Civic Campus Expansion Planning
A detailed history of the Roseville Civic Campus expansion decisions
This election Roseville residents are voting Yes or No on two ballot questions regarding adding a one half percent sales tax to fund two building projects for City Public Works & Parks and the License & Passport Center as part of an expansion to the Civic Campus. The plan the City Council has adopted is to redevelop Veterans Park on Woodhill Drive and the property the City owns at 2719 Lexington Ave to build a new Public Works & Parks Operations Facility. The License & Passport Center and the VFW will be relocated to City property on the south side of Woodhill Drive.
“The proposed new Public Works and Parks Operations Facility is a very important part of modernizing our work and making it more efficient,” said City Councilmember Jason Etten. “This will allow our Public Works and Parks departments to have the space they need for all of our vehicles and equipment as well as space for materials they need such as salt and sand to take care of the city.”
“Right now we store several vehicles and pieces of equipment at rented facilities and have limited space for employees to do the work of keeping the city going on a day to day basis,” Etten explained.
The planning process has been underway since 2016. What follows is a timeline and synopsis of each stage of the planning process with information pulled from Roseville City Council meeting minutes, documents, and a few interviews. Even more detail is available in City Council meeting minutes and meeting packets, which are all available to the public online in the Agenda Center. Meetings from July 2017 onward also include video recordings.
2016
In 2016, the City Council members were: Jason Etten, Tammy McGehee, Lisa Laliberte, Bob Willmus, and Mayor Dan Roe
In the fall of 2016, the City Council identified a need to explore a new location for an expanded License & Passport space and a renovation or expansion of the Public Works Maintenance building to accommodate the growth of the city’s fleet of vehicles and equipment needs.
“As has been previously identified, it is advantageous for the License Center and other office space to be located near the City Hall Campus. As part of this analysis, staff has looked at properties nearby the campus and have estimated costs for acquisition and development of those sites,” a Dec. 5, 2016 Request for Council Action read.
In December 2016, the City Council discussed the possibility of hiring an external firm to conduct a space needs assessment. City Council members identified the possibility of Veterans Park and the 2719 Lexington Ave. property as potential land for expanding the Civic Campus to accommodate these needs.
Selling the decommissioned Fairview Fire Station was also identified as a possible funding source for the project.
For more details, check out the minutes from the November 14, 2016 meeting starting on page 11, and the December 5, 2016 meeting in section 15b. The Dec. 5 meeting packet with the Request for Council Action on the City Facility Needs is on page 248 of the pdf.
2017
In 2017, the City Council members were: Etten, Laliberte, McGehee, Willmus, and Mayor Roe
In 2017, the City Council reviewed a Maintenance Facility Space Needs Study created by Kodet Architectural Group to perform a facility study for both the License Center and the Maintenance Facility. The full report on the Maintenance Facility needs and deficiencies and the recommendations for how to address those issues were presented to the City Council on September 18, 2017. You can view that report here.
The current Maintenance Facility has approximately 61,800 square feet of total space, which has grown from its original 5,400 square footage when built in 1957. In 2017, The City was also leasing space from the State Fairgrounds and using about 1,000 sq ft of the decommissioned Fairview Fire Station. The Police department was using off site space for temporary storage of impounded vehicles and was using 1,500-3,000 sq ft of shared space with the Public Works and Parks and Recreation leased facility.
“In analyzing our existing inventory of equipment and vehicles, Kodet estimates that we need about 22,000 square feet of additional storage space if we want to remove our reliance on leased space,” the Kodet report noted.
Kodet provided four options for renovating and rebuilding the existing Roseville Maintenance Facility on the current site and one option for building a new building on a separate 6 to 12 acre site.
According to the meeting minutes, Councilmember Willmus “opined that in the long-term it behooved the city to look to control its own fate rather than relying on continued leasing of parcels, which over time made it more difficult as uses change and properties develop.”
When discussing current property owned by the city and storage needs during the Sept. 18, 2017 council meeting, Mayor Roe suggested they should seriously consider selling the Fairview Fire Station, according to page 23 of the approved minutes.
Councilmember Tammy McGehee suggested that they should keep the Fairview Fire Station available for storage, given the city’s need for more storage space. “Councilmember McGehee opined that it seemed short-sighted for the city to rid itself of any space it already owns,” the minutes recorded on page 24.
Councilmember Etten agreed that the Fairview Fire Station should not be sold until a better solution was found.
2018
In 2018 the City Council was made up of Etten, Laliberte, McGehee, Willmus, and Mayor Roe.
On Monday January 29, 2018, The Roseville City Council met in a “Closed Executive Session” for approximately 30 minutes with the City Attorney and staff to discuss a potential offer to purchase property located at 2719 Lexington Ave. This is the strip mall that currently houses the License & Passport Center. At the time, the City was paying rent for use of this space.
During the open meeting, the City Council considered a resolution to authorize the use of “eminent domain” to acquire the property.
Eminent Domain is the power of the government to take property for public use. Traditionally this is used to acquire land for public use such as roads, public buildings, and parks. In 2006, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law that states that "eminent domain may only be used for a public use or public purpose," and further clarifies that the "public benefits of economic development, including an increase in tax base, tax revenues, employment, or general economic health, do not by themselves constitute a public use or public purpose." [source]
According to the meeting minutes, City Manager Trudgeon noted that the seller was aware of the matter and did not object. Further, there was a federal tax code provision that was advantageous to the seller as well.
While there was an opportunity for public comment, no one came forward.
During the Council meeting, McGehee stated that she did not think this purchase could be justified as a necessary public purpose. McGehee expressed that she was unhappy with the process and had asked for a full discussion previously and that the issue had not been fully vetted by the public.
Mayor Roe stated that this is a public purpose and “serves a number of needs in the city.”
The resolution to authorize the use of eminent domain to acquire the property at 2719 Lexington Ave. passed by a vote of 3 to 2. Willmus, Etten, and Roe voted in support and Laliberte and McGehee voted against.
Consider Acquisition of Property Located at 2719 Lexington Ave.
The next item on the agenda was to consider acquisition of that property for $2.3 million. According to the minutes, there was also an option for the seller to purchase the Fairview Fire Station, which the city would divide into two parcels.
During the council discussion, Willmus stated that they had discussed this extensively in the closed session. The City would need more space in the future and this was a willing seller, conveniently located right next to the City’s campus. Long term, this would fill different needs related to public Works and the License Center. “When considering the operating expenses of the License Center, this makes sense. With the sale of the Fairview Fire Station, this makes even more sense.”
The minutes describe a back and forth discussion between council members, in which several details of the acquisition were debated. The entirety of the open session discussion is recorded in the minutes of the January 29, 2018 Council Meeting, starting on page 20.
To summarize, the biggest drivers for purchasing this property was its convenient location adjacent to the Civic Campus and Veterans Park, no longer needing to pay $100,000 annually in rent, and being able to collect rent from the remaining tenants in the building.
“The acquisition of this parcel will give future Councils a much easier time when they have questions that are brought before them with regard to additional Public Works and additional parks, and perhaps down the road an opportunity to have an in-depth conversation about the community center,” the minutes record Willmus as saying.
Concerns were expressed by both McGehee and Laliberte that a comprehensive analysis of the city’s current available space and space needs had not been thoroughly discussed or communicated with the public.
“A better process would be to have a planning and public process to discuss the City’s needs in total, in the way the City plans parks and other big projects in the City. The Council has failed to bring it all together in one big picture discussion,” Laliberte expressed, as recorded in the minutes.
Mayor Dan Roe was supportive of the acquisition of this property as a long-term solution for the License Center. According to the minutes, Roe said, “It also provides the opportunity for possible solutions for perhaps a Community Center or expansion of a Public Works facility. There was discussion previously about how landlocked the existing Public Works site is. By acquiring additional property adjacent to City Hall, he noted this provides the opportunity for site control to solve the City’s problems.”
The desire for a community center was also brought up by McGehee, Willmus, and Etten. However, McGehee pointed out there had been no Council support for the concept unless the community center could bring in its own self-supporting revenue.
The resolution to move forward with purchasing the 2719 Lexington Ave property was approved on a 3-2 vote. Willmus, Etten, and Roe voted in favor. Laliberte and McGehee voted against.
The City moved forward with purchasing the Lexington property in 2018, paid for with a loan borrowed from the Pavement Management (PMP) fund.
2019-2020
In 2019 the City Council members were: Etten, Laliberte, McGehee, Willmus, and Mayor Roe.
In 2020, the City Council members were: Etten, Wayne Groff, Laliberte, Willmus, and Mayor Roe
Between 2019 - 2021, the City hired the BKV Group to help develop a Master Campus Plan to solve the building space needs that had been previously identified.
In 2020, the BKV Group initiated community engagement which was presented to the City Council on July 20, 2020. A survey with 156 respondents with all of the aggregated and individual responses was presented as well as comments from Facebook (one comment) and Nextdoor (nine comments). You can view the results of that study and the comments on the presentation here. The community response section starts at page 17 of the pdf.
“The start of the process of engaging the community on the potential for a new facility happened as we were slowly moving out of Covid. This hampered some of our early efforts to engage people from across the city,” Etten told the Roseville Reader. “We were able to put a lot of focused effort on connecting with residents near the proposed area as well as businesses including the VFW.”
Four final and refined concepts for the Civic Campus Plan were presented to the Council on September 21, 2020. Included in the presentation was a note indicating that the “space needs reflect the work environment before the Covid-19 pandemic. If and when the City establishes a remote working policy the space needs for City Hall should be reexamined.”
“Several building layout configurations were presented to the City Council, including one option that would have closed Woodhill Drive,” City Manager Pat Trudgeon told the Roseville Reader.
“However, in all cases, the full extent of Veterans Park was utilized in each alternative.” Trudgeon explained.
2021
In 2021 the City Council members were: Etten, Wayne Groff, Julie Strahan, Willmus, and Mayor Roe
In 2021, the City conducted more community engagement opportunities to solicit feedback on the proposed plans. The results of that were included in the Civic Campus Master Plan Study report from May 2021, which can be read in its entirety here. A survey, with approximately 23 respondents (based on the numbers shown in response to questions), can be found near the end of the report.
As reported in this document, the community expressed a need to retain the small playground currently at Veterans Park which is heavily used by the community, especially those living in the apartments north of Veterans Park. In the current Pre-Design plan, the playground will be moved to the north side of the property close to the Lexington Apartments and Townhomes.
Etten explained that the feedback from residents, “resulted in adjustments to the preliminary design that better buffers adjoining homes and extensive discussions with the VFW on designing a new VFW building across the street from its current location.”
Some residents expressed a wish for an outdoor exercise gym near the play area, a desire to maintain or improve the green-space around the campus, and a request to include planning for a future community center.
“As part of the Civic Campus Master Planning process in 2021, the City Council indicated support [for] locating the maintenance facility on the Civic Campus for efficiency of management and operations,” Trudgeon told the Roseville Reader.
2022
In 2022, the City Council members were: Etten, Groff, Strahan, Willmus, and Mayor Roe
The City kept the Fairview Fire station building in its possession after consolidating the Roseville Fire Department into one fire station on the Civic Campus on Lexington Ave until 2022. At one point, the City intended to renovate the former Fairview Fire Station to permanently house the Roseville Historical Society, according to this 2011 Pioneer Press article. But in 2022, that property at 2501 Fairview Ave N was sold. That property is now Genisys Credit Union and the Roseville Historical Society is housed inside of City Hall. The third fire station property on Dale Street was sold to a developer and redeveloped into multi-unit housing.
According to a May 10, 2022 memo to the Roseville Finance Commission, the sale of Fairview Fire Station helped pay off part of the loan the city borrowed from the Pavement Management (PMP) fund in order to purchase the property at 2719 Lexington Ave in 2018. This is the strip mall that currently houses the Passport & License Center.
Community Engagement
In 2022 the BK Group, in collaboration with the City, conducted a series of community engagement efforts about the Civic Campus Plan. These engagement efforts included an article in the City newsletter, mailings, open house events for neighbors living around Veterans Park, and other outreach to identified stakeholders.
On Monday, September 12, 2022 the City Council met with the BK Group to receive an update on the Civic Campus Pre-Design Plan. [meeting minutes here.]
A summary of the feedback in the report indicated that residents were concerned about how the maintenance facility would change the view from their backyards from a park to an industrial building, the impact of traffic and construction noise, and the ongoing noise impact of Public Works vehicles after the new operations facility is built. Some residents expressed a preference for a community building or a space within the new campus for community use or a public gather space. Disappointment was expressed over the loss of green space and how the building of the maintenance facility would impact their property values, especially those who live directly west of Veterans Park.
For more detail on the community engagement results, you can view the presentation from the BK Group at this link, starting on pdf page 72.
“The City appreciated hearing the concerns brought forward by the neighbors surrounding the proposed project site and will work diligently toward addressing and mitigating their concerns. To date, as part of the pre-design plan, we have added a 30-foot green buffer adjacent to the Griggs Street residences that will include landscaping, a berm, and a screen wall along that stretch. We would look to create a 30-foot green buffer on portions of the north property line next to the Lexington Apartments,” Trudgeon said.
According to the BK Group report “Community Engagement by our team resulted in approximately 9% of Roseville residents being informed or were directly participatory in the Expansion Pre-Design process. This results in a successful measure as our targeted goal was to reach between 8-10%.”
Additionally, the BK Group said they were able to successfully reach 100% of the residents on Lexington and Griggs.
Pre-Design for the Civic Campus Plan
The final report on the Pre-Design for the Civic Campus Plan was presented to the City Council and adopted with approval of all council members on October 10, 2022. [See the meeting minutes here.]
The Pre-Design Plan that was adopted in 2022 includes moving the License & Passport Center and the VFW to the south side of Woodhill Drive and building a new maintenance facility on the Veterans Park land. The rebuilding of the VFW is not included in the projected costs and would not be funded by the proposed sales tax that is on the ballot.
Further design work and discussion of the proposed redevelopment of the Civic Campus was put on hold until a funding source could be secured.
2023
The City Council members were: Etten, Groff, Strahan, Robin Schroeder, and Mayor Roe.
In 2023, the City Council sought approval from the Minnesota legislature to get the sales tax questions added to the ballot. The City Council voted to pursue this on January 9, 2023. Etten, Groff, Schroeder, and Mayor Dan Roe voted in favor. Strahan was absent from the meeting and did not cast a vote. The discussion about pursuing a sales tax ballot measure can be found in the meeting minutes.
During the spring 2023 Legislative session, the Minnesota Legislature approved the City’s request for the sales tax questions to be added to the ballot in the next City election, which is the November 2024 election.
2024
In 2024, the City Council members were: Etten, Groff, Strahan, Schroeder, and Mayor Roe.
In spring 2024, the Invest in Roseville communication plan was rolled out to the community through a series of mailings, information in the City News newsletter, social media, and the Invest in Roseville website.
In May 2024, City staff met with the Roseville School Board to discuss a potential partnership to possibly develop some of the district’s green space into a park or to use some of their facilities for the youth sports that have been located at Veterans Park. You can view a recording of that meeting here.
On June 25, 2024 the City launched the Invest in Roseville website to communicate about the plan to the community with a City alert News Flash.
In the September 16, 2024 Council Meeting, which was joined by the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Finance Commission, the question about whether land already zoned for industrial use had been considered came up. Mayor Dan Roe dismissed the suggestion, saying it would be far too expensive to purchase land at market rate.
During this meeting, Roe indicated that unless the makeup of the council changes, the plan will be going forward as currently proposed.
You can view a recording of the September 16 City Council meeting here.
Councilmember Julie Strahan is concerned about the Civic Campus Plan as it currently stands. “While I agree that the facilities need to be renovated or replaced, I continue to have issue with the location in a prime housing area, with the loss of a park and other public amenities. I would like to see serious discussion, regardless of funding mechanism, of changing the proposed location to a more industrial area,” Strahan said.
Councilmember Jason Etten is supportive of the location, saying that its central location makes it ideal for responding to city needs as well as collaborating across departments on the Civic Campus.
“Putting the operations facility in the western part of Roseville where there is more industrial zoning, if we found enough land to purchase, was going to cost residents millions of dollars more to obtain and develop and would create new inefficiencies as staff and vehicles went between the main campus and the new operations facility,” Etten said.
Next steps
Now two questions on the ballot are in front of Roseville residents regarding funding the project with a 0.5% sales tax increase. The other funding mechanism available is through property taxes. Voting is already underway and the last day to vote in the 2024 General Election is Tuesday, November 5.
If both ballot measures pass, there will still be opportunities for Roseville residents to offer feedback to City Council on the proposed Civic Campus expansion.
According to City Manager Pat Trudgeon, the City Council and staff have indicated that more details will need to be worked out regarding the final design of the project.
“We will continue to engage with all stakeholders of the project, including the residents of Griggs Street and the Lexington Apartments, and will work with them to address and mitigate their concerns,” Trudgeon said.
Residents can wait for formal opportunities to respond to requests for comment or they can address the City Council during the public comment portion of any City Council meeting.
For more about the sales tax questions on the ballot, see this article from the Roseville Reader as well as the Invest in Roseville website Cost section.
Correction 10/15/24: A previous version of this article incorrectly listed the 2021 Councilmembers. Julie Strahan replaced Lisa Laliberte starting 1/1/2021.
Correction 10/16/24: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Minnesota Legislature approved the City’s request to put the sales tax questions on the ballot in spring 2024. The Legislature approved it in 2023.
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