Met Council delays Summit Avenue bikeway vote as opponents petition for environmental review

Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press
Updated ·3 min read

The Metropolitan Council has postponed a Wednesday vote on St. Paul’s proposed Summit Avenue bikeway after opponents petitioned state regulators for an elaborate environmental assessment.

The petition cites the 4.5-mile bikeway’s potential impact on the trees, layout and historic character of Summit Avenue, whose streetscape sits on the National Register of Historic Places. Gary Todd, chair of the S.O.S. (Save Our Street) committee, turned in the petition Monday to the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board.

Citing the work of an independently hired arborist, the S.O.S. coalition has estimated the $12 million bikeway, together with the $100 million road reconstruction, could claim as many as 950 trees. City estimates have it closer to 220 trees.

Cycling advocates have accused bikeway opponents of using the tree estimates as a smokescreen to protect their on-street parking.

Todd, in a brief interview on Friday, emphasized that Summit Avenue is populated not just by Victorian mansions like the Governor’s Residence. He noted a high concentration of multifamily housing along Summit between Lexington Parkway and the Cathedral of St. Paul.

“I think we should understand all the impacts before moving forward,” Todd said.

Following months of acrimonious debate and legal opposition from the S.O.S. coalition, the St. Paul City Council on May 24 voted 6-1 to support transportation, pedestrian and parkway improvements within the 5.4-mile corridor that runs from Mississippi River Boulevard to Shepard Road via Summit Avenue and Kellogg Boulevard.

That work would include two off-road trails — an elevated 4.5-mile bikeway at the same level as the sidewalk on either side of the avenue — which city officials have called safer than in-street bike lanes. Opponents have cited conflicts with 160 driveways, 359 carriage walks and 46 cross streets.

The S.O.S. petition calls for the city and Met Council to complete an environmental assessment worksheet before any further action on the Summit Avenue plan. However, it’s likely that the city would complete the worksheet on its own.

The full Met Council, the metro’s regional planning agency, was preparing to vote Wednesday on whether to approve the city’s “Summit Avenue regional trail long-range plan,” but that changed in light of the EAW petition. The agency’s role in the trail plan is to weigh in on whether the city met expectations for public engagement, that the trail will be accessible to all residents and that there is public demand for it, among other criteria.

Met Council staff and two committees — community development and the parks and open space commission — had previously recommended approval, though neither vote was unanimous.

In a Wednesday letter to St. Paul Parks and Recreation Director Andy Rodriguez, senior parks manager Emmett Mullin said it’s the city that “will need to take the steps required under (state) rules to make a determination on the (S.O.S.) petition.”

In an email Friday, Parks and Rec spokeswoman Clare Cloyd said, “We are aware of the petition and are currently evaluating next steps.”

The bikeway and road reconstruction have yet to be funded.

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