Roundup: Bridges of St. Paul Project

The Bridges of St. Paul project is a controversial  $1 billion-plus project on St. Paul’s West Side
that has weathered stormy waters.

The project was proposed and put in front of the West Side Citizens’ Organization board, which shot down the plan. It then went before the Zoning Board for rezoning, but before it could go before the St. Paul City Council, member Jerry Trooien withdrew and councilman Dave Thune wrote a letter proposing creation of the Tri-Council, a group of neighborhood councils affected by the project, which now is defunct.TIF funding that had been requested was denied by St. Paul’s PED Director Cecil Bedor.
The Tri-Council took up the issue with initial difficulty, which only got worse until the process was called off by Thune. After the cancellation of the Tri-Council WSCO and Trooien each created an independent series of meetings about the project. The first meeting was a JLT meeting with no fireworks or excitement, at all. (read about the  third JLT meeting.) The JLT meetings wrapped up and lead right into the new WSCO process.
The view of the river has also been designated a endangered historic site by the Preservation Alliance.

Here’s a look at the players:

Jerry Trooien: Trooien is developer of the project and owns a large portion of the land. He is founder of JLT Inc.

Dave Thune: Ward 2 Council Member, Thune has tried to mediate troubles between Trooien and community members with strong opposition and  limited success. He is currently running for re-election unopposed.

Tri-District Council/Tri-Council: The body was set up set up by Dave Thune to consist of members from the WSCO, Capitol River Council (Downtown), and Fort Road/West Seventh district councils to review the Bridges. Thune disbanded the group after several very contentious meetings.

WSCO: The West Side Citizens’ Organization, the planning council district in which the Bridges project is located. WSCO underwent a shift during its 2006 annual meeting, where an unprecedented number of participants, including volunteers from outside the neighborhood, came out and swung the board from strong opposition to the project to a very favorable group.

Don Luna: New WSCO board chair and chair of the Tri-Council until it was disbanded.

Diane Gerth: West Seventh resident and appointee by the West Seventh/Fort Road Federation to the now-defunct Tri-District Council.

Bob Spaulding: Downtown resident and appointee by the CRC to the now-defunct Tri-District Council. Current member of the Planning Council.

Additional stories:
Sen, Sandy Pappas says the law won’t change so Bridges can get TIF money.
Planning councils write letter to Trooien.
WSCO annual meeting had large number of attendees and candidates.
The rift over the Bridges even became a matter of family strife.
The National Park Service came out against the project.
The new WSCO board tried to find footing.