Group plans strategy against housing demolition

The group, Historic Hamline Village, hopes to engage the new president at Hamline University

By JANE MCCLURE

Neighbors concerned about Hamline University’s demolition of homes vow to stay involved. Several also want to continue to see what they can do to save 1549 Minnehaha Ave., although there are still questions as to accomplish that. There is frustration with the slow pace of community-university talks and how to save homes from wrecking crews. There are also concerns that the city isn’t doing enough to help the neighborhood.

Photo right: Neighbors still would like to save the historic home at 1549 Minneaha Ave., but are unsure of whether or not it can be accomplished.

More than two dozen neighbors attended an update meeting June 25 at Hamline Church United Methodist. The activists’ group Historic Hamline Village organized the meeting. Neighbors heard information on 1549 Minnehaha as well as efforts to have a historic properties survey completed for the neighborhood.

They also reviewed two upcoming city efforts. One, which will be heard by the St. Paul City Council at 5:30pm Wed., July 15, will set residential design standards for new infill housing in Ward 3. If that standard is expanded citywide, it could affect Hamline Midway and other neighborhoods.

The second effort is a St. Paul Department of Planning and Economic Development (PED) study of campus boundaries and the issue of Hamline University and other schools buying land outside of their city-approved boundaries.

While discussions June 25 were wide-ranging, there was agreement that more public meetings are needed. There was also discussing of getting neighbors involved with anti-residential teardown efforts citywide and efforts such as putting neighborhoods in conservation districts.

There is also eagerness to engage with a new Hamline University president as Fayneese Miller took office July 1.

Demolition of five properties including the former “White House” university president’s residence prompted an uproar last year. Ward Four Council Member Russ Stark’s office stepped in. After a large community meeting in September 2014, neighbors hoped for a process to discuss the issues of demolition and campus expansion. The university also agreed to a one-year moratorium on tear-downs, which expires Oct. 1.

Photo left: The home at 1538 Englewood is also on the long-range plan for the University to demolish.

But a five-month delay before a university-requested facilitator could step in was one frustration, said Historic Hamline Village member Tom Goldstein. He and others said that while they understand that the University is transitioning to a new administration, neighbors are unhappy with the slow pace of talks.

“We feel there is a disconnect,” Historic Hamline Village member Roy Neal said. Neighbors would like to see Hamline University do what other St. Paul schools have done, such as have a formal neighborhood liaison staff position or even provide funds to improve housing near campus.

Neal said there are two parallel threads of discussion. One is that of neighborhood preservation. The other is community engagement. “We should be working hand in hand with the university to promote the neighborhood,” he said.

Another concern is that while neighbors were told that an 1880s-era home at 1549 Minnehaha Ave. would be sold for $1 or turned over to nonprofit for rehabilitation, they learned that was not a formal offer, but a suggestion. The home is classified by the city as a Category II vacant property and needs a long list of property code violations corrected before it can be sold.

University officials didn’t attend the meeting. Spokesperson Jacqui Getty said the university doesn’t have plans to remove the house in the foreseeable future and that, in November, University trustees will consider a viable offer to purchase and rehab the property. But Goldstein said it’s a great source of frustration that there is no formal offer to transfer house ownership.

In an email, Getty said, “We had purchased the property a few years ago with a plan to remove the house. It is in significant disrepair and was that way when we bought it. Over the past several months, however, we’ve been in discussions with neighbors, some of whom have expressed an interest in coming up with a proposal to purchase the property from the university so they can rehab the house. Our Facilities Committee of the Board of Trustees is willing to consider that, and the committee members will review any such proposals at their November meeting. It is possible that the committee may determine that before they can make any decision about divesting of property that we may need to update our campus master plan. The last time we updated such a plan, it took a year.”

Attendees at the meeting said they also want to see the university reopen discussions of its 2008 master plan. It shows plans to add student housing, parking, classroom space and green space, much in places where 27 structures stand or stood. Some neighbors hoped the University would revisit the issue in light of stagnant university enrollment and the recent law school merger.

Getty said, that the next steps forward, as advised by the facilitators, likely will entail the creation of a neighborhood engagement or advisory group and a community update meeting this fall. She said that the engagement/advisory group would be a good vehicle for ongoing discussion of issues and opportunities that are important to both neighbors and the university. That discussion could include campus master planning. She added that the fall meeting would also be a good opportunity to talk through broader community engagement plans.