An affordable housing developer has entered a purchase agreement to convert Catholic Charities’ vacant Mary Hall building in downtown St. Paul into an 88-unit supportive housing facility for the recently-homeless. Those plans have drawn the attention of a seemingly unlikely opponent — the neighboring Catholic church where Catholic Charities was founded.

Aeon, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that has been building affordable housing since the 1980s, requested that the city make an exception to zoning rules that require a 600 foot buffer between “congregate living facilities.”

The future Aeon apartment building would be 60 feet from Catholic Charities’ longstanding Dorothy Day/Higher Ground homeless shelter, which already offers apartment-style housing with support services on its upper levels, requiring what’s known as a “major variance.”

So far, city officials have smiled on the plan. The St. Paul Board of Zoning Appeals voted 5-0 to grant Aeon’s variance request on June 24.

But the decision allowing construction to move forward at 438 Dorothy Day Place has drawn opposition from the downtown Church of the Assumption on West Seventh Street. The Catholic parish, which dates to the 1850s, filed an appeal to the St. Paul City Council, which will host a public hearing on the matter next month.

“This is a substantial variance which reduces the required separation by 90%,” reads the church’s appeal. “The Board of Zoning Appeals disregarded clear testimony that a concentration of similar housing has already resulted in increased crime and diminished safety to residents, guests and visitors to the immediate neighborhood.”

A spokesperson for the church could not be reached for comment on Thursday. The city council, which cannot comment on appeals in advance of a public hearing because it serves in a quasi-judicial role, will hear from both sides on Aug. 7.

Housing for the very poor

On its website, the church notes that it sits “tucked in the heart of downtown St. Paul … close to the Dorothy Day Center and Catholic Charities, places that care for society’s overlooked. It was at the Assumption that Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis was born. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the church ran an orphanage, known today as St. Joseph’s Home for Children.”

The six-story Mary Hall has been used as housing — including housing for the very poor — since its construction in the 1920s as a dormitory for student nurses. The site has a longstanding history of providing services for the homeless, though its been vacant since 2019, when Catholic Charities completed the construction of the two-building Dorothy Day Place campus, which is located next door to Mary Hall.

Dorothy Day Place currently serves nearly 1,000 people per day through both emergency shelter and permanent housing with supportive services. About 75 residents were relocated there from Mary Hall when the former closed five years ago. In 2020, during the early days of the pandemic, Ramsey County used Mary Hall as a temporary location for people experiencing homelessness and showing symptoms of COVID-19. Among other uses, it housed the Listening House day program.

“For decades, Catholic Charities Mary Hall served as a hub where Catholic Charities and other service providers offered shelter, housing and services to those in need,” said Catholic Charities’ spokesperson Therese Gales.

Affordable housing concentration

Still, arguments that affordable housing has become too concentrated in downtown St. Paul and other corners of the Twin Cities are mounting.

Located above Catholic Charities’ St. Paul Opportunity Center, the Dorothy Day Residence consists of 177 housing units, including 77 efficiency apartments and 100 single-room occupancy units. The Higher Ground St. Paul residences, located above the Higher Ground St. Paul shelter next door, has 193 single-room occupancy units.

A year ago, a group of Black ministers associated with the StairStep Foundation filed a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota, Minnesota Housing and the Metropolitan Council, accusing state and regional funders of placing too many affordable units along the Green Line in St. Paul and in other low-income, high-minority urban areas ill-equipped to provide resources for those in need.

But efforts to relocate services for the very poor to wealthier areas have sometimes withered against fierce community opposition.

Ramsey County this year announced plans to relocate its Safe Space overnight emergency shelter from downtown Kellogg Boulevard to the Luther Seminary campus in St. Anthony Park, but had to scrap those plans when Luther pulled out of the arrangement after heavy criticism from residential neighbors.

Aeon has been working on the Mary Hall project “for a number of years,” said Laura Monn Ginsburg, a spokesperson for the nonprofit, in a written statement. “We have observed and share many of the same concerns as the Church regarding safety and security in the area and have made commitments for increased resident services and safety provisions based on the environment.”

“This housing is intended to provide a continuum of housing to serve residents as they are ready to be stabilized in the community,” she continued. “We see the area as a focal point to stabilize broadly – our lens does not just focus on the Mary Hall development. We look forward to working with the Church of the Assumption and stakeholders as a collective to strengthen stability in this area.”

Related Articles

MN Court of Appeals demands new environmental review of St. Thomas arena

MN Court of Appeals sides with city on Summit Avenue bike trail review

St. Paul minimum wage hikes take effect for small and ‘micro’ businesses

Rebuffed twice, St. Paul mayor, council president again seek authority to impose administrative citations

PK’s Place —Minnesota United’s privately operated, publicly accessible all-abilities playground — is 1st addition of United Village

Today is Friday, July 12, the 194th day of 2024. There are 172 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 12, 1979, as an angry reaction to the popularity of disco music, the Chicago White Sox held the “Disco Demolition Night” promotion, in which a crate of disco records was blown up on the field between games of a double-header; the ensuing riot and damage to the field caused the White Sox to forfeit the second game.

Also on this date:

In 1543, England’s King Henry VIII married his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr.

In 1812, United States forces led by Gen. William Hull entered Canada during the War of 1812 against Britain. (However, Hull retreated shortly thereafter to Detroit.)

Related Articles

Charges may mount for alleged ruby slippers heist accomplice

Today in History: July 11, the fall of Srebrenica

Is 1974 the 3rd-best year ever for great albums? From Bob Marley to Joni Mitchell, it’s a contender

Today in History: July 10, the Battle of Britain begins in World War II

St. Paul’s Highland Park Water Tower opens a panoramic view of summer in July

In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill authorizing the Army Medal of Honor.

In 1909, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for a federal income tax, and submitted it to the states. (It was declared ratified in February 1913.)

In 1962, the Rolling Stones played their first show, at the Marquee Club in London.

In 1967, rioting erupted in Newark, New Jersey, over the police beating of a Black taxi driver; 26 people were killed in the five days of violence that followed.

In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced his choice of U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running-mate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket.

In 1991, Japanese professor Hitoshi Igarashi, who had translated Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” was found stabbed to death, nine days after the novel’s Italian translator was attacked in Milan.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton, visiting Germany, went to the eastern sector of Berlin, the first U.S. president to do so since Harry Truman.

In 2003, the USS Ronald Reagan, the first carrier named for a living president, was commissioned in Norfolk, Virginia.

In 2012, a scathing report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh said the late Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials had buried child sexual abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky more than a decade earlier to avoid bad publicity.

In 2022, Twitter sued Elon Musk to force him to complete the $44 billion acquisition of the social media company after Musk said he was backing off his agreement to buy the company. (He would eventually become Twitter’s owner three months later.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Writer Delia Ephron is 80.
Fitness guru Richard Simmons is 76.
Singer Walter Egan is 76.
Writer-producer Brian Grazer is 73.
Actor Cheryl Ladd is 73.
Gospel singer Ricky McKinnie (The Blind Boys of Alabama) is 72.
Gospel singer Sandi Patty is 68.
Actor Mel Harris is 68.
Boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez is 62.
Rock singer Robin Wilson (Gin Blossoms) is 59.
Actor Lisa Nicole Carson is 55.
Olympic gold medal figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is 53.
CBS newsman Jeff Glor is 49.
Actor Anna Friel is 48.
R&B singer Tracie Spencer is 48.
US Senator Kyrsten Sinema is 48.
Actor Topher Grace is 46.
Actor Michelle Rodriguez is 46.
Country singer-musician Kimberly Perry (The Band Perry) is 41.
Actor Natalie Martinez is 40.
Actor Ta’Rhonda Jones is 36.
Golfer Inbee Park is 36.
Actor Rachel Brosnahan is 34.
Olympic gold medal gymnast Jordyn Wieber is 29.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai is 27.
NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is 26.
Soccer player Vinicius Junior is 24.

Jurors on Thursday convicted an Iowa man of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a police officer who was trying to arrest him.

Kyle Ricke, 43, faces life in prison for the murder of 33-year-old Algona Police Officer Kevin Cram, the Des Moines Register reported. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 21.

Cram was on patrol in Algona, a community of about 5,300, when he learned of an arrest warrant for Ricke on a charge of harassment, investigators have said. The officer saw Ricke and told him he would be arrested. That’s when Ricke shot him, according to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Prosecutors said Ricke shot Cram eight times. He allegedly told his sister days before the shooting that he would not go back to jail. Video shows Ricke shouting, “Too late!” at Cram after the officer fell to the ground.

Video also shows Ricke then trying to shoot himself, but there were no bullets left in his gun. He fled but was arrested later that day in Brown County, Minnesota, which is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Algona.

Defense attorney Barbara Westphal argued that the shooting was not planned.

“Mr. Ricke did not have the mindset to reflect on what he was doing. He was acting out of instinct,” she said. “He did not have the time to ponder what he was doing.”

Half the courtroom was filled with Cram’s family and other supporters, some of whom wept as the verdict was read about an hour after jurors began deliberation, according to the Des Moines Register. Ricke showed no apparent reaction to the verdict, the newspaper reported.

Prosecutor Scott Brown told the newspaper that Cram’s family was glad to see his killer face justice.

“I think they’re relieved, mainly, that this process is over, and the result is what they expected,” he said. “It’s been a long road, even though it was less than a year to get this to trial. It was still tough for them, and it will continue to be difficult.”

Related Articles

Former St. Paul charter school substitute teacher admits to classroom sexual misconduct with student

Faribault man sentenced to nearly 9 years for shooting, wounding Burnsville man he thought was seeing his ex-girlfriend

A ‘second chance’ for St. Paul man sentenced to jail for friend’s fatal overdose in Lake Elmo

Unlicensed driver charged in fatal Maplewood hit-and-run crash

Homicide victim found in his St. Paul home was 37, police say

A mental health advocate with a statewide police watchdog group is raising concerns after the same Crookston Police Department officer was involved in two deadly shootings just 45 days apart.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified the officer as 31-year-old Nick Fladland, a five-year veteran with the department.

The BCA preliminary report says Fladland was one of three officers called to the Share and Care shelter for a report of 44-year-old Christopher Junkin breaking furniture and other items on June 30.

Fladland, another Crookston police officer, and a deputy with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office used tasers and a pepper spray-like chemical to subdue Junkin, but Officer Fladland ultimately shot him after Junkin followed them into a hallway.

On May 16, just six weeks before, Fladland shot and killed Andrew Dale after Dale charged officers with a hatchet.

Deb Lacroix-Kinniry, a mental health advocate with Communities United Against Police Brutality, a statewide police watchdog group, said she was concerned that Polk County isn’t adhering to Travis’ Law. That law requires 911 call centers to deflect mental health crisis calls directly to mental health crisis teams.

Lacroix-Kinniry also questioned whether Fladland should have been equipped with a firearm so shortly after he shot and killed another man last May.

She says it’s possible an experience like that could affect how an officer could respond in another dangerous situation in the future.

“With a situation like that, an officer is going to, in my experience and understanding of PTSD, is going to be much more likely to not have the same way,” Lacroix-Kinniry said.

During this year’s legislative session, lawmakers debated a bill designed to give Travis’ Law more teeth and allow the public to sue officials for violating it. That bill did not pass.

Fladland was placed on critical incident leave. The shooting remains under investigation.

Related Articles

Former St. Paul charter school substitute teacher admits to classroom sexual misconduct with student

Deputies search ex-boyfriend’s residence in case of missing Dakota County woman

Faribault man sentenced to nearly 9 years for shooting, wounding Burnsville man he thought was seeing his ex-girlfriend

A ‘second chance’ for St. Paul man sentenced to jail for friend’s fatal overdose in Lake Elmo

Driver who died in crash that set off fireworks in car ID’d as 22-year-old from St. Paul