Keep on Eye on Local Governments . . ..... ... ...

[PJJM]

Sorry for the long post, but everyone in Highland Park (and really in any part of St. Paul that is under review for development by local governments) needs to know that the Highland District Council, the City of St. Paul and the City’s Zoning and Safety department are willing to take action in the Highland Community (and I am sure elsewhere based on what we’ve been reading) without resident input. All these public bodies appear to do everything they can to avoid telling residents what their plans are for your neighborhood and avoid hearing what you might have to say about it.

Here’s what happened: We made an offer on our house on Norfolk Ave. during the week of September 22, 2014. The old St. Mary’s Nursing Home is being developed as Assisted Living facility by River Road II Investments (Highlands on Graham) and is across the street from our house.

Before we made the offer, the City of St. Paul issued a Zoning Committee staff report which had a site plan of where the parking lot would be and which granted variances for the building and parking lot, etc. The residents of Norfolk were provided the site plan and asked to comment on it. We reviewed this site plan before finalizing the offer on our new house because, ironically, we’d had multiple negative experiences with the City of St. Paul, City Zoning, and the Pottery Barn development/developers on Grand and Victoria. This group ran roughshod over the residents on Lincoln Ave and Grand, our old neighborhood.

So guess what? After we moved and with no notice to the residents of the neighborhood or to anyone, the Highland District Council and City of St. Paul approved a change in the site plans – specifically, the location of the underground parking ramp so that it is directly in front of our house. With the location of the new ramp, the lights from the cars leaving the ramp will go directly into our living and dining room, daily, hourly, each minute, who knows.

As to the rest of the neighborhood, the Highland District Council also approved the removal of 6 surface parking spaces from the original site plan. Where will these folks park if not in front of the houses of the Norfolk residents? We understand that parking was a particular concern of the Norfolk Avenue residents when the site plans were discussed.

Who did this and why? Highland District Council wouldn’t communicate with us since we’ve raised our concerns. The City has told us a slightly different story each time they tried to explain and all of the explanations are nothing more than an attempt to justify a decision after it occurred.

According to the City of St. Paul, the City Forester decided to move the ramp to save a tree (ironies abound here, but to save that tree, that they have to cut down a different tree, because apparently the soon-to-be cut tree is an “undesirable” tree) and because “traffic” was concerned that the location of the ramp as outlined in the original plans was too close to a house in the alley.

What’s wrong with this explanation? I have a tip for HDC, the City, Zoning, the City Forester, “traffic” and the developer, between the time you presented the plans to the residents on Norfolk and November 2014, the house close to the alley didn’t move and neither did the tree. Wouldn’t you think this was a bit of a ruse (as this is our opinion) if this explanation was offered to you as the reason why the driveway was moved?

For those of you facing construction planning in the City of St. Paul, the plans that the City and the developer provided to the residents who live on the street don’t in fact now appear to be the “real” plans. We learned this when the City offered its explanation for the change in plans based on the tree and driveway being too close to the house on the alley (which, in yet another ironic twist we have reason to believe is owned by a developer).

What do you need to know and why should you care?

What happened with the change in plans originally prepared by River Road II investments and the ultimate approval of the change to the plans by Highland District Council and the City of St. Paul was stealth government at every level. The change in plans was accomplished with no notice to the neighborhood as a whole, no notice to us, no notice to the residents of the street, no notice to anyone.

Highland District Council is a big problem (apart from the City, City Zoning, etc. and the developer) The District Council’s justification for no notice to the Norfolk residents: the Council concluded that it was not a “substantial change” to move a parking entrance from one street to another.

Did Highland District Council ask anyone what they thought about the change in plans? Of course not. In fact, they care so little, they didn’t bother to tell anyone they were going to talk about this issue at their meeting. The Highland District Council’s web site says that their mission is to help all of us “engage and connect with neighbors, businesses and local government and to help build a more vibrant, welcoming, and safe neighborhood.” Apparently our end of Highland is insubstantial enough that it does not matter if we are vibrant, welcoming or safe.

Here is my question, if a Highland District Council (or any neighborhood council) could conclude that the location of a parking ramp on a residential street was not worth a pubic discussion, what’s going to happen to the Shepard Road/Hwy 5 realignment project, the new condo building, the Ford Plant redevelopment or any other Highland project? Will they listen to your comments and then ignore them? It sure seems to be a likely possibility (I know, I know this has already happened multiple times).

I saved the best for last, knowing we were fighting an up-hill battle, we asked the River Road Investments II (Highlands on Graham) if they could at least purchase a hedge for our front yard to help block the lights from the ramp, which will be particularly bad in the winter. What did they say? Nope. They don’t think it will be too bad either.

You have to love a developer who is unwilling to spare a dime on a multi-million dollar project to help with goodwill. Nice work River Road II Investments (Highland on Graham), good way to make all the neighbors dislike you. Welcome to the neighborhood!

[beige_box]

This is a test of faith, my friend. Will you, as the seasons go by, find the hidden, deeper beauty of the parking garage entrance? Or will you cower away from the world's challenge and slink off to some superficially bucolic street -- all while the plans for the dreary parking garage in your soul are expanded each day? I pray for you.

[EOst]

The ramp in question has, by my count, 45 stalls. How many of the cars in an assisted living home are actually driven on a daily basis? I really doubt those headlights are going to ruin your evening. It also looks like Norfolk Ave is more than able to handle six extra parked cars; none of the Streetviews on Google Maps show anywhere near 50% (or even 25%!) parking usage.

No development is going to please everyone all the time; if this ramp weren't in front of you, it'd be in front of someone else. Cities and neighborhood groups have to balance the concerns of everyone, developers and new residents as well as homeowners. Instead of worrying about this, count your blessings; at least you'll no longer have a creepy abandoned nursing home across the street.

[PJJM]

It's not the ramp, it's the hidden process that is so troubling. And, to the poster praying for our souls, wow, thanks not really sure how to take that one.

[PJJM]

Thank you stating the obvious. Having looked at Google Map, I guess you are an expert. Most of those on street parking spaces will be removed to accommodate curb cuts and exit into the parking facility. Also, the number of spaces is based on what the Site Plan says---a Site Plan that can apparently be changed w/o notice. (That's the same Site Plan that included alley parking entrance.).
It's disappointing that urbanmsp has devolved Ito a one opinion site, & nimby is like accusing someone of child abuse. The issue is that there was no discussion of revisions, and the neighborhood's investment in their homes (not just me) was ignored.

[Anondson]

What sort of modification is too minor to be worth notifying every neighbor? Are there development decisions for local levels of government to make that shouldn't need democratic voting?

It is totally frustrating when things seem to be happening behind closed doors. But I think it gets into troublesome territory when one property owner gets veto over reasonable use of a neighboring property owner. Is the assisted living facility not a property tax paying property that pays for the city street shared by everybody? I used to be more sympathetic to the notion that every home had a reserved spot on the public street in front of it. But it ends up being a car storage subsidy that not all other city residents get.

I used to live on Hague adjacent to O'Gara's. My back yard physically touched O'Gara's Garage at the corner. Three nights a week O'Gara's parking overflowed into the neighborhood for a few hours. Except for a couple homes, including ours, everyone else had driveways for their own car storage, we ended up building our own driveway. Before we built our driveway we ended up parking a block down. I guess one difference is that O'Gara's was always there the way it was, while the assisted living is a newer, slightly denser use.

[PJJM]

Not really expecting sympathy here, but the point is (and now saying this for the third time) it's not the building, it's the process. The City of St. Paul knows it screwed up because they met with the City Attorney last week to review the situation after we raised a concern. And again, builders build, developers develop, we are not opposed to either. It's the process, don't say you are going to do one thing, tell the neighborhood (read taxpayers) you are going to build X and then secretly change the plan and build Y. We know there isn't much we can do to change the course of events, but how about some accountability by the various governmental agencies? BTW, the residents on Norfolk are just as unhappy as we are about the new location of the ramp because the developer removed 6 surface parking spots and there is limited parking on this street contrary to what Eost says. And, yes we are so lucky that the "creepy" nursing home is gone, but I don't appreciate the bait and switch of the City, HDC and the developer.

[mplsjaromir]

This goes to show why investing in Saint Paul is not wise. The city operates in a paternalistic fashion that borders on cronyism. 'Father Knows Best' is a good way to describe the M.O. in the Saintly City.

When two parties have a disagreement in Saint Paul, the party that has spent more time in Saint Paul is automatically the correct party. If both parties have spent a similar length of time in Saint Paul, then the individual with the most Irish sounding surname is deemed correct. If both parties have individuals with sufficiently Irish names, the tie breaker is whichever party has attended mass more frequently in the last year.

Saint Paul is a wonderful city full of charm and great people. The unfortunate truth is that the elected and un-elected leaders are seriously behind the times. Minneapolis may not be a paragon of modern and transparent governance, but I think its pretty darn good.