Pig's Eye Soil Recycling, New Hillcrest Parkland
After weeks of negotiations and site visits, we have finally reached a lease-swap agreement for St Paul Parks & Rec and St Paul Regional Water Services. As a former union steward, I really felt like I was back at the bargaining table!
The soil recycling center will move forward at Pig's Eye Regional Park, but with more limitations (no debris crushing allowed), a smaller footprint (from 8 acres down to 5), and a shorter term (from 29 years down to 20) than originally proposed. In addition, the City will have the opportunity to cancel the arrangement with one year's notice if a better use for the land emerges after the first five years.
Additionally, St Paul Regional Water Services will contribute $100,000 toward the schematic plan for the East River Passage (which encompasses all of Pig's Eye Regional Park). They will also provide parking stalls, signage, and other improvements in order to create an official entrance to Pig's Eye Regional Park! This will make the park more accessible to our East Side community.
But that's not all. Land near the Hillcrest site that belonged to St Paul Regional Water Services will be dedicated to Parks & Rec to allow for a community park, possibly a community garden! I feel like this is a huge win, with so many community members expressing their desires for community gardening near the Hillcrest site, a place for a wide range of ages to enjoy, a place to grow food together.
St Paul Parks & Rec will also lease water utility land at 750 Snelling Ave S as originally proposed for future park development. St Paul Regional Water Services has no use for this land anymore, and there is hope that it will be developed as a park or field in the future.
Ultimately, our City needs a site to allow for soil recycling. As St Paul Regional Water Services Director Patrick Shea said during this Wednesday's Council meeting, "we cannot provide clean drinking water without a site like this." This is because water lines break, especially during the winter during freeze/thaw cycles. Water line repairs require excavations, removal of soil from the water lines, with heavy duty trucks driving back and forth to deposit soil; a process which takes hours. A nearby soil recycling site on the East Side will make for faster water line repairs, and shorter service disruptions for drinking water for our East Side community.
Read the official resolution here. Watch this week's City Council meeting here.
Read the Pioneer Press article here.
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RentHelpMN: Apply today if you owe rent back. See here for more info.
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additional help such as career readiness training, renter advocacy and mediation help,
and connections to other available resources.
PULL UP & POLITIC:
Community Kick Back Event
Join Midway Rise UP on Sunday, May 23rd from 6-9p, at Central Village Park in St Paul for Pull-Up & Politic!
There will be roller skating, music, healing, voter registration, bingo, drumming, dancing, cypher, a book giveaway, and food trucks! Follow Midway Rise UP on Facebook.
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