Cautionary tale

Pioneer Press: 08/09/2008: Elizabeth Mohr: Maplewood / Neighbors fight plan for senior housing

Neighbors of a proposed senior housing center in southeastern Maplewood are fighting the proposal, saying it will usurp a public park.

The 111-unit complex would be built on a portion of Gethsemane Park. The 10 acres of parkland are owned by nearby Gethsemane Lutheran Church, which has leased the site to the city for $1 a year since 1982. The contract is up, and the church would like to use the land differently.

"We've always intended to use the property for ministry," said the church's pastor, the Rev. Richard White. "Over the years it morphed into the dream of building senior housing."

The senior center would take up the western 6 acres, with the remaining 4 acres remaining parkland, White said.

"This is the ONLY park space in our neighborhood," Deena Drewes wrote in an e-mail to the Pioneer Press. "The closest place for our kids to play is a mile away, across busy streets."

Drewes lives on Bartelmy Lane, the park's eastern border, and said only a handful of local residents were notified of the proposed project.

She and a few others "made the rounds" in her neighborhood to spread the word. Most are "definitely against this sort of monster development in our little neighborhood," she said. They also are concerned about the increased traffic and strain to aging sewer and water lines.