Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary the product of years of dedicated community collaboration

By JANE MCCLURE

In the future, those who enjoy the Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary will see a day lighted stream, restored vegetation, open space and trails. And they will have a dedicated band of neighbors to thank.

The 42-acre park was dedicated in June by city, county and state officials. The dedication marked more than two decades of debate over how the once-industrial area should be redeveloped. The park area is near the Maryland-Jackson intersection and is bordered on the east by Interstate 35E.

The Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary and Regional Trail will open in spring 2015. It will connect the Gateway, Bruce Vento and Trout Brook regional trails and will be a place for biking, hiking and outdoor education. It will be the second-largest natural area in the city.

The firm of HR Green will design the nature sanctuary. The city has sought bids for about $3 million in improvements. Area residents should watch for changes as the old Jackson Auto business and other longtime land uses go away.

The nature preserve will have restrooms and other amenities for visitors but the focus will be on the outdoors. The area’s historic Trout Brook Creek will be day lighted after decades of flowing underground in a storm sewer.

The North End has parks and playgrounds, but neighbors wanted more natural spaces. They had long eyed the area east of their homes. Part of the Trout Brook park area was owned by the prominent Rice family, whose name is on Rice Street and downtown’s Rice Park. That prompted jokes among Tri-Area Block Club members that the name “Rice Park” was already taken. But the Rice estate later became part of a larger industrial area.

“We could write a book about all of the battles we had over how the site should be redeveloped,” said longtime North End resident Linda Jungwirth. She, her husband John and many others in the Tri-Area Block Club worked with elected officials and District 6 Planning Council to keep out less-than-desirable uses and have the area preserved as park land.

Ward Five Council Member Amy Brendmoen, who described the June event as a “reverse groundbreaking,” said that while she and other elected official have helped, the credit for making Trout Brook happen should go to the neighbors. “This is a result of their efforts.”

The block club worked with numerous elected and appointed officials, including three mayors and four Ward Five City Council members, to get the project done. County Commission Janice Rettman is the only local elected official to see the project from start to finish. She credits neighbors with its success, calling them the “Triumphant Trillium Troubadours.”

The property was long known as the Trillium site, named by a former land owner. Although the trillium is a flower, parts of the site needed extensive pollution cleanup so that flowers and native plants could grow there again. Much of it was a railroad yard.

Many developers eyed the site over the past 25 years. One proposal would have placed a bus barn there and sent hundreds of buses rumbling along neighborhood streets. Another idea was for a business that would stockpile and clean contaminated soil, raising fears about pollution. Time and again, the neighborhood organized and held to its vision for a nature preserve.

One argument against development was the peat soils on part of the site. Neighbors can tell visitors that one natural-looking sinkhole on the property is actually a spot where someone years ago tried to put up a large billboard post. The peat wouldn’t cooperate and only the hole remained.

Jungwirth and Rettman noted that it has been a group of about two dozen Tri-Area Block Club volunteers who worked to redevelop the site. One person missed at the groundbreaking was the late Verna Gilson, a longtime North End activist whose quiet determination served as a role model for others.

“I wish she were here to see it happen,” said Jungwirth. “She was my mentor.”

For years the club took its cause to the City Hall/Courthouse and the State Capitol. They worked with four St. Paul City Council members alone. Former Ward Five Council Member Lee Helgen kept maps of the area on his wall all during his years in office, as a reminder to keep the project going. He worked on the land negotiations and efforts to fund the park.

The Tri-Area Block Club wouldn’t let him and others forget. They showed up at Planning Commission meetings to oppose redevelopment and made their case for funding to other groups.

Now that the park is becoming a reality, all agree that the long effort was worth it. “This is the story of neighbors working together and how they can achieve success,” said District 6 Executive Director Kerry Antrim.