Twin Cities Streets for People

The images displayed below are of  7 Corners in St. Paul, but it might as well be Anywhere, USA. The last 47 years haven’t been kind to the district adjacent to downtown. In fact, it transformed from a neighborhood of small businesses, quaint houses and small apartment blocks into an open surface parking lot for a convention center. Read more >

Can an urban ecovillage model be a possibility in St. Paul? This report done by Elizabeth Turner makes a compelling case for one. Here is the executive summary:

This paper explores types of development that would be most sustainable for Sparc’s Willow Reserve property, in the full economic, environmental, and social definition of the word. The concept of the Urban Ecovillage is explored in depth, and successful examples in Los Angeles, Cincinnati, and Minneapolis are profiled.

An Urban Ecovillage is defined as a community of residents with a common fervor for ecological living working towards existing in a way that is socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable. This philosophy can take a wide variety of forms, although there are many commonalities. Ecovillages usually employ techniques of permaculture and co‐housing and often have a gardening component. While the first ecovillages were in rural areas, a growing number can be found in cities, where they can serve as a catalyst for sustainable development in their urban surroundings.

Last week we had a post on the site about new off-street car parking requirements in Saint Paul. I thought that the city should have included minimum levels of bicycle parking in its updated planning codes – turns out they already are.

Donna Drummond and Kate Reilly, who are planners for St. Paul, wrote back and let us know about new bicycle requirements that will soon be before the city council. The proposed changes are attached as PDFs, and certainly represent a step forward. The new code after the break Read more >

St. Paul has completed its parking study. From the looks at the PowerPoint (attached) we are going to be stuck with the sea of off-street parking we have become accustomed too. The motto is the "most livable city" in the US, really? With some changes we can take the next step to becoming the most livable city.

Please make sure you take the time to review the new parking study. We need to start catering to pedestrians, cyclists, and mass transit and need parking regulations and code that reinforce this. The new parking study only reinforces old norms that off-street parking is a must for any commercial or residential development taking place in St. Paul. Valuable square footage in the city will be set aside for cars, not people. Read more >

The City of Saint Paul is planning for light rail transit along the Central Corridor, a spine that will connect the downtowns of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, and the diverse neighborhoods along University Avenue. The Downtown Saint Paul Station Area Plan applies the broader Vision, Principles and Design Directions of the Central Corridor Development Strategy (CCDS). Building on this community-based and citycouncil adopted foundation, this Station Area Plan creates a more detailed framework for integrating decisions affecting future built form, land use, the public realm, and movement (including LRT, buses, cars, pedestrians and bicycles) within the Downtown.

Read the Draft here. Read more >