Green Line light rail, Snelling Bridge, and Snelling Ave. reconstruction.

One new issue to emerge is that of whether the redeveloped site should have some type of water feature, possibly as part of a storm water management plan. Some Planning Commission members would like to see that added. But McGuire said he’d rather see green space and reminded the Planning Commission that maintaining a water feature can have a high cost.

Merriam Park resident Danette Lincoln described herself as “one of the little people” who has been following the plans. She lives near I-94 and said neighbors could face years of construction noise and disruption, followed by noise and spillover parking. While people want to see redevelopment, “we don’t want to be stepped on in the process.”

“Neighborhood parking is already being used by people using the Green Line,” said Hamline-Midway resident Yvonne Schneider. She and others worried that soccer fans would use neighborhood streets for parking. But Schneider and others also said they would be pleased to see the area redeveloped with amenities such as green space and new businesses. She described the current conditions as “a pit.”