Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981 05-20 Maplewood council abandons Cope Avenue Park project THE REVIEW Maplewood council abandons , Cope Avenue Park project Plans to develop a 10-acre park along property is just south of Highway 36. city picking up the remainder. Cope Avenue were dropped by the Eric Blank, the former Maplewood Everything was going smoothly, city I Maplewood City Council earlier this Community Services Director, wrote officials report,until the property owner, month. funding applications and received a John J.Kavanagh,decided his land was The project was abandoned because of Lawcon Grant from the federal govern- worth more than the amount the city was the large sums of money that would have ment. Under this grant program, the willing to pay. been required to purchase the proposed federal government would have picked up Continued or page 6 park property from a private landowner. 50 percent of the land purchase price.The The park plans were initially drawn up remainder of the property fee would have during the late seventies,after a group of been equally divided between the state Election results citizens living in the area of the in- and the city. The results of the school board lesection of Cope Avenue and Hazelwood The city hired two appraisers to elections conducted Tuesday in the Street in Maplewood asked the city to determine the value of the land.The first North St.Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale develop a playground in their neigh- decided in late 1978 that the land was School District No. 622 will be borhood. worth$137,100.The second appraiser set provided in the next edition of the The park site was east of the in- the land's worth at $122,050. The city Review. tersection of Cope and Hazelwood.It is a decided to offer the landowner the latter The results were not available at rolling,partially timbered parcel of land, figure. The federal and state govern- press time Tuesday afternoon. which includes Knucklehead Lake. The ments were going to pay$95,000,with the Maplewood park Continued from page 1 Kavanagh hired his own appraiser,who issued an opinion that the land was worth $308,500. When Kavanagh and the city could not agree on a price for the land,the Ramsey County Court system appointed three impartial commissioners to decide upon an"equitable sum."At a hearing con- ducted by the commissioners,Kavanagh stated his land was worth$325,000. The commissioners apparently decided one of the city's appraisers had ac- curately assessed the value of the land. They agreed with the city that the sum of $137,100 was a fair price. Kavanagh protested this ruling by filing a lawsuit in Ramsy County District Court. The jury sided with the landowner and decided the city should pay him$270,000 for the property plus his legal expenses. Since the federal and state grants only totalled$95,000,the city would have been forced to pay$175,000 to purchase the Cope Avenue park site,Maplewood City Manager Barry Evans said. On the recommendation of Evans and S the Maplewood city attorneys,the city h' council unanimously voted to drop the park project because of its financial - unfeasibility. The park plans had included a picnic grounds,a small playground site,softball diamond and even a possible municipal swimming pool. Bob Odegard,Maplewood Community Services Director,says there is no other open land available in this neighborhood for park development. As a result,in Odegard's assessment, "Persons in the area are.going to have to continue to use Goodrich Park or Wakefield Parkas their basic parks, 9, which is kind of too bad because they are more than a mile away from the Cope Avenue-Hazelwood Street neighborhood."