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A rebranding proposal focused on placemaking dominated the West St. Paul City Council meeting after a proposed apartment project was pulled from the agenda at the last minute.
City Branding: Embrace Weird
Rebranding the city has been proposed multiple times in recent years with little movement. This time the city engaged a place-based creative agency, All Together, for help with direction. They presented their findings during the Open Council Work Session (OCWS), talking through just a fraction of their results.
- Why?: Economic development. All Together touted their success in Lemont, Illinois, a city that’s seen a 40% increase in traffic to their downtown area, a four-fold increase in “dwell time” in the downtown area compared to a strip mall retail location, a 250% increase in the city’s social media followers, and five new businesses in their downtown area.
- No new logo: Rather than a new logo, the direction is more about placemaking and vibes. All Together identified ways to use the logo more playfully, an expanded color palette, and finding ways to differentiate West St. Paul.
- Vibes: How do they differentiate this first-ring suburb? They identified several themes, including cozy and convenient (highlighting proximity to downtown yet everything we need, plus strong community feel), bold and scrappy (embracing potential, grit, and heart), and weird (not afraid to be a little different). It can be summed up, “Welcome to West St. Paul, where wonderful meets weird.”
- What does that mean: The proposal includes tons of potential ideas and suggestions. They include murals and public artwork, “banning beige” to encourage creativity in new development, embracing humor in communication, adding quirky elements to city events, and more. One specific idea is to highlight lost history with plaques that note former businesses and connect it to the present. The Marketing and Placemaking Roadmap and Brand Positioning documents flesh out many of these ideas.
- Response: The mayor and Council members were overwhelming positive of the new direction and ideas. “I think it will set us apart from other cities around us,” said Junior Council Member McKinley Cherrier. “No other close regional area has this, especially south of the metro.”
Proposed Wentworth Apartments
The agenda included multiple items for proposed apartments at Wentworth Center, but they were pulled from the agenda. The project’s site plan just squeaked through the Planning Commission with a 3-2 vote, and with two Council members absent (Wendy Berry and Lisa Eng-Sarne), they wanted a full vote of Council.
Ultimately, approval might not matter since the project has lost out on a couple potential funding sources and might fall through.
Other Items on the Agenda:
- Appointment: Since the last round of appointments, a member of the Environmental Committee resigned. So Council unanimously appointed Shannon Guscetti as a replacement. Council members again commented on the incredible batch of applicants.
- Extension: The Economic Development Authority (EDA) voted unanimously to extend the development agreement with Greco for the 150 Thompson property for the fourth time. Currently set to expire on March 31, this would extend it to July 31. There’s currently an open public comment period for an environmental review and more planned public input this spring/early summer before the project comes forward for official review.
- Low income rental program: Council unanimously approved a Low Income Rental Classification (LIRC) program guide that directs a state tax program known as 4D1. The program directs property taxes for approved rental properties to improvements as a way to improve rental housing. The Council also approved three new properties for the program.
- Planning: During OCWS, Council covered strategic initiatives that will be discussed in more detail at this weekend’s strategic planning meeting.
Engage
- Watch: City Council, OCWS, and EDA meetings are archived online.
- Learn more: Guide to West St. Paul City Council.
We believe in government transparency and provide these West St. Paul City Council recaps with the support of our members.
