Monitor in a Minute

Como Community district plan moves ahead

The District 10 Como Community Plan, which has been in the works for about two years, heads to the St. Paul Planning Commission for a public hearing at 8:30am Fri., Nov. 13 at City Hall. The Planning Commission set the public hearing date on the recommendation of its Neighborhood Planning Committee.

The plan acknowledges potential future changes in the community and presents strategies for addressing issues. It draws on a land use plan completed in 2007 as well as the Midway Pkwy. plan of the 1990s and the planning done by a group that looked at the Lexington/Larpenteur area about five years ago.

District plans are used to guide future land use in a community. The plans are also used to shape investments in infrastructure including parks, streets, transit, trails, and bike lanes. Plans are used when funding is sought for projects in the city’s Long-Range Capital Improvement Budget. Some district councils have used plans to shape future programs and activities.

Como’s proposed plan calls for maintaining the community’s largely residential character and making sure that new development is complementary to the neighborhood. Some infrastructure needs are raised, ranging from street improvements to restoration of several features at Como Park. Some areas, such as Lexington/Larpenteur and Como/Dale/Front, are cited for additional attention.

All of St. Paul’s 17 district councils are required to prepare district plans. The plans are to be redone every decade. City staff offer some assistance in preparing plans, but much of the heavy lifting is done by district council volunteers and staff.

After the public hearing the plan goes back for committee review before the Planning Commission takes action. The commission then sends the plan to the City Council for a final vote. District plans become part of the city’s comprehensive plan.

District councils honored

St. Paul’s 17 district councils don’t just get a special day in their honor—they got an entire month. The St. Paul City Council and Mayor Chris Coleman declared October to be District Council Month, in recognition of the district council system’s 40th anniversary. The councils will celebrate with an awards event in January.

The council passed the resolution, with more than three dozen district council members present. Also present was former Mayor Larry Cohen, who was mayor when the district council system was created.

Cohen recalled that in the 1970s, the council chambers were often filled with citizens raising questions and objections to things going on in their neighborhoods. While the city had many informal neighborhood associations in those days, there was no set citizen participation system. It took many months and many meetings, but the system was put into place in October 1975.

Cohen congratulated those present for their service, as well as thanking those who have served on district councils in the past.

At one time, the city had as many as 19 district councils. There have been changes over the years. Highland and Macalester-Groveland neighborhoods were once one large council, called Southwest Area District Council. The most recent change occurred almost a decade ago when Merriam Park, Snelling-Hamline, and Lexington-Hamline councils merged to form Union Park District Council.

Several of the current City Council members and Coleman have district council experience on their resumes. District councils do a number of tasks, making recommendations on zoning changes and licenses. From time to time the councils gather citizen input on ordinance and city policy changes, as well as citywide land use, transportation, and parks and recreation plans. The councils do comprehensive planning for their neighborhoods and work to get capital improvement budget projects passed. Councils oversee blocks clubs and crime prevention efforts.

Councils also help operate the city’s curbside recycling program and have overseen neighborhood cleanups. Projects differ from council to council, with some running community gardens, festivals, organics recycling programs and other events.

Councils have some paid staff but operate largely with volunteers. It’s estimated that the city currently has more than 2,000 volunteers on councils and their various committees.

Liquor law changes to be reviewed

St. Paul’s proposed changes to its liquor laws are en route to the city’s Charter Commission. The St. Paul City Council Oct. 14 passed it unanimously and without comment.

The council is asking the Charter Commission to review a proposed ordinance that would exempt restaurants with on-sale liquor licenses from citywide and ward license limits. If adopted, the change would mean that restaurants in area neighborhoods that have waited years for liquor licenses could seek them. After Charter Commission review, the City Council will hold a public hearing on the issue, most likely in this month.

The City Council can change the charter if it has a unanimous vote of approval. If council support is not unanimous, the measure would be in the hands of the city’s voters—on the 2016 ballot at the earliest.

The change is sought by Ward Three Council Member Chris Tolbert, at the behest of Highland District Council and current and prospective restaurant owners in his ward. Ward Three has only seven on-sale liquor licenses available, so restaurant owners must often wait years for a license to become available. Ward Four, which includes much of the Monitor coverage area, is also in the position of having only one license available at this time.

City Department of Safety and Inspections (DSI) staff held a series of meetings around St. Paul this year to discuss the change and met little opposition.

If the changes don’t pass, prospective restaurants along Green Line light rail may still have the option of seeking full liquor licenses under a proposed commercial development district in the works along University Ave. and the West Midway area.

Pool owners may face sanctions

Owners of abandoned swimming pools in St. Paul face sanctions as a result of a new city ordinance adopted in October  by the St. Paul City Council. Regulatory changes were brought forward after a Memorial Day weekend incident when two children fell into a water- and garbage-filled, abandoned pool in the city’s North End. Seven-year-old Sher Kpor died in June, a few weeks after he fell into the pool. He and his brother were able to get through a locked fence to the pool area.

That pool has been removed and its site filled in, but city officials said more needed to be done with abandoned pools. The Minnesota Department of Health took over licensing and inspection of pools in 2013. But many private pools behind homes and apartment buildings aren’t licensed. State officials said those pools aren’t their responsibility.

The St. Paul Fire Department has drained abandoned pools at property owners’ requests.

City Department of Safety and Inspections (DSI) staff worked on the new regulations.  The city will require fencing around all outdoor swimming pools that are at least 24 inches deep with a surface area of 150 square feet. Previously only pools holding more than 5,000 gallons of water had to be fenced.

The city also set maintenance criteria for outdoor pools out of service for one year. Those pools need to be fenced and be free of stagnant water. Pools out of service for two or more years, with stagnant water or lacking fencing, can be classified as nuisance pools. Property owners either have to bring pools into compliance or the city will do the work for them, at the property owner’s expense.