Gov. Mark Dayton and Mayor Chris Coleman met with Ford Motor Co. executives in Dearborn, Mich., Friday to discuss the future of the former Ford manufacturing site in St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood.
Council Member Chris Tolbert, whose district includes the former motor plant, also attended the meeting with Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s executive vice president and president of the Americas.
The discussion focused on issues related to the environmental clean up at the site, Tolbert said.
“There wasn’t a lot of specifics but we wanted to discuss the environmental cleanup and the timing of it,” Tolbert said. The Minnesota group also wanted to share with Ford “what the higher level vision is for that site.”
Ford recently submitted the first phase results of its environmental study on the site to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, or MPCA, Tolbert said. The company is now working with the agency to develop a cleanup plan.
“There are still a lot of unknowns but the positive is … the results they have show that there is nothing unexpected and everything is cleanable,” Tolbert said. “The remaining questions are what is the cost and how long would it take to clean certain sections and that is what Ford is figuring out with the MPCA right now.”
After the meeting, Dayton, Coleman and Tolbert, in a joint statement, gave an update on the site: “Over the past few years, a great deal of work has been done. Ford has decommissioned the plant, cleared the site and conducted environmental testing. At the same time, the city has extensively engaged the community, to ensure our aspirations around transportation, sustainability and quality of life can become market realities.”
Dayton accompanied St. Paul officials on the trip as a way to highlight the importance of the site to the Twin Cities and Minnesota, Tolbert said.
“We had met with the governor awhile ago on the (Ford site) and he offered to go,” he said. “He wanted to show Ford, and I think the city of St. Paul, he is there to help and he is there to support this.”
Ford shuttered its Twin Cities Assembly Plant in 2011. Since then the plant has since been demolished and the 130 acres of riverfront property are being readied for sale.
Environmental testing of the land is ongoing, with the goal of cleaning it to development standards, marketing it to the private sector and building new homes, offices, parks and retail.
Depending on the amount of environmental cleanup needed, construction could begin as soon as 2018.
The city of St. Paul does not own the property, but it does maintain zoning authority and control over public infrastructure such as sewers and utilities — this is a linchpin to determining the scale and layout of future development.
Mayor Coleman has prioritized creating a walkable community that would serve as a model for sustainable development.
St. Paul city planners have met repeatedly with Highland Park residents to discuss key planning objectives, from public-transit access to the types of jobs and green space that could be available on the site.
This year the Ford site is expected to enter the cleanup and marketing phase while the city works on financing and zoning of the redevelopment.
“Today’s visit confirmed that our partnership is as strong as it has ever been,” according to the joint statement, issued by the mayor’s office.
Rachel E. Stassen-Berger contributed to this report.
