Friends of the Parks and Trails of St. Paul and Ramsey County

WHEREAS, The Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP) was built in 1941-42 on 4 square miles of farmland to function as a self-contained community to support the national defense; and

WHEREAS, in 1989 the Friends of the Parks and Trails completed a study of the park systems titled A Plan for Parks, Trails and Open Space which recommended that Ramsey County acquire an easement (or fee title) to Rice Creek through the TCAAP property for a water and land linear trail corridor; and

WHEREAS, in 1989 the Friends of the Parks and Trails asked the municipalities of Mounds View, Arden Hills, New Brighton, Shoreview, and Anoka and Ramsey counties to approve a resolution supporting acquisition of property to complete the Rice Creek land and water trail, and for 35 acres plus or minus parcl of land for athletic fields, that is adjacent to, and complements the proposed Rice Creek Trail Corridor; and

WHEREAS, all of the municipalities and the two counties approvied the resolution which was forwarded to the Minnesota Congressional Delegation; and

WHEREAS, in 1995, Representative Bruce Vento established the Reutilization Committee to make recommendations for reuse of the TCAAP; and

WHEREAS, the Friends of the Parks and Trails testified at the Vento TCAAP Reutilization Committee meeting recommending the property needed to complete the Rice Creek Trail and at a minimum, at least 1,200 acres of contiguous land be acquired by Ramsey County for a regional park reserve; and

WHEREAS, the Vento TCAAP Reutilization Committee's recommendation was to: 1) provide at least a minimum of 1,100 contiguous acres of land for a regional park reserve; 2) the Rice Creek Corridor should be preserved and linked with the regional park reserve and to encourage Alliant Tech and the Department of Defense to make necessary facility changes to allow the use of the Rice Creek corridor as both a land and water trail; and

WHEREAS, the Friends of the Parks and Trails support the VENTO TCAAP Reutilization Plan; and

WHEREAS, the Army Material Command (AMC) in Washington, D.C. is ignoring the recommendations of the Vento TCAAP Reutilization Committee's recommendations for the TCAAP area, and

WHEREAS, the AMC has told developers that 1,200 acres are available for industrial development, and

WHEREAS, the AMC invited industrial developers to consider developing all of the property west of Snelling Avenue; and

WHEREAS, the represented groups on the Vento TCAAP Reutilization Committee have not been informed of current negotiations regarding the TCAAP property; now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, The Friends of the Parks and Trails urge the Minnesota Congressional Delegation, Ramsey County Board of Commissioners, Cites of Arden Hills, Mounds View, New Brighton, and Shoreview to support the recommendations in the Vento TCAAP property; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Friends of the Parks and Trails request the AMC support the Vento TCAAP Reutilization Committee's recommendations, and rescind the current requests for developers to submit proposals for industrial development on the TCAAP property; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Friends of the Parks request the Minnesota Congressional delegation establish a process to keep all group representatives on the Vento TCAAP Reutilization Committee informed in a timely manner of any proposed changes to the status of the TCAAP property; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that because the safety arcs are no longer in place which affected the recreational use of the Rice Creek Corridor, planning should proceed by the responsible parties to provide for the public use of the corridor in accordance with the Rice Creek North Regional Trail Master Plan and the Vento TCAAP Reutilization Committee Plan.