Public Realm Committee meets the first Thursday of the month, 5 to 6:30 p.m, via Zoom, unless otherwise noted. Meeting details can be found on the CRC homepage.

2025 Work Plan

The CRC Public Realm Committee will lead community engagement activities, in collaboration with the City of Saint Paul, to support the planning processes for the Downtown Streets and Sidewalks Plan. 

Thursday, April 4, 2024: Public Realm Committee, 5-6:30 p.m., via Zoom

Agenda

To join the meeting via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85073971890?pwd=a0k5UHZGUWZpcEVBc0JlQjZZMzdKdz09

Meeting ID: 850 7397 1890

Passcode: 194345

February 2023 meeting info:

• Purple Line Station Area Planning: Emma Luken, Ramsey County Planning Specialist, will summarize feedback from 10th Street and 14th Street working groups, and provide other project updates, for discussion. Please also check out the station area map and take a 5-minute survey.

• Riverview Corridor Modern Streetcar Project updates: Kevin Roggenbuck, Ramsey County Senior Transportation Planner, will provide updates on the project, which proposes to install a modern streetcar line on State Highway 5 (West 7th Street), connecting downtown Saint Paul to the Minneapolis Saint Paul Airport and Mall of America, and linking to the METRO Blue Line near Fort Snelling. More information:
  
  • Read about the Riverview Corridor Project on the Ramsey County website.
  • Read the presentation notes for the Jan. 31 Policy Advisory Committee.

November 2023 meeting agenda:

• Metro Transit is seeking feedback on the G Line, a planned bus rapid transit line that will serve Rice and Robert streets. Please review the G Line Fact Sheet for more info. Nasser Mussa, Metro Transit Outreach Coordinator, will join us for this discussion.
• Continue discussion about Lowertown traffic calming: At the August committee meeting, there was a brief discussion about asking the City to study ideas for traffic calming. One suggestion was to ask for a study or pilot project to close some segments of streets when there are events at CHS Field or the Xcel Center (as is done for some events, like Jazz Fest in Mears Park). The purpose of this item is to clarify whether we should request such a study, and if so, what questions would we like to be addressed?

October 6, 2022 committee meeting

2021 Pedro Park Neighborhood Workgroup

Upcoming Public Realm Events

The Public Realm Committee identifies concerns, issues, and related goals on topics that relate to public spaces, including parks, transportation, public safety, and other quality-of-life / livability issues. Committee members develop recommendations on these topics by discussing questions, such as:

• What is the problem we are trying to address?
• What are potential solutions or ways to address the problem?
• What stands in our way?
• Who could help us learn about this?
• Who else is interested in this issue (specific people or other organizations)?
• What are the major tasks that are needed to develop recommendations and would take substantial time to complete?

Recent Committee Updates

August 5, 2021, 5:00-6:30 PM - CRC Public Realm Committee: In person at Mears Park

• Agenda:

  • Friends of Mears Park history / garden tour

  • Informational
    • Pedro Workgroup Update
  • Discussion
    • National Night Out - August 3 (how did it go, plans for next year)

• Public Realm Website

• • In case you missed it: https://dtstp.org/publicrealm/
  • New - template Public Space Page: https://dtstp.org/publicrealm/7thplace/
  • Which gets content from: Public Spaces Datasheet that can be updated collaboratively
  • What information is interesting or has value to people? What’s missing? Public Health/Safety info?
• Future Agenda Items -- We welcome any ideas for future agendas

March 2020: 
Parks Survey Cover Letter
Results from Downtown St. Paul Park Spaces Community Survey

November 7, 2019:
The Public Realm Committee has worked hard over the last several months to develop the Park Survey and it is now live for everyone to give their input!

October 3, 2019: Read the October Public Realm Committee meeting notes

September 9, 2019: The committee met with City staff in the Parks and Recreation department, and talked about how parks-related projects get prioritized, and how district councils can be influential in those decision-making processes. Read the September public realm committee meeting notes

August 1, 2019: The committee continued discussion of the draft survey about potential park projects / improvements. Read the August public realm committee meeting notes

July 11, 2019: The committee discussed a draft survey for downtown residents and workers about potential parks projects / improvements, including how to distribute it and how the survey results would help identify high-priority activities that CRC could advocate. Read the July public realm committee meeting notes

April 4, 2019: The committee made two motions (please read the April 4, 2019 meeting notes for more info): 

• Motion to recommend that CRC designate board member liaisons to regularly attend City meetings and to formalize communication with BOMA, the Downtown Alliance, and Council Member Noecker. The motion was tabled by the CRC board for further discussion. Please see the recommended changes to the CRC bylaws that could facilitate these formal partnerships. 
• Motion to request that the City adopt PROWAG standards for the downtown street and sidewalk improvements. CRC Executive Director contacted City staff in Public Works and was told that the City does try to follow these standards as much as possible. The CRC board also voted in support of this motion. 

March 7, 2019: The committee discussed goals and priorities for the following year, and the group selected the following top priorities:

1. Parks, green space, green things (planters, other ways of adding plants instead of concrete) and public art

2. Public safety, issues related to security cameras, and other police / public safety issues

3. Large-scale projects such as the proposed River Balcony