In my backyard!

Pioneer Press Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:51:15 -0700
St. Thomas' plans for parking ramp get neighbors' blessing

The University of St. Thomas is rolling forward with plans to construct several new buildings, and here's the news: There's no big fight about it. On Thursday, the zoning committee of the St. Paul Planning Commission - historically a venue for brawling between St. Thomas and its neighbors - overwhelmingly approved plans for a 745-vehicle, five-level parking ramp at the southwestern corner of Grand and Cretin avenues. The ramp, which could be open by fall 2009, is being built in advance of St. Thomas' plan to expand a nearby gymnasium and build a new student center in 2011. The student center will be on the campus' largest current parking lot, at the northeastern corner of Cretin and Summit avenues. Over the years, the university has butted heads with neighborhood groups over a range of issues, from alleged student party houses to parking crunches caused by student and faculty vehicles overflowing onto neighborhood streets. But in 2005, St. Thomas formed an advisory committee that includes representatives from a number of those groups. That committee has chewed over plans for the new ramp since October 2006, transforming designs from a warehouse-looking box into a structure that uses textured and colored concrete in an attempt to match the Mankato Kasota limestone used to construct many buildings on campus.

[[keywords: LandUse;Metro;]]