Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation

Saint Paul on the Mississippi Development Framework

October 12, 2006

Saint Paul Planning Commission
Zoning Committee
1400 City Hall Annex
25 West 4th Street
Saint Paul, MN 55102

Dear Chairwoman Morton and Members of the Zoning Committee,

The Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation has closely studied the question of whether or not the City should rezone the site for the proposed Bridges of St. Paul project from its current neighborhood classification (TN3) to a downtown classification (B5). After careful review, we believe that such a rezoning request should be denied. Allowing downtown to “jump the river” at this particular point in time would seriously compromise recent and current investments in downtown and change the very character of the river valley and West Side neighborhood.

The Role of the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation

The Riverfront Corporation is a proud steward and advocate of the community’s vision for development of the Mississippi River and surrounding neighborhoods. More than $1 billion has been invested in the river corridor in the last 10 years; another $1 billion of investment is anticipated over the next decade for a wide range of projects, some already in the pipeline.

There is a river development agenda, guided by the Saint Paul on the Mississippi Development Framework and the City’s Comprehensive Plan. It is an agenda that the Riverfront Corporation wholeheartedly supports and works to implement every day. The debate circling The Bridges illustrates Saint Paul’s success. Growth and renewal in the river corridor has spurred more growth and development, as intended. We are enthused that developers are willing to “think big” and see this as a bellwether for continued progress.

Protecting Current Assets

Saint Paul’s downtown core has been the focus of a great deal of investment in the past dozen years. Consider the Children’s and Science Museums; Xcel Energy Center and its primary tenant, the Minnesota Wild; Lawson Commons and eight other office buildings; Landmark Plaza; hundreds of new housing units; and a dozen or more new restaurants. There is much more on the horizon, soon to be complemented by a 21st Century transit line--the Central Corridor LRT. Downtown is just now beginning to realize its potential as a vital urban center.

Shifting focus now, in such a dramatic way as proposed through the rezoning request, is a bad idea. It would unnecessarily put at risk the considerable public and private investments made in downtown to date, as well as planned investments just getting underway.

Moreover, current zoning ensures that West Side’s riverfront area be redeveloped as a true urban village, open and accessible to all, with a lively street life and long-term economic viability. B5 zoning is inconsistent with more than a decade of investment decisions made by a variety of public, private, and community stakeholders.

The Role of the Comprehensive Plan

The Comprehensive Plan is the result of extensive study, community input, expert consultation, and Planning Commission oversight. It is built on a foundation and history of City decision-making, setting the stage for future development. It is designed to ensure a healthy and vital city over the long term. Ultimately, the City Council and the Mayor adopt it as Saint Paul’s vision for city building.

The City’s Comprehensive Plan is not just a bureaucratic tool; it is a preeminent guide that shapes public investment decisions, protects private investments, and gives the marketplace and development community greater predictability. It is our opinion that B5 rezoning is inconsistent with fundamental strategies of the Comprehensive Plan and its Land Use Policies, which call for:

Maintaining a vital city center in downtown Saint Paul (Land Use Strategy 1);
Development of neighborhoods as urban villages that extend the existing fabric of the city and support a healthy downtown (Land Use Strategy 2)
Developing the river corridor in ways that enhance the unique and natural ecology of the river valley (Land Use Strategy 3)
Environmental stewardship that focuses on protecting topographic features, sensitive natural resources and the visual beauty of Saint Paul’s views and vistas – and emphasizes natural stormwater management practices (Land Use Strategy 4)

B5 zoning would allow a type and scale of development not intended for the West Side community by the Comprehensive Plan. Urban planning experts John Shardlow and Philip Carlson of DSU/Bonestroo, and Ken Greenberg of Greenberg Associates join us in this opinion. Attached you will find their independent reports and credentials, as well as our analysis of how the rezoning request is inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan’s four Land Use Policies.

Conclusion

The question before you today is whether or not the The Bridges rezoning request is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Undoubtedly, there will be components of The Bridges proposal that conform. But if fundamental guiding principles of the Comprehensive Plan are ignored, it doesn’t matter how many peripheral attributes are found to be consistent.

The Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation wants to see development on the river. We will continue to be a catalyst for revitalization and an advocate for the long-term economic vitality of Saint Paul, its downtown and the river corridor. We will continue to objectively evaluate all development proposals against key policy and community-driven criteria. And it is through this lens that we view the current B5 rezoning request as substantially inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan. With respect for all parties involved, we ask you to deny the rezoning request.

Sincerely,

Virginia Stringer
Board Chair Patrick Seeb
Executive Director

Attachments
A: Inconsistencies between Requested Rezoning and the Comprehensive Plan

ATTACHMENT A

SAINT PAUL RIVERFRONT CORPORATION
OCTOBER 12, 2006

INCONSISTENCIES BETWEEN REQUESTED REZONING AND COMPREHENSIVE PLAN:

It is the opinion of the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation that The Bridges’ B5 Central Business-Service District rezoning request is inconsistent with key strategies and policies of the Comprehensive Plan and its Land Use Policies:

A. Land Use Plan Strategy 1: A Vital, Growing City Center
Strategy 1 of the Comprehensive Plan’s Land Use Plan calls for maintaining a “vital city center” in downtown Saint Paul. A change to B5 zoning would allow retail development and a physical scale that would challenge the viability and identity of downtown Saint Paul – and would adversely impact downtown housing, restaurants and retail. The Strategy clearly directs development in the downtown fringe to support and complement adjacent business, residential and natural areas and calls for new mixed-use urban villages that frame the downtown core – not supplant it.

B. Land Use Plan Strategy 2: Neighborhoods as Urban Villages
This strategy urges development and redevelopment of neighborhoods as urban villages – designed to be predominantly residential with some retail. The Comprehensive Plan defines urban villages as an extension of the existing fabric of the city, not dramatically different in scale and intensity. The Bridges would be first and foremost a regional shopping and entertainment center, not an urban village, as called for in current zoning. Rezoning to B5 for the proposed Bridges project is contrary to the urban village purpose, size and scale for this area outlined in the Comprehensive Plan.

C. Land Use Plan Strategy 3: Corridors for Growth
The river corridor is one of the corridors specifically cited in the Comprehensive Plan for focused growth. The Plan calls for “changes consistent with enhancement of the corridor’s natural ecology within an urban segment of the river” and says “urban villages across the Robert and Wabasha bridges from downtown are envisioned to be… mixtures of land uses – residential, office, and some retail and industrial”, with a fine-grained pattern of streets. The intent of B5 zoning is to provide for services that “often involve objectionable influences such as noise from heavy service operations and large volumes of truck traffic, and…businesses which are needed in proximity to the Central Business District”. These are not uses the Comprehensive Plan specifies for the river corridor.

D. Land Use Plan Strategy 4: Environmental Stewardship
Strategy 4 focuses on topographic features, sensitive resources and the visual beauty of Saint Paul, referencing a complete chapter of the Comprehensive Plan that focuses exclusively on the Mississippi river corridor. The river corridor Plan contains four strategies: Protect the River as a Unique Urban Ecosystem; Sustain the Economic Resources of the Working River; Enhance the City’s Quality of Life by Reconnecting to the River; and Use Urban Design to Enhance the River Corridor’s Built Environment. Rezoning to B5 in the proposed area would allow uses and densities antithetical to these strategies, including: deemphasizing natural stormwater management practices; potentially removing existing river-dependent industries; disconnecting existing and emerging neighborhoods from the river; inhibiting visual and physical connections to the river; and obstructing river corridor views.

Independent Consultant Reports:

DSU-Bonestroo
Greenberg