A bad place for a good project
From:
Jan Carr
Date:
Jan 07 21:23 UTC
Short link
I couldn't agree more with Mike Mischke's assessment of the Trader
Joe's project.
I watched the entire city council proceedings on this matter (SPNN),
and while everyone seems to agree that a Trader Joe's franchise would
be a welcome addition to St. Paul, it was never clear to me why the
developers feel that particular site is crucial.
If St. Paul residents are already willing to drive to St. Louis Park
or Woodbury to shop Trader Joe's, certainly they would be willing to
drive to a more suitable location -- either along University Avenue
or West 7th, the two alternate areas most often mentioned.
I drive through that intersection at Lex and Randolph frequently, and
surely one does not have to be a traffic engineer to see that the
kind of patronage that a Trader Joe's will generate will create
serious congestion problems -- particularly during the evening rush
hour, when so many of us do our shopping.
I understand the developers are not asking for any sort of subsidy.
And as I was watching the council hearings unfold, it occurred to me
their effort may be a manipulative attempt to first suggest this
site, and then "settle" for some other location IF the city were
willing to offer them some kind of assistance.
It seems to me someone within the council needs to exercise some
leadership in this affair and broker a deal for a site that makes
sense -- both for the city and Trader Joe's.
Calling Dave Thune..............................
At 2:10 PM -0600 1/7/08, Mike Mischke wrote:
>A proposed 20,000-square-foot retail development at Lexington Parkway
>and Randolph Avenue, anchored by a 14,420-square-foot Trader Joe's
>grocery store, would actually improve safety and reduce traffic
>congestion at that busy St. Paul intersection, according to a
>recently released 38-page traffic impact study.
>
>You're not alone if you're not buying the results of a traffic study
>that was bought by the developers themselves.
>
>Meridian Management and TOLD Development, the partners in Randolph
>Hill LLC, want to bulldoze four single-family homes on Juno Avenue, a
>triplex on Randolph Avenue and the Mach 1 automotive audio and
>security business at the southeast corner of Randolph and Lexington
>to accommodate Trader Joe's and a separate 5,330-square-foot building
>that would house a handful of other unnamed retailers. The necessary
>conditional use permit and zoning variances for the project have
>already been approved by the Planning Commission on the condition
>that the necessary rezoning is approved by the City Council. Concerns
>about the additional traffic that would be generated by the
>development prompted the City Council last week to lay over until
>this week a decision on rezoning the 1.27-acre parcel.
>
>To be sure, the traffic study does note that if no street
>improvements were made, afternoon rush-hour traffic at the
>intersection would drop from D to E on a congestion scale of A to F.
>(The D/E boundary is considered by traffic engineers to be the limit
>of "acceptable" congestion in an urban area.) As a result of the
>additional traffic generated by the retail development, backed-up
>vehicles at the intersection would "intermittently block the site
>entrance" on Lexington if no street improvements were made, according
>to the study.
>
>Now that I'll buy.
>
>To alleviate the impact of the additional traffic, the traffic study
>recommends:
>
>* Adding a southbound left-turn lane on Lexington at the entrance to
>the parking lot.
>
>* Adding a northbound right-turn lane on Lexington at Randolph.
>
>* Adding a northbound left-turn signal on Lexington at Randolph.
>
>* Retiming the traffic signals at five intersections in the immediate
>vicinity.
>
>No doubt all of those measures would help. But it does beg the
>question: Why here when there are any number of other locations with
>comparable neighborhood demographics that do not throw up such
>formidable hurdles to what I'm sure most people believe would
>otherwise be a welcome development in St. Paul?
>
>But that's not the only question the development raises. More than a
>few people are also asking:
>
>* Why has the prohibition of truck traffic on Lexington, a city-
>designated parkway, not been cited as an impediment to the
>development? As proposed, truck deliveries would have to be made off
>of Lexington because the city's Public Works Department believes any
>access off of Randolph would be too close to the I-35E entrance and
>exit ramps to be safe.
>
>* What's with the full-court press that Mayor Chris Coleman's office,
>the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce and the St. Paul Trades and
>Labor Assembly have been employing to insure the development occurs?
>Last week, City Council member Pat Harris, who supports the
>development, didn't have the five votes needed to approve the
>rezoning. The word in City Hall this week was that strenuous lobbying
>may have convinced every City Council member except Dave Thune to
>support the rezoning when it comes back up for a vote this Wednesday.
>How strenuous? It's said that the lobbying has been more vigorous
>than what was employed for St. Paul developer Jerry Trooien's ill-
>fated $1.5 billion Bridges of St. Paul.
>
>* What does it say about the state of economic development in St.
>Paul today when such Herculean efforts are expended locally on behalf
>of a comparatively small-scale development whose California-based
>anchor tenant is a 294-store national chain that is owned by a family
>trust established by German billionaire Theo Albright?
>
>Michael Mischke
>Summit Hill
>Michael Mischke
>Summit Hill, St. Paul
>Info about Michael Mischke:
>http://forums.e-democracy.org/contacts/michaelmischke
>
>This topic's messages may be viewed at:
>http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/1hRpsw0zLOL40ItXJvQ1kY
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--
Jan Carr
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St. Paul, Minnesota 55104
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