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A farewell to Council Member Julie Eastman and a contentious hearing on new apartments on Thompson Avenue dominated the West St. Paul City Council meeting .
Last Meeting for Council Member Julie Eastman
The Council unanimously passed a proclamation in recognition of Council Member Julie Eastman, whose last City Council session was tonight. She served on the council from 2021 to 2024, did not seek reelection, and will be replaced by newly-elected Doug Fromm. The meeting happened before a packed house, and many audience members spoke in thanks and recognition of Council Member Eastman as well. In her farewell address, she emphasized the importance of public service and challenged everyone in attendance to get involved in their community.
Proposed Apartment at 212 Thompson
The four-story, 65-unit affordable apartment complex proposed for 212 Thompson Avenue East came before Council for final approval. Concerns about the project stem primarily from issues around traffic and parking, the cost of providing public services, the impact on the character of the neighborhood, as well as the idea that the plan doesn’t necessarily fit the city’s zoning and development goals.
- Despite these issues, city staff recommended approval of all four elements of the plan (rezoning, conditional use permit, site plan, and final plat), but listed several conditions the Council could use to legally justify voting down the plan.
- Representatives of the developer for the project argued before the Council in favor of approval. They cited the fact that the project fits the city’s 2040 comprehensive plan, will be completed with no funding support from the city, and that concerns about traffic aren’t supported by data.
- Council Member Lisa Eng-Sarne mentioned the fact that the city has developed many new apartment complexes in recent years, and is also facing frequent complaints from residents about apartments, especially in terms of adequate staffing and maintenance of these properties. Council Member Pat Armon also had questions about maintenance plans for the property. Council Member John Justen pushed back on the developer’s interpretation of the 2040 comprehensive plan and also questioned whether the development has enough parking spaces, especially since underground parking spaces would cost extra. Mayor Dave Napier expressed concern about the development, especially in terms of its impact on the immediate neighborhood. Multiple Council members also raised concerns about whether the property taxes the city collects from the development would cover the cost of public services.
- After extended discussion between the City Council, city staff, and the developers, the Council voted on the permitting process. They voted unanimously to approve the rezoning but to deny the conditional use permit. Because the conditional use permit was denied, the site plan and final plat were also denied.
2025 Budget & Property Tax Levy
The Council held a public hearing of the 2025 budget and property tax levy. The total city budget for the year is $47.3 million. Property taxes are set to rise by 6.65%, or about $24 for the average home in the city.
- This increase is considerably lower than the average increases for either the state or for Dakota County cities.
- This budget also shifts more of the property tax burden to commercial properties in the city, largely thanks to increased assessed values of these properties.
- There were no public comments on the budget, and the motion to adopt the budget passed unanimously.
Rental License Hearing for Hilltop at Signal Hills
Council held a rental license hearing for the 146-unit Hilltop at Signal Hills apartment located at 15 Butler Avenue East. The previous rental license expired earlier this year, and the property owner has complied with all required steps in renewing their license.
- The holdup and the reason for review of the license is a large number of police calls to the property. Out of 557 total police calls, 72 of them were considered “valid,” meaning the police responded to the calls and encountered issues that needed to be dealt with.
- City staff recommended the property’s rental license be renewed with some conditions designed to enhance security, including adding more security cameras, limiting unauthorized guests, cooperating with city police, and paying the city an additional $1,200 specifically to pay for monitoring and enforcement of these conditions.
- City Council unanimously approved the provisional license, with the added condition that the property owners follow all elements of city code and grant prompt access to the property upon request by police.
Other Items on the Agenda
- Problems at 126 Logan Avenue East: The 9-unit apartment building at 126 Logan Avenue East has multiple issues ranging from insufficient fire safety features to rats to broken windows to faulty heaters. The property’s rental license has been expired since 2023, and there have been multiple complaints from residents. After weeks of silence, the owner of the property contacted city staff and expressed his desire to remedy the issues with the property. He spoke before City Council and expressed his apologies for the state of the property, citing a loss in his family for the lapses in maintenance. He claimed that many of the issues raised are already being resolved, and promised to quickly fix the rest. The mayor and the Council expressed sympathy for the owner, but also emphasized the importance of ensuring renters in the city have safe, comfortable, code-compliant places to live. In light of the owner’s cooperation with the city, Council took no formal action on the property, but can seek a court order at a later date if the repairs aren’t completed in a timely fashion.
- Final reading of parking ordinance change: This change streamlines the city’s parking ordinances to make parking requirements for business more uniform regardless of business type, and generally reduce the overall number of required parking spaces. The goal here is to provide more flexibility for development along Robert Street. The reading passed unanimously.
- Pavement plans: City staff outlined plans for 2025 street repavement projects. The projects described involve doing “full depth reclamation” on selected streets, which tends to last longer and be more cost-effective than traditional mill-and-overlay projects, as well as replacing water mains on some streets. Saint Paul Regional Water Services (SPRWS) will also be replacing some lead service lines as part of this project, and city staff encouraged residents to reach out to SPRWS to learn if their homes have lead service lines and request their replacement. This work would affect stretches of Livingston, Gorman, Hall, Winslow, Harmon, and Allen avenues as well as Bidwell and Arion streets. The work is slated to happen during the 2025 construction season. Homeowners will be assessed $1,916.08 each, while apartments will be assessed $27.92 per linear foot of street frontage.
Note: At 3 hours and 36 minutes this is the longest City Council meeting since Oct. 28, 2019 at 3 hours and 53 minutes. Ironically, that meeting also dealt with a proposed apartment on Thompson Avenue, the Westlyn, which was ultimately approved unanimously.
Engage
- Watch: City Council and OCWS meetings are archived online.
- Learn more: Guide to West St. Paul City Council.
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