St. Paul’s new sales tax to fund a sports field at Victoria Park

Soccer, baseball, flag football and lacrosse are on the horizon for Victoria Park.

St. Paul voters went to the polls last November and approved a 1% municipal sales tax to prop up the capital city’s roads and parks.

On Friday, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter showed off the future fruits of that spending — a new $2.9 million multi-sport synthetic turf field planned at 852 Hathaway St., where a petroleum tank storage site was once situated in the West Seventh Street neighborhood off the banks of the Mississippi River.

The mayor, who has dubbed the new sales tax the “Common Cent” program, has called the new funding source the linchpin for cementing Victoria Park’s long-planned sport field, which will be under construction at the north end of the 40-acre site through next spring. Also attending the groundbreaking were St. Paul Parks and Recreation Director Andy Rodriguez and City Council Member Saura Jost.

“This will be the first amenity that’s going in,” Rodriguez said. “We still have to secure funding for the rest of the site, but the next thing we hope will go in is the city’s first universally accessible play area. That’s a $5 million project, and we have $2.5 million from the Legislature. We’re looking for a match there.”

At complete build-out, the 40-acre park will include the turf field, the playground, trails and what Rodriguez described as “nature-based play” components. “There’s a good balance of active recreation and nature-based components planned for that park space,” Rodriguez said. “It’s been natural or scenic area for a while. It’s been accessible, but this is the first dive into the development of amenities on the property.”

The turf field has been more than a decade in the making, and still has further to go.

The city adopted the Victoria Park Long-Range Plan in 2013 after the tank site was restored and its land was transferred from the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority into city parkland. The multi-sport field is expected to host soccer, baseball, flag football and lacrosse, and eventually lighting, a restroom building and other furnishings. The city has left open the possibility of adding spectator seating and more trail connections.

About two-thirds of funding comes from the “Common Cent” sales tax. Additional funding sources include the HRA’s land transfer funds, the Twins Community Fund and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Recreation Program.

The sales tax, which took effect April 1, is expected to collect nearly $1 billion in the next 20 years, generating about $738 million for street improvements and about $246 million for parks and recreation facilities improvements.

More information about Victoria Park is online at stpaul.gov/victoriaparkproject and about the Common Cent is online at stpaul.gov/salestax.