Divided council approves Kmart park-and-ride

A verdict has been rendered in the long and contentious debate over the future of the former Kmart site in southeast Rochester.

In two separate 4-3 votes, the Rochester City Council approved a conditional use permit with specific conditions recommended by the Community Development Team and a 10-year lease for the space, with an option for the developer, Camegaran, to opt out after five or seven and a half years if another development opportunity presents itself.

Councilors Wojcik, Keane, Palmer and Staver voted yes on both items (the conditional use permit and terms of the lease). Voting against the items were Council Members Campion, Bilderback and Johnson.

Council Member Patrick Keane cited increased neighborhood involvement and the solidification of a timeline to turn the site into something else as the main reasons for his approval.

“I still have all kinds of concerns for traffic hits in the neighborhoods, parking in the neighborhoods, things like that, but my reading was we’ve made good progress, going from where we were in December to now,” said Keane.

While members of the Slatterly Park Neighborhood Association also noted progress in negotiations between them and the developer in a February 11 letter to the council (“we feel that a compromise is possible that will satisfy stakeholders on all sides,” read part of the letter), many neighbors were still left unsatisfied with the amended lease agreement. Several letters from concerned neighbors filtered in to the council, in addition to dozens of previous letters all in staunch opposition to the proposal. 

“Allowing this conditional use permit, even temporarily, would literally be endangering every single person in the vicinity,” wrote Slatterly Park resident Meghan Kozub, referring to increased traffic in the area.

Fellow resident Doris Amundsen spoke to the council in person, speaking in no uncertain terms about the future of her neighborhood.

“A vote for this lease is an obvious disregard for our neighborhood in order to accommodate Mayo Clinic’s parking dilemma and poor planning,” said Amundsen. “I happen to believe that we deserve better.”

As the vote to approve the lease was called, there was confusion in the council chambers. Mayor Kim Norton asked to speak, but Council President Randy Staver had already called the vote to order. After the vote was taken and the motion passed, Norton noted the possibility of a veto.

The mayor had been in favor of a strict five-year lease, as opposed to the approved ten-year lease with a five-year option.

“Well, as someone with veto authority, it seems like it would have been nice to get my question answered before [we] had the vote,” said Norton. “When this discussion was had earlier, it was my understanding — and I was pretty vocal — that I preferred five years, and I’m really disappointed that’s not what’s here. That’s not what I expected.”

If the motion approved by the council does survive a potential mayoral veto, the plan is to provide 700 spaces on the lot, the majority of which would be used by employees at Mayo Clinic’s St. Marys Hospital. A second phase, which would double the amount of spaces, still needs council approval.

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.