On Saturday, residents of several downtown St. Paul buildings will plant flowers in the small gardens where the Pedro’s Luggage store once stood. They’ll do so with more than a bit of irony. On Thursday evening, six of the same residents quit a city-led committee aimed at designing the future Pedro Park.

The group defection from St. Paul’s Pedro Park Design Advisory Committee comes at a critical time. St. Paul is working with the Ackerberg Group of Minneapolis to redevelop the former public safety annex building adjoining the land into office space. The proposal calls for Ackerberg to buy the future Pedro Park space and fund park improvements on the land for 20 years.

The design advisory committee is intended to help guide those improvements, but residents remain at odds with the city’s vision for new green space. They worry they’ll be left with something more akin to a corporate lawn than a sizable neighborhood gathering place like Mears Park.

St. Paul has restricted discussions to the existing 0.45 acres of vacant land, rather than looking at possibilities for future park expansion, the group said. Thursday’s meeting was the second of the three scheduled committee gatherings, which began May 3.

“We will not participate in a process designed to sell our parkland AND prevent future parkland growth,” Kati Berg, a co-chair of the Friends of Pedro Park Expansion, said in a written statement. “At the design meetings, the city did not present information on nor allow discussion of vacating the alley to the south of the park, or maintaining a public right-of-way through the Annex Building — one of which would be necessary to expand the Pedro donated parkland.”

The group that resigned include City Walk apartments representative Rod Halvorson, Rossmor resident Kate Swenson, the neighborhood’s Capitol River Council representative Jeanne Hall, and three members of the Friends of Pedro Park Expansion committee — Berg, Peg Ganey and Patricia Flaherty. A member of the Pointe of St. Paul condo association remains on the committee. Otherwise, the remaining committee members represent the city, Ackerberg and neighboring businesses. Related Articles Letters: Pedro Park is a broken promise

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“It remains unclear whether or not the individuals who resigned at last night’s meeting are resigning as individuals who were entrusted to represent these groups, or if their resignation signifies that the groups themselves have chosen to no longer participate in this engagement process,” said Clare Cloyd, a spokeswoman with St. Paul Parks and Recreation. “We are working to better understand the implications of these resignations, as the city would welcome the continued participation of these groups.”

The remaining committee members are still poised to close out their work at a third and final meeting on June 21.

“It will be unfortunate if the groups that have contributed to a productive process choose to withdraw, especially since the meetings that have been held so far have provided valuable feedback for city staff,” Cloyd said.

Berg and the Friends of Pedro Park Expansion noted that the Pedro family donated 0.45 acres of land to the city with the expectation that St. Paul would someday establish a larger park, possibly stretching across the full block. A city staff report in November said a 2.1-acre park is still possible, given time.

The Friends of Pedro Park group said it became clear during the two design meetings held to date that the city has no such plans.

“Pedro Park will be totally landlocked with just 0.45 acres, because on the northern border is the 10th Street sidewalk, the eastern border is the Robert Street sidewalk, the western border is the annex, and the southern border is the alley between the annex and the day care center,” Halvorson said. “We believe that the current planning process is very flawed, if they don’t at least vacate the alley to show there’s an intent on future park growth — or maybe the southern half of the annex basement could be an indoor park, like a game room or a park shelter.”

Cloyd said those issues “are outside the scope” of what the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority directed Parks and Recreation to develop the committee for, “which is to provide input to help inform the design for the existing park.”

Berg noted that more than a year ago, the city council identified the boundaries of Pedro Park as including the annex building. Eager to draw new employers downtown, the St. Paul City Council and current and former mayoral administrations decided to change course and redevelop it into office space rather than tear it down and complete the long-standing neighborhood vision. Related Articles Several hundred gather at Minnesota Capitol to protest Breonna Taylor developments

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Berg has set up an online fundraising account that has raised nearly $3,000 toward possible legal action against the city: gofundme.com/saving-pedro-park.

Volunteers are collecting non-invasive plants, seeds and funds for flower planting, which will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday. The city of St. Paul has provided topsoil, and Key’s Cafe and the Camp bar have donated flowers. More information is on the Facebook announcement at tinyurl.com/PedroPlantings.