When homeowners living near the University of St. Thomas learned that city staff had approved a site plan for the university’s new Division 1 hockey and basketball arena, they appealed the decision to the St. Paul Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission denied their appeal last month, 11-0. So they appealed again to the St. Paul City Council.

On Wednesday, a long line of residents entered the council chambers at City Hall, some two dozen of them clad in red shirts or sporting protest signs, to share a litany of concerns about the arena. Parking, emergency access, vehicular emissions and river impacts were among the issues raised. The arena, with up to 5,500 seats, would be well-situated to another locale, they said.

“There is no new on-site parking to be constructed as part of this,” said Jerome Abrams, noting the traffic impact of 66 home games each year will be felt far beyond campus. “Where those cars are going to go is into the neighborhood.”

And when they were done, the council again rejected their appeal. The vote was 4-0, with three absences being Council Members HwaJeong Kim, Rebecca Noecker and Nelsie Yang, who is out on maternity leave.

‘Not able to find a clear error’

Council President Mitra Jalali noted she lives three blocks from Allianz Field, a professional soccer stadium, and understands there will be traffic impacts.

Nevertheless, Jalali said, the council was required to examine the narrow question of whether the Planning Commission diverged from 11 standards laid out in the city’s zoning code. Those standards govern setbacks from other structures, the building’s height, pedestrian access, windows and door openings, among other particulars.

“I have been engaged on this issue for months,” Jalali said. “I am still not able to find a clear error.”

The arena, which will be located near Cretin and Grand avenues at 2260 Summit Ave., will span up to 5,500 seats, though the configuration will be different for hockey and basketball. It will also include team rooms, lockers, weight rooms and coaches’ offices for soccer and softball.

Parking concern

Daniel Kennedy, the attorney who filed the appeal on behalf of the Advocates for Responsible Development, told the council that parking in the area is already overloaded.

Another speaker likened the arrival of the sports arena to historical land grabs against the Dakota Indians, as well as the interstate construction that uprooted Black families by the hundreds in the Rondo neighborhood. He had to be removed by staff twice for raucous behavior.

Neighbors have also waged a legal battle, arguing the city’s Environmental Assessment Worksheet was insufficient and the project needs further environmental review. Oral arguments were heard before the Minnesota Court of Appeals in April.

City planning staff told the council those issues are not within the scope of a site plan review. Also not yet under consideration, they said, are a traffic management plan due within about a year, and a contested access road leading to the Binz Refectory.

McCarthy Gymnasium and a service center were demolished in March, and the arena’s footings and foundation were installed in April. Construction was suspended in light of the appeal, but is likely to resume in the near future.

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Edina junior Torger Ohe wasn’t playing his best golf entering the state tournament. He barely reached this stage, having to knock in a 12-foot putt at sections to avoid a playoff for a state berth.

Confidence wasn’t high.

But Ohe drew inspiration from Minnetonka grad Gunnar Broin, who will tee it up in the U.S. Open on Thursday. Broin recently said in an interview that he wasn’t playing well heading into his U.S. Open qualifier, only to go onto qualify for the major championship.

“He kind of stuck to his process and played well and with a lot of confidence,” Ohe said.

So that’s the approach Ohe tried to take into this week. He and his coach went through what the junior called “a really good process” this week. The end result was a state title.

Ohe slept on the lead Tuesday night, then fired a 4-under 68 in the final round Wednesday at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids to secure the boys Class 3A crown.

“It feels great. Obviously, really grateful to be in this position,” Ohe said. “Really happy to be able to play as well as I did. I had kind of been struggling a bit coming into this event. Just really happy with the way I handled myself.”

He finished three shots better than Centennial sophomore Cooper Daikawa, who shot a 3-under round of 69 on Wednesday. His putter betrayed him, but Daikawa put on a ball-striking exhibition on the final nine holes.

Daikawa said his performance “definitely brings my confidence up a whole lot.”

“I didn’t expect to play like this, but playing like this against the really good, top guys in the state definitely helps a lot,” said Daikawa, who was pleasantly surprised with both his score and leaderboard position. “Coming into state, I felt really good. My game felt good. I felt like I was hitting it really well, and just kept it that way and stayed positive about all of my shots. Didn’t get down and kept going.”

Entering the day, Cretin-Derham Hall junior Sam Udovich was in second place, just one shot back of Ohe. Udovich was stuck in neutral for most of the final round, but birdied two of his final three holes to get to level par for the day and finish 4-under for the tournament.

That was good for a tie for third, alongside Mahtomedi junior Jacob Wilson.

Defending champion Jake Birdwell, a Spring Lake Park senior, shot a 69 Wednesday to finish 1-under for the week, good for a tie for fifth alongside his brother, Chase Birdwell. The freshman shot a 68.

Wilson’s tie for third was a massive improvement over his previous state finishes. He credited the ability to walk alongside coach Jeff Poeschl throughout the round and talk through shots for keeping his focus on the course.

Perhaps his trickiest shot of the day came on No. 18, when he had to get up and down from the rough on a chip that had to travel over a bunker. Wilson hit it just over the bunker and landed it in the rough, which decelerated the ball enough to where it didn’t fly down the downslope, and instead nestled into tap-in range to save par.

“There was really one little spot at the top of the hill through the rough where I could land that,” Wilson said. “I landed that right where I wanted to, and I was happy with how it turned out, for sure.”

Great shots were aplenty from the leaders over the final nine. Ohe’s shining moment came on the lengthy par-3 17th.

“That was probably my best swing of the week,” Ohe said. “Hit it exactly where I wanted — start line, end line. Couldn’t have dreamt of a better shot there.”

His tee shot landed roughly 15 feet from the cup, and he drilled the putt to, essentially, cement the championship.

TEAM

Benilde-St. Margaret’s won the team title in a razor-thin race, going 8-over as a group on Wednesday to finish with a two-day score of 596. That was one shot better than Waconia.

Maple Grove was third at 599, while Rosemount was fourth at 600. Cretin-Derham Hall, who placed sixth, was just 13 shots back of first place.

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Jay Jackson thought about declining the assignment to Triple-A. He was 36 years old, had struggled to begin the season and there were no guarantees that he would be back in the major leagues.

The Twins’ front office convinced him otherwise.

“Just talking to the front office and them relaying to me that they do believe in me and I have a chance to be back here,” Jackson said. “After that, it was, ‘OK, I’m going to give it the best I have again and see where it goes.’”

Turns out his return to the majors came fairly quickly. He was designated for assignment on May 19 and was back in the majors less than a month later, added once again to the roster on Wednesday.

Jackson, who gave up a run in an inning pitched on Wednesday, returned in place of Louie Varland, who was called upon to make a spot start on Tuesday and filled in well with five scoreless innings. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Twins designated Diego Castillo for assignment.

“He’s looked pretty good. He’s capable and he’s a good option to bring back in this role right now,” manager Rocco Baldelli said of Jackson. “He’s a guy that’s still in a lot of ways that we look at pitching and evaluate guys, our group likes him. That’s it. I like him.”

These past few weeks, Jackson said, have been filled with a lot of family time, reflection and getting himself back to “feeling like myself again.”

Jackson was roughed up over the span of 17 games, giving up 19 runs (17 earned) and posting a 6.85 earned-run average. His 1.388 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) was far from where it was last season (0.910) in his most productive year as a major leaguer.

The final straw before he was designated for assignment was a one-inning performance against the Cleveland Guardians in which he gave up four runs (three earned).

“Bad luck or whatnot, the numbers were still bad at the end of the day, and I didn’t perform the way I wanted to or the way the team expected me to,” Jackson said. “Just to get back to the normal old Jay and be out there performing the way I should.”

Jackson, who was often at the hospital this offseason with his son, who was born prematurely last year, said he “didn’t get as right,” as he would have wanted to, noting that he wasn’t preparing as well as he “probably should have.”

But now he’s been given a second opportunity after going down to Triple-A and he hopes to make the most of it.

“I’m glad to be back and try to help the team as much as I can, and just to be back with the city, knowing they had trust in me to be back to help the team,” Jackson said. “That’s the main thing to me, to be back here and give it another shot to perform better than I did last time.”

Briefly

Reliever Brock Stewart (shoulder tendinitis) has been playing catch and Wednesday, he threw off the mound, throwing five fastballs. He reported coming out of that feeling good. … The Twins will play host to the Oakland Athletics for four games beginning on Thursday. Joe Ryan will start the first game.

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