Improvements coming to a park near you
Jake Spitzack
Staff Writer
With summer in full swing, cities in the St. Paul Voice distribution area are hard at work improving many of their parks. Here’s what’s underway.
St. Paul
Harriet Island Regional Park – Work to revamp the play area at Harriet Island Regional Park is expected to begin this fall and be complete next spring. It will include a new play structure for kids aged 2-5, zipline and play equipment for ages 5-12, sand play area, several zones for seating and gathering, and more. The $928,000 project is funded by the Legacy Parks and Trails Fund.
The Sam Morgan Regional Trail between Elway and Randolph and Lower Landing and Highway 10/61 will be reconstructed this summer. Each two-way segment is about 2-miles long. Work includes adding lighting to the I-35E underpass, creating trail nodes in Lower Landing Park, and installing benches, bike racks and litter receptacles.
Como Regional Park – St. Paul Parks and Recreation is expected to complete an updated long-range plan for Como Regional Park by August. The city last adopted a long-term plan for Como in 1984 and the new one will guide improvements for the next 20 years. The primary goal is to better connect trails within the park to St. Paul’s Grand Round trail network. Connections around Como Lake, Picnic Pavilions, McMurray Fields and Woodland Outdoor Classroom areas will be prioritized over those within the zoo, conservatory and golf course areas. Also being considered are plans to update the Como Lakeside Pavilion. Built in 1992, it’s an exact replica of the one built in 1905.
Pedro Park – Work has begun to expand the park by nearly a half-acre and install an assortment of amenities between now and next summer. Work this year includes foundation preparation, utility installation, pavilion construction, placement of precast concrete components and play area installation. Work next year includes creating a concrete sidewalk, railings, site furnishings and landscaping. Once completed, the park will feature an open lawn area, fenced-in dog run, pavilion, concrete sidewalks including one arcing diagonally through the site from Robert to 10th, play structures, gardens, seating, a drinking fountain, bike racks, landscaping, irrigation, fencing and security cameras. Three public art projects are also expected to enhance the site: a sculpture, a mural on the western retaining wall – which was formerly a wall of the Public Safety Annex building – and artwork on top of the pavilion that can be seen by residents living in the upper floors of the many nearby apartment buildings.
Summit Avenue Regional Trail – Street improvements are slated to take place this year along Summit Avenue from Lexington Parkway to Victoria Street and along portions west of Snelling Avenue to help prepare for the new trail project, which includes a one-way bike trail on both the north and south sides of Summit from Mississippi River Boulevard to Kellogg Boulevard. No timeline was provided for construction of the $12 million trail project that is funded by a Parks and Trails Legacy fund grant. However, the city would like to create the trail in conjunction with a full reconstruction of Summit Avenue, which would bring the total project cost to about $100 million. For more information, visit engagestpaul.org/summit.
Phalen Regional Park – The newly created Hmong Plaza in the Changsha China Friendship Garden at Phalen Regional Park opened this spring and Hmong artwork will be installed there this year, wrapping up Phase 2 of the $888,000 project. The work is funded by an Arts and Cultural Legacy Grant and state bonding. Phase 3 includes adding more features, such as a donor wall and moon gate, but the timeline is dependent on securing additional funding. For more information, visit stpaul.gov/phalenchinagarden.
Tree removal – The City of St. Paul expects to remove all remaining ash trees impacted by Emerald Ash Borer from city streets by the end of the year. Efforts have been underway to combat the disease since 2010. The project timeline was sped up in 2022 following the establishment of a new funding partnership with the St. Paul Port Authority. Stump grinding and replanting are expected to take place by the end of next year.
Park funding – The 1% increase to the local option sales tax, approved last year by city residents by a 60/40 vote, was implemented April 1 and funds have already been set aside for a host of city projects. The tax increase is expected to generate nearly $1 billion over 20 years, three-quarters of which must go to streets and the rest for parks. The city’s park and recreation facilities currently have $100 million in deferred maintenance projects, including $60 million that are in critical or urgent status. The other $40 million in assets will reach critical or urgent status within the next five years. Park improvements include replacing artificial turf at Oxford Community Center, renovating Toni Stone Stadium at Dunning Park and playing fields at Highwood Hills, the first phase of converting the heating system at Como Zoo & Conservatory from steam boilers to geothermal, renovation of the HVAC system at Dayton’s Bluff Recreation Center, parking lot repair at Battle Creek Recreation Center, and splash pad upgrades and basketball court renovations at Conway Recreation Center. Specific project timelines weren’t available as of press time but a breakdown of the funding is available: buildings at parks ($10.36 million), asphalt and pavement at parks ($1.54 million), fields ($4.87 million), tennis, pickleball and basketball courts ($1.44 million), play areas ($1.56 million), water features ($1 million), downtown park improvements ($3.22 million), River Learning Center design ($100,000), athletic complex design ($100,000), Eastside Recreation Center Design ($60,000), River Balcony Design ($100,000) and The Heights Design ($50,000). Design proposals for the Great River Learning Center will be reviewed this summer and a contract is expected to be awarded by fall.
Wakan Tipi Center – Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi, a nonprofit formerly known as Lower Phalen Creek Project, broke ground on the Wakan Tipi Center at the end of May. Located at Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, the building will feature an exhibit hall, classrooms, ceremony space, a community gathering area, a teaching kitchen and teaching gardens. Phase one of the $13.5 million project consisted of site and utility work and wrapped up in November 2022. A capital campaign to fund the project launched in 2018 using a $3 million appropriation from the State of Minnesota, and in May 2023 it received a $2.3 million bond which was nearly all that was needed. The center will be completed next year.
West St. Paul
The City of West St. Paul is updating its parks system plan, last adopted in 2000. Mend Collaborative was hired to complete the project last spring but faced several delays. Now the City has taken the project back in-house to get it over the finish line. A draft was completed in April and a final plan is expected in September following more opportunities for community feedback. Highlights include new gathering spaces near the Doddway Center at Smith and Dodd and the former YMCA property at 150 Thompson Ave. E.; reducing the size of city-owned ice rinks and one baseball facility; adding more volleyball and soccer facilities; improving basketball, tennis and pickleball courts; creating multi-season athletic spaces; creating a dog park at the West St. Paul Sports Complex and turning the horseshoe pavilion there into multi-functional space. Also planned are playground improvements, new park plazas and an amphitheater, and the addition of more picnic shelters, indoor gathering spaces with educational opportunities, trees, gardens, art and signage. The plan will guide the parks system for the next decade.
City pool – The City recently approved a $19,950 contract with Burbach Aquatics Inc. to complete a feasibility and design study for improvements to the West St. Paul pool. The pool was built in the 1950s and underwent a major renovation in 1999, which included a new bath house. City staff estimate there is now a minimum of $625,000 in work to be done to update the site and maintain safety there. The study is expected to be complete next spring. Based on the results, city staff will consider whether to make repairs and improvements, build a new aquatic facility or disinvest in the pool. The pool features a two-story water slide, splash pool, separate lap pool, playground and more.
The Marthaler Park Improvement Project, which began in 2018, is expected to wrap up in the coming weeks. Look for a grand reopening celebration to take place this summer. Work has included creating new parking lots, a play area, stormwater treatment pond, resurfacing volleyball and basketball courts, and reconstructing trails. This year the focus has been on the upper parking lot, creating a new fishing pier, picnic pavilion and bathroom facility, improving the sledding area, adding a bicycle parking and a repair station, and installing more seating, signage, light poles and security cameras. The City partnered with Dakota County on the $2.8 million project and received several grants from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to help fund it.
New trails – The Cities of West St. Paul and Mendota Heights, in partnership with Dakota County, will construct a trail along the West St. Paul side of Delaware Avenue between Marie Avenue West and West Mendota Road. Work includes creating turn lanes and a pedestrian median. The Mendota Heights trail will be shifted to align with the changes. Dakota County is using a $600,000 Safe Routes to School grant for the project, which goes by Two Rivers High School, and each city is contributing about $70,000. Work is expected to be complete this year.
The City of West St. Paul, in partnership with Dakota County, has approved a $53,800 contract for Kimley Horn to conduct an engineering study to determine the feasibility of creating a trail on the south side of Wentworth Avenue between Robert Street and Oakdale Avenue. There is already a trail on the north side of the street but adding this trail is expected to further increase safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. The trail segment was also identified in the City’s bicycle and pedestrian plan, adopted in 2018. The study is expected to be complete by this fall and will be used when applying for future funding opportunities that arise. The city is paying $8,075 of the contract amount.
Design work will be completed by the end of the year for a new trail to be built on the south side of Butler Avenue from Robert Street to Sperl Street and on the north side of Butler Avenue from Sperl Street to Highway 52. The trails are designed to increase pedestrian safety and will be built in conjunction with repaving of Butler Avenue and safety improvements at the intersection of Sperl Street and Stassen Lane. Community feedback on the project was sought in summer 2021. Construction is slated for 2025.
The city council approved a $142,288 contract for SEH, Inc. to complete an engineering study of the 1.7-mile corridor of Emerson Avenue from Delaware to Robert. Reconstruction and improvements of the road are called for in 2026 in the City’s Capital Improvements Program. The study will include a topographic survey, evaluation of trail and sidewalk options for the entire segment and garnering public feedback this fall.
Ice arena – The parking lot at the West St. Paul Ice Arena on Emerson Avenue will be expanded this summer from 80 to 116 stalls, and a dedicated drop-off lane will be added near the front entrance. The site will also be prepared for an additional 32 stalls to be added in the future. Other work includes safety improvements and the addition of medians with trees and streetlights, an underground vault for stormwater treatment, and a curb and gutter system. The nearly $1 million project is expected to be complete in early August.
City Hall landscaping – Last fall, the nonprofit Great River Greening obtained $23,000 in state grant funds to convert the grass around most of the West St. Paul City Hall campus to natural prairie vegetation. This change will promote pollinators and other wildlife and cut down on tasks for city maintenance staff. The city is leading the project and kicking in a $4,000 cost share required by the grant. Restoration work will take place this year and continue next year.
Mendota Heights
The City of Mendota Heights is in the process of crafting a new parks master plan that will guide the park system for the next 15 years. An online public survey closed at the end of May and a draft of the plan is expected to be complete in early 2025.
The city’s 2024 budget includes funding for the following improvements:
Mendakota Park – $100,000 to install fiber infrastructure, security cameras and technology for city staff to manage irrigation remotely. Expected to be completed in July.
Marie Park – $30,000 to clean and resurface the pickleball court within the ice rink by the end of July; $40,000 for the recent grading work at the ballfield and new dugout covers.
Roger’s Lake Park – $300,000 to create the new skate park that opened at the end of May. Its 10,000-square-foot concrete pad was installed last October, and skate features include a quarter pipe, jump box, wedge, grind rail, pyramid section, bank ramp, spine, half pipe and grindbox.
Wentworth Park – $90,000 for work that is now underway to reconstruct the two tennis courts by the end of June; $30,000 to create six new pickleball courts within the existing ice rink.
Oheyawahe (Pilot Knob) – In May 2023, the City received $1.85 million in state capital investment funds for improvements at Oheyawahe. Proposed updates include an ADA-accessible parking lot, drinking fountain, restroom facilities, bio-infiltration water management feature, connecting trails to the Minnesota River Greenway and Big Rivers Regional Trail, restoring natural vegetation and interpretive signage.
Tree program – The city is using $25,000 this year to launch a tree canopy program to mitigate the loss of ash trees due to the emerald ash borer. Residents and commercial property owners who qualify for the program can purchase trees at a subsidized cost and receive complimentary site consultation, tree recommendation, utility marking and tree delivery, as well as full-service planting, mulching and first watering.
South St. Paul
New swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts, playgrounds with creative themes and a skate park are among the improvements addressed in the City of South St. Paul’s updated Parks Master Plan, which is expected to go before the city council for approval in August. The previous plan was adopted in 2005 and updated in 2021. HKGI completed the plan following several opportunities for public feedback last summer and fall. The plan took an inventory of what each park has and shows design work for improvements at each. The most recent draft was presented in April. It called for the following improvements in the next 10-20 years.
Spruce Park – make more shade on the play lawn, create a new sidewalk along 7th Avenue South, and add a new picnic shelter, traffic park that helps teach youth rules of the road, and city-themed playground.
McMorrow Field – replace existing parking lot.
Harmon Park – build new warming house with concessions and restrooms, create two small picnic shelters, replace existing tennis courts with a full-size tennis court, add a new full-size basketball court and a nature-inspired playground.
Northview Park has two concept plans. One calls for a new swimming pool and the other to remove it and replace it with a splash pad.
Option 1: replace the swimming pool and playground, resurface the parking lot and basketball court, replace the playground and improve the softball field.
Option 2: remove the swimming pool and make a splash pad, build a skate park, install a new playground, create a new full-size basketball court and parking lot, add new picnic and restrooms building, and make improvements to the softball field.
Lorraine Park also has two concept plans, one of which calls for a new pool.
Option 1: replace ice rink and warming house with a new parking lot, expand the existing parking lot, build a new swimming pool, replace the splash pool, add a new playground, make improvements to the sand volleyball court, and add horseshoes, bocce ball and a small shelter to the play area.
Option 2: replace and expand the existing parking lot, replace the splash pool and playground, remove horseshoes courts and plant trees in their place, improve the sand volleyball court, and add a new entertainment area including pickleball courts, and shuffleboard and bocce ball courts.
Veterans Field – replace trees on block perimeter, replace existing playground, and add new covered dugouts around all four softball fields.
DNR Boat Launch – build new restrooms, parking lot and bituminous trail, replace the boat ramp, and relocate the community gardens and compost sites.
Archery range – create a new water treatment facility, ADA picnic area and trail, and relocate and replace the archery lanes.
Grandview Park – replace the playground and create a new picnic shelter.
Jefferson Park – resurface the existing parking lot and create a new one, add a new playground, warming house, covered ice rink and trail, relocate the softball field and improve the sledding hill.
Seidls Lake Park – add new nature play area, picnic shelter, fishing dock and trail.
Simon’s Ravine Trailhead – install remote door locks to existing restrooms building, add a bike repair station and update landscaping.
Wildflower Levee Park – plant more trees for shade, add more seating areas and signage, and restore shoreline and plant native vegetation.
Summit Park – relocate the half basketball court, resurface the tennis courts, replace the playground, add a new trail and create a stepped seating plaza.
Kaposia Park – add new disc golf building, covered dugouts, nature-inspired playground, improve the sand volleyball court and expand the parking lot.
Kaposia Park North – remove tennis courts and plant fruit trees.
Bromley Park – create a new parking lot and community gardens.
Kaposia Landing – add a restaurant, food truck station, amphitheater, kayak launch, pickleball courts, trail and parking lot.
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