From Today’s St Paul Pioneer Press.
http://www.twincities.com/News/Breaking/ci_26589326/New-Stillwater-park-could-include-dock-promenade
New Stillwater park could include dock, promenade
By Mary Divine
[email protected]
Posted: 09/23/2014 12:01:00 AM CDT | Updated: about 4 hours ago
Picture a new park south of downtown Stillwater with public boat access, a municipal dock and a promenade suspended over the St. Croix River.
Those features are being considered for the yet-to-be-named park, which will cover 17 acres on the former Aiple Barge Terminal site across Minnesota 95 from the Oasis Cafe.
Two concepts for the park — one high-intensity, the other low — underwent parks and planning commission review Monday night.
Both plans include boat access on the south end of the park, next to Sunnyside Marina, and a municipal dock near the Bergstein buildings — the former Shoddy Mill building and warehouse that were moved from Oak Park Heights to make room for the approach to the new St. Croix River Bridge.
The high-intensity plan includes about 16 boat-trailer parking spaces and more slips on the municipal dock, said Bill Turnblad, community development director.
It also includes a walkway that would be cantilevered over the riverbank — a feature that could be controversial because the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources “would likely find the impact on the riverway unacceptable,” Turnblad said.
Turnblad said he thinks the final plan will be a hybrid of high- and low-intensity ideas.
The planning process does not address specific uses of the Bergstein buildings; their future will be determined by a study that will begin this fall, he said.
The city will hold an open house in October for the public to see the park plans and comment on them.
The parks commission then will make a recommendation to the city council. The final plan could be adopted in early 2015, Turnblad said.
As for the name, Stillwater residents submitted 245 possibilities. Among the suggestions are Alliance, Between the Bridges, Les Deux Ponts de Stillwater, Logger Landing, Logjam, Lumberjack, Millsite, Oasis View Natural Area, Visions of the Croix, Wild River and White Pine.
Parks commission members will pick their favorites and forward them to a committee, which will recommend a name to the city council.
The land where the owners of the Aiple Barge Terminal lived — just north of downtown — also is slated to become a riverfront park. Washington County and Stillwater plan to buy the 15-acre parcel for $4.3 million.
The property features 3,500 feet of shoreline and is adjacent to the new Brown’s Creek State Trail, which will open next month. Elayne Aiple has lived on the land since the late 1960s; her husband, Frank, died in 2000. She first approached officials in 2012 to ask about the possibilities of public ownership.
Mary Divine can be reached at 651-228-5443. Follow her at twitter.com/MaryEDivine.
