Task force meeting to discuss future of St. Paul Ford plant site

Ford Plant
The St. Paul Ford plant circa 1928.
Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

A citizen task force in charge of guiding the redevelopment of the Ford plant in St. Paul will meet Monday night to discuss how sustainable the site should be.

The group will hear from a team of consultants and city officials who worked on a report offering strategies to reduce water consumption, energy, and storm water runoff. The report also recommends including open space and bike paths in the development.

"We're just encouraging the city and the developers to look at all of the sustainable metrics, or ways of measuring performance in buildings and communities, and create a more sustainable model," said Architect Loren Abraham, who served on the so-called "green team" of consultants that worked on the report.

The Ford plant is scheduled to close at the end of the year and Ford is expected to put the site on the market and select a master developer early next year.

Five redevelopment scenarios have been proposed for the site, ranging from light-industrial to a high-density urban village.

MEETING DETAILS:

What: City of Saint Paul staff and consultants will present two reports to the Ford Site Planning Task Force. The reports were commissioned under direction of Mayor Chris Coleman and a grant provided by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The reports examine sustainable redevelopment opportunities and are the latest in the city's ongoing efforts to form a redevelopment framework in cooperation with Ford, the community and stakeholders.

When:
Monday, May 2, 2011; 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Where:
Macalester College

Olin-Rice Science Center, Room 250

1600 Grand Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55105

Directions & Parking: http://www.macalester.edu/about/maps/campusmapbyalpha.html

Who:

• Nathan Campeau, Water Resources Engineer, Barr Engineering Company
• Peter Musty, Peter Musty, LLC
• City of Saint Paul Department of Planning and Economic Development staff