Development Updates

Goodwill variance issue resolved; project moving forward

Bike lanes will be added to the Marshall Ave. street repair project beginning in May. That will tie into the neighborhood north/south bike routes including Raymond, Prior, Aldine, Pascal and Griggs. Other area bike routes are also on this year's list of projects.

BY JANE MCCLURE

GOODWILL/EASTER SEALS

A dispute over Goodwill/ Easter Seals’ new retail/office building has been resolved. With agreements on travel demand management and potential shared parking, Hamline Midway Coalition withdrew its appeal of a variance for the new store at 1221-1253 University Ave. The St. Paul City Council then canceled a public hearing. Ward Four Council Member Russ Stark said he was glad that the two parties were able to reach an agreement.

The project had won a conditional use permit and variance for more than 60 feet of off-street parking along University Ave., but the district council appealed that decision. The objections were withdrawn after Good­will/Easter Seals agreed to added conditions on its plan. One condition calls for the nonprofit to seek a way to share its off-street parking in the future, as University Ave. properties continue to be redeveloped. Another calls for Goodwill/Easter Seals to plan for what is called TDM or travel demand management. This is a strategy that could potentially reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips to a development.

Goodwill/Easter Seals plans to tear down the former Whitaker Buick building and erect a two-story retail store and office building. The old auto dealership will be replaced with a two-story building with 20,000 retail space, 5,000 square feet for donations processing and 3,500 square feet for offices. The store would replace the existing store at Charles and Fairview. Goodwill/Easter Seals would retain that building for offices, training space and storage.

BIKE ROUTES

Whether your bicycle is your main mode of transportation or a source of fun and exercise, you’ll have more options in area neighborhoods. Several area bikeway projects will be completed this year, including one east-west connection that taps into the Midway’s north-south routes.

Bicycling is getting more attention in St. Paul as the city continues to seek comments in April on a long-range plan for bicycle improvements. While those plans could take 20 to 30 years to take shape, several projects are on the drawing board now.

One of the newest projects is Marshall Ave. between Snelling Ave. and Lexington Pkwy., which gets underway in May. The bike lanes will be added as part of a street mill and overlay project. For area cyclists it will provide better connections to current and planned north-south routes including Raymond, Prior, Aldine, Pascal and Griggs, and provide a route reaching from Minneapolis and Lake St. to downtown St. Paul.

Marshall Ave. is a county road. St. Paul’s Department of Public Works decided to add the bike lanes while Ramsey County’s Department of Public Works did the project.

Yet another project slotted for this year is bike connections for the Pierce Butler-Lexington Pkwy. area, to complete a system of trails and a bridge built in past years.

Residents of Hamline-Midway and Frogtown will see the Charles Ave. bike boulevard completed. Work on Snelling Ave. began last fall. Charles Ave. will provide an east-west bicycle connection from Park Ave. to Aldine St. It includes signage, street markings, corner bumpouts and pedestrian refuses along the route.

According to St. Paul Public Works, higher-than-anticipated bids pushed the Griggs and Jefferson Ave. projects back to this construction season from 2013. The Jefferson and Griggs projects are being rebid as a package, to be completed this spring. The combined costs are estimated at $1.3 million, but bids came in $300,000 to almost $700,000 higher last year.

The Griggs project extends from Minnehaha Ave. to Selby Ave. and includes street markings, signals at University Ave., bumpouts and a traffic circle.

SNELLING SITE DEVELOPMENT

Look for opportunities to weigh in soon on the proposed redevelopment of property south of Midway Center. The so-called Snelling site redevelopment, which has been discussed by Metropolitan Council, Metro Transit and the City of St. Paul since 2012, moves to a new phase this spring.

At issue is how to redevelop the former bus barn property and a site to the east, which total 14.7 acres. This could also tie to longer-term-term redevelopment of the Midway Center block. That would mean redeveloping a total of 34.5 acres. The development partners have hired consultant and are working on recommendations including steps toward bringing in denser, transit-oriented development that is more in keeping with the city’s adopted Snelling Station Area Plan. The consultants are to wrap up their work in April. Then the city, regional agencies and shopping center owner RK Midway must decide next steps.

The public can get involved soon on the city’s Open St. Paul feature of the city’s website, at www.stpaul.gov. Once the topic is posted everyone can weigh in on what they’d like to see happen to the property. Union Park District Council and its Land Use Committee are leading community discussion and are reaching out to Hamline-Midway residents to the north. You can follow up at www.updc.org.