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Fighting Bad Development
When a national corporation proposes a building that
doesn't fit your neighborhood, prove to them that they
can build a building that fits.
Jeff Schommer, CharretteCenter
Minneapolis, MN
January 2004
University UNITED, a coalition of neighborhood and community groups along University Avenue in St.
Paul, Minnesota is constantly wrestling with the same dilemma. Large scale, national chains want to
locate along University Avenue because of the large amount of available land and because of its
location in the geographic center of the Twin Cities metro area, with easy access to Interstate 94 and
State Highway 280, as well as many bus routes, the states busiest intersection at University and
Snelling Avenue and active housing development.
The big problem is that these large, anchor retailers usually offer the same building plans to the
community; a large, one story box and a huge parking lot. Rarely does the front of the building face
the street, and when it does, it is separated from the street by the parking lot.
The community is often eager for these retailers to do business in the area, with the convenience and
tax revenue that they would bring, but has already seen the damage that this type of development
does to the framework of their community. And the University Avenue area of St. Paul is not alone;
communities all around the world are dealing with the same problem.
Bad Medicine
CVS, a national retail pharmacy chain, is
planning to enter the Twin Cities market and
recently proposed a new store at the high
traffic corner of University Avenue and
Snelling Avenue, the commercial epicenter of
University Avenue in St. Paul. This store
would be one of the company’s first of around
30 stores planned for the Twin Cities area.
For University UNITED, it was the same
problem as ever.
University and Snelling Ave elevations of CVS’s proposed store.
These blank walls face the highest traffic corner in the state.
(Courtesy of University UNITED)
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Fighting Bad Development
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The residents of the neighborhood are in need of a pharmacy, and the addition of another high volume
store on that particular corner could help strengthen other local retail as well as leverage more
development, however CVS’s plans called for a single story, single tenant building set on the corner of
the lot abutting the two high volume streets with a small surface parking lot. The front entrance of the
building would face the parking lot with one blank wall facing University Avenue and another
inhospitable wall facing Snelling Avenue.
When University UNITED asked CVS to review their plans and make them more sensitive to the
context of the community, CVS said that this was how they built stores and they didn’t have any other
store plans that would meet the street any better.
Home Remedy
University UNITED had been through similar battles with other retailers, some who were more willing
to work with them, some who were more hostile, so they knew that they had to be creative. The first
thing that they did was to contact other Twin Cities communities where CVS is eying property for
stores. A coalition of thirty neighborhoods came together to counter balance CVS’s approach for
development. To University UNITED Executive Director, Brian McMahon, this coalition was the most
important step.
“These thirty neighborhoods coming together was very powerful,” McMahon said, “It brought a lot of
leverage to the conversation, talking to thirty neighborhoods instead of just one.” With the coalition
assembled, the push for CVS to change their plans was more energized, more organized and more
sophisticated. Having a sizable, united front that crossed municipal boundaries and had the backing
of city council members Paul Ostrow of Minneapolis and Paul Zerby of St. Paul also brought the
attention of local media to the issue. “We got proactive, not just reactive.”
With the coalition formed, the next thing that University UNITED did was host a short public design
charrette to come up with new development options that they could offer to CVS. Over fifty interested
people attended the charrette. Three design groups came up with four design options to take to CVS
for discussion purposes.
Left: One of the
options created
during the charrette.
(Courtesy of
University UNITED)
Right: A photo of a
CVS store in
Mashpee Commons
in Massachusetts
sent via the Listserv
inquiry.
Next, University UNITED did a little research. A call for examples was put out over a national email
Listserv asking for photographs of CVS and other similar stores from around the country. Overnight,
dozens of photos arrived which showed that not only do other pharmacies do business out of
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Fighting Bad Development
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neighborhood friendly buildings, but CVS does business out of some of the nicest buildings of the
bunch.
Now What
The St. Paul Riverfront Corporation’s Design Center met with people form the CVS organization at the
end of January. At this meeting CVS stated that they would alter their design only slightly, adding
windows to the walls facing University and Snelling Avenues. At a February 19th meeting, the City of
St. Paul Zoning Commission approved these plans on a 3-2 vote, to the dismay of University UNITED
and the communities around University and Snelling Avenues. With that approval vote, the issue now
moves on to the Planning Commission for a similar vote. If the current design is approved there, an
appeal will be brought to the City Council.
University UNITED’s Brian McMahon is still confident, even through the recent set back at the Zoning
Board. He says that, for the most part, Zoning Boards and Planning Commissions tend to follow the
letter of the law pretty strictly, and that they shy away from making real progressive design decisions.
The City Council, which has the power to overrule the Planning Commission’s actions, is really where
the design decisions are made and where new precedents are set. It was easy for the board to pass
the plan, since CVS’s current plans follow the zoning regulations for that area of the city. Having the
vote be so close (3-2) was almost a victory in itself.
University UNITED will not back down in their fight for human orientated design in their neighborhood.
They continue to hold public forums to keep stakeholders informed and to keep themselves informed,
and, armed with the photographs from around the country and the backing of the 30 other
communities, put up strong arguments to CVS in their discussions. Whatever happens with this
proposal, University UNITED is determined to assure that whatever is built at the corner of University
and Snelling is just what the doctor ordered.
View this article on the web at http://www.CharretteCenter.net
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford,
California 94305, USA.