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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2024
Minnesota Court of Appeals expresses doubt
while giving City procedural OK
Gary Todd, Chair, SOS Steering Committee
(Saint Paul, MN) The Minnesota Court of Appeals rejected the City of Saint Paul’s request that it rule on the merits (of the Summit Avenue Regional Trail (SART) plan) and instead issued a narrow procedural ruling that environmental review will have to be addressed when the city finalizes the plan or receives funding. The court clearly expressed doubt about whether the proposed plan will even proceed further in its 8-page decision: “The lack of funding source for the project makes it quite uncertain (COA emphasis) that the plan will be undertaken,” wrote Judge Randall Slieter. And court indicated that the city will need to provide more details on the bike plan, specifically the trail’s width: “This is not a minor detail because the width would clearly impact the very issue SOS raises ¾ how the SART could disrupt the tree canopy and cause environmental harm,” as written in the COA decision.
“The court says we were too early, it’s still a plan,” said Gary Todd, SOS Steering Committee Chair. “Had we waited any longer, we feared the City would claim: ‘it’s too late.’ The court recognized that the city will still need to address the environmental risk. And we still fear the city will sacrifice any tree in its way to make space for this trail.”
SOS will be reaching out to the office of Mayor Melvin Carter to ask for an open dialogue with the city on next steps and potential funding, so the process will encourage a more collaborative dialogue, rather than requiring citizens to take the city to court just to find out what’s going on. SOS expects that many of its 2,850 petition signers will voice these concerns to the mayor and their city council representatives to promote greater transparency in the process.
“Citizens shouldn’t be kept in the dark. As the SART plan progresses to project phase, an open and honest process will benefit everyone,” said Todd. “Tell us when funding is being sought, and what the timelines really are. And everyone will benefit if the city agrees to an EAW when its ready to move forward so all the facts can come out. Citizens deserve this good, honest governance.”
SOS maintains that an objective analysis of the adverse impacts of the proposed bike trail that would be provided by an EAW will ensure open and honest communication and trust in a process that so far has produced the opposite. As SOS attorney Bell stated to the court, the city needs to conduct feet-on-the-ground assessments (like those of its independent arborist), and offer more than vague and unenforceable mitigation measures. The destruction of hundreds of mature trees and irreversible damage to the historic streetscape cannot be genuinely disputed, which is why SOS was forced to commence legal action.
A recap of facts gleaned from 241 pages of the City’s Summit Avenue Regional Trail Plan
· Constructing a separate raised bike trail and abandoning the existing bike lanes will do the following:
o Destroy nearly 1,000 mature trees– conservatively.
o Remove more than half the parking East of Lexington.
o Irreversibly alter the existing historic streetscape.
o Increase traffic speeds on Summit Avenue by widening the traffic lanes.
o Close many of the exiting openings for cross streets through the median.
o Sacrifice several feet of the existing grassy medians and boulevards.
o Create hazards for all users, bikers, pedestrians and motorists, by constructing asphalt bike trails that have to cross 160 driveways, 359 carriage walks, and 46 cross streets with no controls or warning to its users.
About SOS (Save Our Street)
Save Our Street is a citizen group that seeks to educate and advocate for preserving the historic streetscape of Summit Avenue as a treasured St. Paul destination and a safe, tree-lined, multi-modal corridor for generations to come. https://www.savesummitavenue.org
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