Obstacles to residential reuse of brownfields in St. Paul

[Bob Hersh <bhersh@cpeo.org>]

FYI

Polluted past fouls up plans for housing site in St. Paul
Jackie Crosby
 Star Tribune
July 19, 2004

It's a story that's being played out in urban centers across America -- land
where commercial or industrial operations once had a foothold now have become
vacant eyesores. The sites are ripe for redevelopment, except for that
troublesome issue of the pollution the businesses left behind.

For neighborhoods that want to fight the blight and for cities that want to
raise their tax base, cleaning up these abandoned properties can mean digging
in for a process that could take a decade or more.

And so it is with a 65-acre stretch of land along the bluffs of the Mississippi
River near downtown St. Paul.

Here, the landowners, the city, and now the courts are in a tussle over what to
do with one of the largest tracts of available land in St. Paul.

"It's like there are two elephants in this fight," said Tony Schertler, of St.
Paul's planning and economic development department. "And the judge is worried
that the little guy is going to get trampled."

The land was once the site of separate oil tank farms owned by Koch Refinery
Co. and Mobil Oil Corp., and neighbors and the city have been sizing it up
since 1995, when both companies simultaneously shut down operations.

After a decade of discarded ideas and government bureaucracy, the plan and
financing for a $257 million tree-lined development known as RiverBluff has
taken shape. With an estimated 850 new units of housing in apartments,
condominiums and single-family homes, it would be the largest housing project
in the city's history. The city is prepared to spend $7 million for the land
and $22 million on streets, sewers and cleanup.

"There was a lot of interest to get a 'new urbanism' type plan for the site
that would bring a broader range of incomes and ages together," said Ed
Johnson, executive director of the West 7th/Fort Road Federation, a
neighborhood advocacy group. "It's a brilliant vision for the city and the
neighborhood."

What has made this land deal so maddening for city officials and neighborhood
groups is the wildly different approaches by owners who used -- and polluted --
nearly identical pieces of land in nearly identical ways.

To read the entire article go to:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4882156.html

Bob Hersh
Brownfields Program Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight (CPEO)

Tel:     978-464-5356
email:  bhersh@cpeo.org
url:      www.cpeo.org