St. Anthony Park is located in the far northwest corner of St. Paul, and near the geographic center of the Twin Cities region. St. Anthony Park includes approximately 2.4 square miles in area and has more than 6,000 residents.
Physically, the community has excellent connectivity to the region but relatively poor access internally and to adjacent neighborhoods. Interstate 94, Trunk Highway 280 and University Avenue provide the regional access. The BNSF rail yards are a rail transfer point and intermodal shipment hub for the upper Midwest. These transportation corridors, however, also serve to disconnect St. Anthony Park from neighboring communities and from itself. The rail yard bisects the community into north and south parts with Raymond Avenue as the only connection between the two.
Half of St. Anthony Park is devoted to industrial land use, much of it in an on-going state of decline. The residential areas are generally strong and vibrant. These residential areas, laid out with curvilinear streets in a park-like setting, contain a mix of housing types, attractive institutional buildings, and pedestrian-oriented neighborhood commercial areas. The residential areas form the culture and character base for the neighborhood’s identity. University Avenue runs through the southern part of the District providing a corridor for new housing and commercial development.
We envision St. Anthony Park as a livable, sustainable, connected and integrated community of businesses, industry, natural areas and residences, where members have a strong sense of connectedness to each other and to the neighborhood in which they work or live. Existing strengths that form the foundation for new growth include social connections, neighborhood design and character, and the physical quality of the built environment. The preservation of these qualities is paramount and are key criteria for evaluating incremental strategies as well as redevelopment opportunity areas. Due to geography and history, St. Anthony Park contains many fragmented and unrelated components. This plan seeks to overcome these limitations. To achieve this, a series of goals, objectives and strategies are around a three part theme:
1 Revitalize South St. Anthony
2 Maintain and Enhance North St. Anthony
3 Physically connect these two areas and improve connectivity to adjacent communities.
In creating this vision, a series of planning and design principles and core values emerged from community input and committee discussions. These values serve three functions: first, they provide the guiding direction in the plan’s development; second, they serve as a reminder for how strategies are to be implemented; lastly, they may be used to evaluate the success of any strategy.
St. Anthony Park seeks substantial land use change in the existing industrial area to support more intensive use of the land and an increased tax base. As the geographic center of the metro area with excellent transportation access, the area will become a vibrant and integrated mix of industry, commerce and housing within a pedestrian-scaled and transit-oriented environment.
L1. Land Use. Redirect land use with appropriate regulatory controls to encourage an integrated mix of industrial, commercial, housing and public amenities and a larger tax base.
L2. Historic Preservation. Protect, maintain and/or adaptively reuse designated historic buildings.
L3. Design Standards. Institute commercial mixed-use design standards that reinforce human-scale buildings, promote sustainable design, promote quality in exterior materials and construction, reinforce a pedestrian oriented streetscape, promote green design, manage storm water retention, reduce impervious surfaces and visually screen surface parking.
L4. Streetscape Enhancement Plan. Develop and implement a long -term streetscape plan to achieve the economic development, livability, identity and transportation goals of the community.
L5. Development Opportunities. Identify opportunities for development and redevelopment, including commercial districts, to strengthen neighborhood village character and vitality.
L6. Code Enforcement. Increase understanding of appropriate building and zoning codes and pertinent licensing issues, and improve compliance between residents, businesses and the city.
St. Anthony Park has long managed the impact of traffic caused by industrial uses and proximity to regional road corridors. We recognize the environmental and health benefits of walking, biking, and reduced reliance on the auto, and the sustainable development opportunities posed by light rail transit (LRT) and industrial land conversion. St. Anthony Park envisions a healthy balance of transportation options. Such options will encourage transit, bicycle and pedestrian connections between homes and workplaces, and between workplaces and commercial services.
T1. Improve Transit alternatives in the neighborhood and add LRT on University Avenue.
T2. Improve Pedestrian/Bicycle Connectivity. Create new connections to improve access between North and South St. Anthony Park and between St. Anthony Park and adjacent communities as shown on page 33 map.
T3. Incorporate Transportation Options into All New Development Design all new development in St. Anthony Park to encourage and facilitate the use of transit, bicycles and walking for work, leisure and maintenance-directed trips.
T4. Improve Vehicular Connectivity. Add new connections and realign roads to improve local access and reduce through-traffic in areas designated for enhanced pedestrian and transit-oriented land uses.
T5. Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety and Traffic Calming. Make busy thoroughfares (Como, Cleveland, Raymond, Territorial and University) safer for bikes and pedestrians and improve their visual quality.
T6. Traffic Congestion. Work with St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Prospect Park Neighborhood to improve traffic circulation and reduce congestion.
T7. Highway 280. Use opportunities associated with Highway 280 reconstruction to mitigate noise, pollution and environmental impacts.
T8. University of Minnesota. Work with the University to create better student transit options, parking options, and access to the St. Paul campus that reduces impact on the community and the environment.
The mixed community of residences, businesses and industrial activities is embedded in a matrix of native plant communities, wetlands, and green spaces that sustain the air, water, wildlife habitat, and natural amenities that contribute to the quality of life in St. Anthony Park.
While we recognize that a continued mix of residential, business and industrial activities will remain in the District, balancing these uses with a greater priority on environmental improvement and preservation will be practiced. We envision a systematic approach to redefining land use and redeveloping land through “green construction and site design” in order to preserve and improve ecological functioning, improve internal and external connections and to add new green space amenities.
N1. Water Quality Improvements. Achieve measurable water quality improvements to the Kasota Ponds, Caitlin Wetland, and other natural remnants, and improve quality of all runoff.
N2. Impervious Surfaces and Ground Water Recharge. Increase the level of ground water infiltration in the District by 30 percent through development standards, the creation of new open spaces, and the retrofitting of existing structures and properties.
N3. Planting of Public and Private Spaces. Use community programs and community building initiatives to increase the amount of vegetation in public and private spaces.
N4. Habitat Corridors. Restore and/or recreate habitat corridors to facilitate movement and stable habitat populations.
N5. Improve Air Quality. Gather appropriate data and work with community stakeholders to improve air quality.
N6. Reduce Noise Pollution. Gather appropriate data and work with community stakeholders to reduce noise pollution.
N7. Increase Outdoor Light Efficiency. Educate community about efficient and safe lighting and replace lighting to meet communitystandards through public infrastructure maintenance and repair programs.
N8. Collaborate with other Stakeholders on Natural Systems Issues. Proactively reach out and colloborate with other stakeholders having an interest and influence over the natural environment in St. Anthony Park.
N9. Support Precautionary and Sustainable Programs. Adopt policies that proactively protect the environment. Examine all actions associated with proposed programs and activities, including no-action.
St. Anthony Park is distinctive due to its topographical features, physical layout and historic character of its housing. The preservation of that character is very important to its residents. Maintaining and updating existing housing stock should continue with good design sensitive to appropriate historic character and scale of the neighborhood. The community also encourages the development of new well-designed infill and mixed use housing to meet the needs of various incomes, ability levels and life cycle needs in support of a more diverse population.
H1. Property Maintenance and Beautification. Develop and implement district-wide programs to inspire, educate and facilitate residents to better maintain their properties including yards and alleys.
H2. Range of Housing Choices. Increase the range of housing types and affordability within the District to encourage a greater diversity of households and to be an affordable community for all people throughout their lives and changing lifestyle needs.
H3. Design Guidelines. Develop and implement design guidelines for new housing units and the renovation of existing housing not included in the historic district. Guidelines should encourage quality design that is complementary and contextual rather than strict historic replication.
The St. Anthony Park Community Council reaches out, and communicates to all residents including new residents and renters, to engage them in the community. A comprehensive and active block leader program promotes crime prevention, community functions and recycling to neighborhood residents. We build strong community/institutional and community/business partnerships. We encourage the use of public spaces and parks for gathering, and promote investment in and beautification of public and private gathering spaces. New large developments are evaluated for their contribution to the inventory of community space within St. Anthony Park.
C1. Community Building, Outreach and Communication. Reach out to residents, businesses, community institutions and neighboring communities, including those in Minneapolis, to enhance the quality of city life and to implement this plan.
C2. Community Assets. Identify ways that existing community and institutional assets in St. Anthony Park could better serve the community.
C3. Parks and Recreation. Re-invest in existing park assets and strengthen programming to increase use of park and recreation services.
C4. Cultural Opportunities. Support local cultural opportunities and the arts.
C5. Create New Community Infrastructure. Identify need for new community-wide assets to promote community connections and serve a growing population.
C6. Commercial Assets. Identify need for new commercial assets, recruiting strategies, and provide support for vibrant commercial areas.
The first Community Plan for St. Anthony Park was completed in 1983. Almost all of the plan’s key objectives and strategies have been substantially achieved and implemented. The plan will be retired by the city in December 2005. Given the economic, demographic and land use changes that have occurred over the past 20 years, a new plan is needed to reflect the changing needs of the community. Towards this end, District 12 began laying the groundwork in 2002.
The Groundwork Laid: A Community Profile:
In 2002, District 12 partnered with the St. Anthony Park Community Foundation to develop a process for evaluating the status of theSt. Anthony Park/District 12 community. Professor David Lanegran of Macalester College was enlisted to compile a profile of the neighborhood to present to the community.
During early 2003, on-line, paper and oral surveys were conducted to gather input from residents and businesses. An article in The Park Bugle, flyers, and posters were used to invite citizens to take the survey and direct them to either the electronic form (on the Foundation’s website) or paper form (at the St. Anthony Park Branch Library). Additionally, five Macalester College students conducted oral interviews: in North SAP at the Hardware Hank store, Gingko Coffee Shop and Lori’s Coffee House; in South SAP at Hampden Square Apartments, Hampden Park Co-op and Prairie Star Coffee House. A total of 354 responses were collected.
Individuals with a particular interest or expertise in community planning and other community stakeholders were identified to review the first draft and ready it for public comment. Their feedback was incorporated into the next draft that was released to the community.
A community meeting and workshop was held May 2003 to review and discuss the findings. Notification for the event included: several Bugle items (an article in the May issue, a listing in the public calendar, a District 12 ad and a Foundation column); a flyer promoting the forum distributed to every household and at neighborhood churches; and posters displayed in public locations and at neighborhood events. Door prizes were solicited from area businesses to encourage attendance.
The forum was attended by 200 people. After the presentation by Dr. Lanegran and his students, attendees identified major concerns regarding the future of the neighborhood and voted for their top priorities. The results were incorporated into a final draft, available for comment throughout June and part of July. Copies were available at community locations (the library, District 12 office, the elementary school, the Art Fair, 4th of July in Langford Park). A follow-up article in the Bugle, reporting on the May forum, included information on how to continue input into the process.
In September 2003, the report “St. Anthony Park: A Community Built on a Solid Foundation” was published. That Fall, the District 12 Council set up a committee to begin structuring the planning process using the information gained through the research. Progress updates and solicitations for input were published in the Bugle. The committee put together a list of vital topics and issues to be included in the plan, along with a timetable and process methodology that was reviewed and approved by the St. Anthony Park Community Council in 2004. In Fall 2004, the Council established the current steering committee to guide the plan to completion.
The Current Planning Process
The current plan update process began in late 2004 and included several community participation methods.