Years of fighting ended last New Year's Eve when Exxon Mobil sent the City of St. Paul $5 million to cover pollution cleanup costs at a West Seventh neighborhood site called Victoria Park.The city bought the former oil-tank land for $1, abandoning condemnation efforts and promising to build a park instead of the vast tract of housing that Minneapolis-based
Brighton Development Corporation once envisioned.
Now cleanup is underway at Victoria Park that could take as long as two more years to complete. Meanwhile, the precise sort of park the place is to become remains undecided. At issue is whether to put tournament-worthy artificial-turf athletic fields along the site's Mississippi River blufftop expanse.
"A lot of people see the bluffs as prime access to the river," says Tonya Johnson-Nicholie, who represents the West Seventh/Fort Road Federation in the Parks and Recreation Department's planning process. Public meetings still to be set this fall will let neighbors air their views. Synthetic playing fields would bring funds from the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission--funds that the city doesn't have to develop a new park.
Patty Lilledahl, now director of business development and finance at the city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority, remembers waiting at work on New Year's Eve day for Exxon Mobil's money to arrive. Based on experts' estimates, the sum is supposed to cover pollution expenses, with some left over for the start of park-creation.
A separate, adjacent site saw the beginnings of Brighton's development get built before the recession set in. Thirteen homes, now bearing For Rent signs, stand next to the former Exxon land. The HRA still owns another seven acres of developable land that may yet become housing along the river. The Exxon and adjacent sites together encompass nearly 45 acres.
Whatever sort of park is developed, "we're thrilled because it just increases the value of the nearby properties," says
Lilledahl. She adds that all along, the public purpose of the project--which began more than a decade ago with neighbors seeking a better use for the vacant land--is to increase the tax base and make the site "look a lot more attractive."
Sources: Tonya Johnson-Nicholie, West Seventh/Fort Road Federation;
Patty Lilledahl, St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority
Writer: Chris Steller