10-year plan for Hamline Midway

A 10-year plan for the Hamline-Midway neighborhood goes to the St. Paul Planning Commission for a public hearing at 8:30 a.m. Friday, July 25 at City Hall. The commission’s Comprehensive and  Neighborhood Planning Committee, which reviewed the plan this spring, recommended that it be released for public comment and the hearing.

 All of St. Paul’s 17 district councils are required to develop district plans, and to update those plans on a regular basis. The plans outline what the overarching vision is for a community. 

City planner Valerie Quarles outlined highlights of the plan and how it ties to the city’s 2040 comprehensive plan. A summary of the plan will become part of the larger comprehensive plan once it wins city council approval, likely later this summer or early fall.

The Hamline-Midway Coalition’s last plan was completed in 2010. It is called a 2030 Plan, and was submitted to city staff in November 2024.

District council staff and volunteers began work on the plan in 2019, but were slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan had more than 300 participants in its online survey, with more than 60 comments and ideas received through its interactive online map. In-person listening sessions and community meetings drew about 270 participants. Two online workshops were held and more than 1,000 unique visitors went to the plan’s public website.

The plan covers development, parks and recreation, historic preservation, arts and culture, and environment and sustainability. Its vision statement says: “The Hamline-Midway Neighborhood is a prosperous, thriving, inclusive and welcoming community. Reflecting its great diversity of populations and its rich heritage as a commercial, educational and residential district in Saint Paul, it offers thriving main street businesses and destinations, a variety of affordable and attractive housing options, a supportive environment for local entrepreneurship, access to world-class educational institutions, a focus on sustainability, and great people all with convenient connections to all of the assets and destinations of the Twin Cities.”

 

• Vitality, attractiveness, and prospects of the neighborhood’s commercial corridors includes exploration of a historic district designation.

This would not be the first time a historic district has been considered in the neighborhood. More than a decade ago a district near Hamline University was studied. That stalled in the face of opposition from then-university leadership.

• Intensification of land uses in selected neighborhood areas includes working with city staff to rezone traditional neighborhood (T) districts along the north side of University Avenue to T3/T4 and rezoning Snelling Avenue from T2 to T3. 

This recommendation comes at a time when the planning commission is also studying changes to T zoning.

• Neighborhood-scale commercial nodes includes future policy recommendations regarding accessory or smaller-scale commercial units.

• Sustaining affordable rental opportunities includes supporting rezoning, variance, or public funding for new development only if the development will provide a permanent number of units that are affordable for households making less than 60 percent area median income, and working with city staff to create an inclusionary housing policy for midsize to large developments.

• Number and variety of housing opportunities includes supporting infill opportunities within residential districts, including innovative models like courtyard housing, cohousing, work-live spaces and artist living and exhibition spaces. 

Participants were asked key questions about the neighborhood, as a means of shaping the plan. Things they like include a strong sense of community, restaurants and shops, close-knit feel, walkability and transit, small and friendly businesses, and feeling of connection. They also like the history, parks and architecture, as well as the diversity of cultures, ethnicities and ages. 

Areas seen as needing improvement in the neighborhood include rising crime and perception of safety issues, improving health for small businesses, traffic safety issues including speeding, racial and economic disparities, limited opportunities for employment, limited engagement with some populations, deterioration of streets and sidewalks, housing maintenance issues and loss of trees and canopy.

People saw many opportunities for improving life in the neighborhood - from quality of life, to services and opportunities to grow its prosperity and prospects. Some of these opportunities include strengthening commercial corridors, supporting “aging-in-place” initiatives, and adding mixed-use redevelopment, live/work options and other housing. Improving streetscapes and the public realm, expanding walkability and bike options in the community were also suggested. There is also interest in supporting the health of local businesses and supporting historic preservation.

The HMC Board and its committees were involved in the plan work, which was led by its own steering committee.