A fragile collaboration between developer Jerry Trooien and three neighborhood groups fell apart Monday, leaving the $1 billion proposed Bridges of St. Paul project on the West Side riverfront in limbo.
City Council Member Dave Thune disbanded a committee that included Trooien and three district councils, citing deep divisions among neighborhood leaders and Trooien, with no prospect of reaching consensus.
Trooien and his backers said they would press ahead with the retail and condominium project, which they see as vital to the city’s future. The developer said he hopes to resubmit his plans to City Hall within a month, after he hosts a series of “public thinking sessions.”
“It’s kind of like an MRI of the riverfront,” Trooien said of the upcoming public meetings, which likely will be held through the West Side Citizens Organization. “Since Day 1, we’ve welcomed challenges from any and all who would like to contribute their thinking on the river.”
Meanwhile, neighborhood activists who oppose the project have essentially declared victory, saying the burden is again on Trooien to make his vision conform to theirs. From their perspective, existing planning guidelines are well stacked against his vision of soaring skyscrapers on a barren stretch of West Side riverfront property.
People on both sides of the issue privately expressed relief that the rancorous joint meetings are over. The board’s inability to agree on something as simple as a mission statement highlighted clashing passions over what’s best for the riverfront.
Trooien wants to extend downtown St. Paul’s high-rises, condos and night life across the Mississippi River, while his critics have insisted on a more environmentally friendly development they believe better reflects the city’s quieter neighborhood sensibilities. Plus, Trooien has estimated he would seek $125 million in tax-increment financing from the city, a request sure to spark debate.
“Sometimes, things aren’t meant to work,” said Thune, who created the Bridges panel last year in an effort to find common ground.
Last fall, Thune expressed optimism about reaching an accord. He persuaded Trooien to withdraw his proposal from consideration at City Hall, and Trooien agreed to work with neighbors from the West Side, downtown and the West Seventh Street areas.
But things got off to a rocky start and never recovered. Days after Thune announced the collaboration, the leaders of the three district councils wrote a letter to Trooien saying they would not meet with him until he scaled back his plan to meet the area’s “traditional neighborhood” zoning.
Trooien never replied to the letter.
“We said, ‘We’re willing to meet with you, and if you want to play ball, let’s talk,’ ” said Diane Gerth, a member of the tri-council committee. “It was never really clear if we had any buy-in from him. It left the rest of us grasping at what our task was.”
Gerth and others wanted to use the Nov. 9 letter as a starting point, but the pro-Bridges West Side representatives – most of whom were elected to the board after the letter was written – didn’t think it represented the views of the broader neighborhood.
There also was a growing indignation among some West Siders baffled as to why the other neighborhood representatives had a seat at the table.
“I felt the whole process was a slap in the face to the people of the West Side, that it’s OK for outsiders to tell us what’s best for us,” said Santino Franco, a new board member with the West Side organization.
It also became clear that district council veterans across the city were still worried about the shakeup of the West Side Citizens Organization board in November. Trooien supporters won 13 of the 14 open seats. The group now will be charged with reviewing the Bridges proposal, but board President Don Luna said some will question the board’s credibility.
“From the start, we’ve been placed behind the eight ball so that everything we do now is subject to second-guessing,” Luna said. “Will we forever be branded with this question mark? Of course we will. But we’re going to do what we think is best for the community.’ ”
On top of that, committee members couldn’t agree on whether the body’s purpose was to help Trooien develop a compromise proposal or to evaluate whether the Bridges met the area’s planning rules.
Last week, downtown’s CapitolRiver Council passed a resolution urging the West Side neighborhood group to dissolve the peace talks and instead move forward with a “small-area plan.” The latter approach, used on high-profile St. Paul projects such as the Ford redevelopment site, typically takes a year or more to complete.
Trooien said today that one of his biggest concerns was that the process was taking too long. Over five months, the group met only twice, and a deeper exploration of riverfront issues never got under way. A third meeting was scheduled for Monday, but Thune decided Sunday night to end the discussions. He said he anguished for some time over how to make them work.
“I believe that there are simply too many deep divisions to productively go forward,” Thune wrote in a letter to committee members Monday.
Mayor Chris Coleman, a frequent Bridges critic, was mostly mum.
“The ball is back in Mr. Trooien’s court,” spokesman Bob Hume said. “I don’t want to say this is a dead issue, but until they resubmit something, nothing is happening as far as we’re concerned.”
Laura Yuen can be reached at lyuen@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5498.
