Title
Amending the 2014 Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) by transferring $170,000 from the 2014 CIB Hampden Park budget to provide for Dickerman Park Improvements.
Body
WHEREAS, the Property bounded by Fairview on the west, Aldine on the east, private property approximately 100 feet north of University Avenue on the north and University Avenue on the south was donated to the City in 1909 for park and parkway purposes; and
WHEREAS, buildings constructed up to the lot line in the early 1900s and the 1950s and parking was allowed on park land in 1957 with another lot constructed in 1976 contributing to the lack of visibility and viability of the land as a park; and
WHEREAS, the City's ownership of the land was inadvertently omitted from the parkland inventory and planning until the 1990s when the Dickerman Family approached the City expressing their desire to ensure that the donated land fulfilled the use intended by the donors; and
WHEREAS, since that time, the development of Dickerman Park has been a goal of the City of Saint Paul, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the community and Ward 4; and has also been included in the City's Comprehensive Plan, the City's Central Corridor Development Strategy, Central Corridor Station Area Plans and the City's Parks and Recreation Vision Plan; and
WHEREAS, the Green Line is opening June 2014 and there is a strong community desire to demonstrate progress on the development of Dickerman Park and a need to provide quality open space to attract economic development along the corridor; and
WHEREAS, the YMCA is pursuing redevelopment of its site adjacent to Dickerman Park in the near future and the City wants to take advantage of the opportunity and timing to develop Dickerman Park into the amenity that was hoped for when the land was donated to the City; and
WHEREAS, a long term barrier to the establishment of Dickerman Park has been the presence of surface parking and other encroachments within the park; and
WHEREAS, Ward 4 has worked with the Mayor's Office and the Department of Parks and Recreation to devise a plan to achieve the next steps toward development of Dickerman Park and associated financing; and
WHEREAS, Ward 4 has identified an opportunity for property owners to utilize Central Corridor Parking Program funds to cover the cost of reconfiguring existing private parking lots north of Dickerman Park such that parking being removed from Dickerman would be replaced in private lots; and
WHEREAS, the funding identified to assist with replacing parking being removed from Dickerman Park will allow the City to finally remove the existing encroachments from the park. In turn, Parks can then establish turf, provide identification of the park, and update a viable vision for the park with community input that will lead to a robust CIB application for Dickerman in 2015; and
WHEREAS, the costs for the work listed above can be covered, in part, by Year Round STAR funds available to Ward 4; and
WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Department of Parks and Recreation and Ward 4 to amend the financing and spending budget to include $170,000 to be transferred to cover the balance of the work listed above; and
WHEREAS, on December 11, 2013, the City Council adopted the Capital Improvement Budget for 2014 and the tentative Capital Improvement Budget for 2015 per Resolution 13-1879; and
WHEREAS, two park projects within Ward 4 were allocated CIB funds for improvements including $200,000 for Hampden Park in 2014 and $197,000 for May Park in 2015; and
WHEREAS, the improvements for Hampden Park and Bayless Avenue / Bayless Place Improvements will not begin until late in 2014 with the majority of work being done in 2015;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the City Council of the City of Saint Paul, upon recommendation of the Mayor and the positive advice of the Long Range Capital Improvement Budget Committee that $170,000 is available in the 2014 Capital Improvement Budget, and said 2014 and 2015 budget, as heretofore adopted by the Council is hereby further amended in the particulars as indicated in the attached financial analysis.
Financial Analysis
See attachment.
CIB Recommendation
The Saint Paul Long-Range Capital Improvement Budget Committee received this request on April 14, 2014 and voted to not recommend this project.