New Brighton, Centerville miss out

A pedestrian bridge in New Brighton and a plan for downtown Centerville didn't get the Met Council's nod for development grants.

By Eric M. Hanson and David Peterson, Star Tribune

Last update: November 1, 2007 - 9:08 PM

New Brighton and Centerville looked to be the losers Thursday in their collective bid for almost $2 million in development grants from the Metropolitan Council.

The council's Livable Communities Advisory Committee declined to fund $400,000 to connect New Brighton's Northwest Quadrant project to Long Lake Regional Park via a new pedestrian bridge. The committee also did not recommend nearly $1.5 million to help revitalize Centerville's downtown.

"I'm disappointed, but we'll certainly be in contact with [the] Met Council staff," said New Brighton city manager Dean Lotter.

Centerville Mayor Mary Capra also said she was disappointed by the committee's decision and said the city would try again next year.

The two projects were among 11 considered Thursday for funding by the influential committee, whose recommendations generally are followed by the Met Council.

Although the council's $8 million annual kitty is small by most standards, it has been the catalyst over the years for hundreds of millions in investment in individual communities, including Burnsville's "Heart of the City" and St. Louis Park's Excelsior & Grand redevelopments.

The decision seems likely to trigger a round of behind-the-scenes lobbying in the runup to final decisions by Met Council members themselves over the next month.

It could also mean that millions of dollars, including money that would have funded the north metro projects, would go unspent.

This year, a stagnant housing market led to a sharp dropoff in the number of requests for subsidies.

Only about 15 proposals came in, about half the usual number. The 11 projects deemed worthy of serious consideration wound up falling into three broad categories. Besides the decisions on the New Brighton and Centerview proposals, the group:

• "Fully recommended" five projects, making them almost sure bets to receive funding. That includes about $1.8 million to Minneapolis to revitalize a stretch of West Broadway and to help develop the area around a light-rail stop, and about $1 million to St. Paul for high-density development near the Dale Street stop on the proposed Central Corridor light-rail line.

• "Informally recommended" money for two other projects, including the Har Mar Apartments in Roseville. That project was the lowest-ranked of the ones recommended for any money at all - 30 points, the minimum. But the advisers said the money could help the city solve a major problem with stormwater around an affordable rental project.

The two north metro projects fell slightly short in the committee's ranking criteria -- with North Brighton garnering 27 points and Centerville 24.

Two other Minneapolis projects did meet the standards, but a suburban-dominated council has been loath to spend any more than a pre-set amount on central-city projects, no matter how attractive they might be.

"I will not support putting another $2 million into the central cities," Ruth Grendahl, of Apple Valley, told members of the committee, which she leads. Recommending such a thing, she warned, would be "very contentious" with members of the council.

Developer pulls out

Kris Sanda, the Met Council's representative for the district that encompasses New Brighton, said she had not heard of the decision when reached Thursday afternoon.

But, she said, the idea that money would go unspent is unlikely.

"I should be in a position to really take a look at this when it comes through my committee," she said.

A major factor in the advisory committee's New Brighton decision was the recent news that Rottlund Homes, one of the private developers working on housing units for the Northwest Quadrant project, had pulled out.

Some members of the advisory group argued the proposed pedestrian bridge was still a useful amenity for the community in general, and for office workers in the area in particular. And an argument broke out over which comes first: Might that new feature help attract a developer to a close-in, high-density site at which the council would like to see development? Or does the project not have the "ready to go" quality the council likes to see before handing out tax dollars?

Lotter, the New Brighton city manager, pointed out that there still is one developer willing to work with the city on housing in the area -- a point he intended to make to the Met Council in the future.

dapeterson@startribune.com 612-673-4440 ehanson@startribune.com 612-673-7517

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