Disagreements Rule Tri-District Council Meeting

The Tri-District Council that was created to work on developer Jerry Trooien’s Bridges of St. Paul project met for the second time Monday night to try to agree on some basic rules, an operating structure, and a mission. They didn’t get very far.

Dave Engfer from the West Side Citizen’s Orginization board said, “It’s going to be up to WSCO to decide ultimately what this project will be.” Members of the Capitol River Council and the West Seventh/Fort Road Federation showed irritation with Engfer and other’s statements that the process might not matter at all.

Bob Spaulding from the Capitol River Council and new member of the St. Paul Planning Council was frustrated about the process not just at this meeting but for the council so far saying, “I found out about the last meeting from an advertisement from the developer in the paper, not from the WSCO board, not even a week in advance. What does that say about the legitimacy of that meeting? That’s ridiculous, there’s a lot more that’s ridiculous about this process but I’ll leave it at that.”

The meeting even managed to draw hecklers, Julie Cruz, who has been a strong supporter of Trooien, yelled out that not everyone on the WSCO board supports the developer. And a couple comments throughout the meeting drew “amens”. A community member stood up to say that Trooien shouldn’t be allowed to speak as if he was on the council. The WSCO board turned over nearly all its members in its annual meeting with the resulting board being very strongly for the development as it previously was proposed.

Perhaps the largest heckler was Trooien, who began shouting at Bob Spaulding for talking too much.  Trooien, who has never officially responded to the letter that Ward 2 Council Member Dave Thune sent out calling for the council’s creation, has been a part of the meetings even though he is not a part of the council. He also said, “I’m here to be thoroughly open and on record,” pointing at Dave Thune’s legislative aide who was taking notes. He said, “The minutes of the first meeting have nothing to do with the Bridges plan.” Trooien expressed concerns that he wasn’t being asked about what the process would be after the meeting.

Diane Gerth from the West Seventh/Fort Road Federation said, “We do want to know what Mr. Trooien thinks about the participatory process.  That’s why all three District Council Presidents sent him a letter on November 9 outlining our vision for this process.  More than four months later, he has yet to respond to those suggestions or to make any of his own. To claim that we haven’t asked the developer is simply wrong, and his complaints that he hasn’t been consulted ring hollow when he has ignored those proposals for so long.”

The tense meeting had many people referring to hidden agendas and priorities. Engfer said,  “I think it’s naive to suggest that something is going to happen at WSCO from what happens here.” This made several people wonder what he meant and why WSCO was a part of the council. Gerth said,  “When I hear that it’s all going to be for naught because WSCO’s going to make the decision, why am I here?”

In discussions about the community planning process that has happened for the space and if it should be followed, Engfer said, “I don’t need anybody around here telling me at least that I need to be respectful of the planning process.” An amended mission statement proposed by Spaulding included, “The process will address how the proposal needs to be changed to be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and TN3 Zoning.”

Lucy Thompson, St. Paul staff member, said that if WSCO was looking to change what was in the comprehensive plan and create a new small area plan that would be a separate process.  Thompson said that WSCO could request a new small area plan, but it would take a year and would include many more community members and have very broad outreach. Engfer rejected that idea but insisted that the  group wouldn’t necessarily follow the current city adopted comprehensive plan saying, “I don’t want to see us locked into that [TN3 zoning]“. After the amended mission statement failed Spaulding walked out of the meeting and an audience member said “don’t come back”. The group didn’t approve any mission statement.

During the community comment period Jesus Ramirez, community member and former WSCO board member, said to Trooien, “Jerry, how dare you! I am waiting just like the rest of the community, why do you think you have the ability to put yourself before the rest of the community.” Addressing comments from Engfer about the comprehensive plan Rhonda Vincent spoke, “If you didn’t get the Voice [community newspaper] and you didn’t get a letter in the mail then maybe you don’t live in our neighborhood.” Former WSCO board member Vincent added, “We did have a public process [about the comprehensive plan] and it wasn’t garbage.” Cruz who is a paid employee of the project was the only person who spoke in support of the project in the public comments portion of the evening.

After much disagreement about the timing they finally settled on April 2nd for the next meeting. City staff member Lucy Thompson was concerned that WSCO’s desire to push the meetings along every week would not allow enough time to accomplish all the things that would be asked of city staff and others who would be part of meeting to set up the process. Thompson asked that meetings be every other week to give room for comments and still allow for work on the process to continue at a reasonable speed.

The only other thing the group did agree on was Don Luna as Chair and Larry Englund and Erik Hare as Co-Chairs.

Previous Tri-District Council meeting. If you haven’t been following the Bridges project and its trials and tribulations in St. Paul, throw “Bridges” into the search bar on the site and you can catch up.