Council grants variance to preserve large rain garden on Bayless Place boulevard

The St. Paul City Council voted Wednesday to adopt a legislative hearing officer’s recommendation allowing a variance from the boulevard planting-height limits at 2350 Bayless Place so a deeply planted rain garden can remain with conditions to preserve sight-line safety.

Legislative hearing officer Ms. Mormon explained that the city’s boulevard ordinance generally limits plantings to 36 inches in height and 18 inches near intersections or driveways to preserve sight lines. Because the property’s boulevard is unusually deep, staff proposed a variance that would allow up to 2 feet in the area closest to the corner and up to 5 feet closer to the sidewalk while keeping sight-line-protected strips near intersections.

"The order from the Department of Safety and Inspection was to reduce the height of the plantings ... but given the intentional planting and distance from the street we thought a variance could be considered," the hearing officer said. Seth Richardson, the rain-garden steward who said he has maintained the planting since 2022, testified the garden is a native plant mix that requires many plants to exceed the 24-inch sight-line requirement and that enforcing the code as written would effectively end the garden. "Rain gardens are good for their environment ... I would be pretty sad if this has to go away," Richardson said.

Pat Thompson, co-chair of the St. Anthony Park Community Council Transportation Committee, and others urged flexibility, noting the garden’s public value, its contribution to the city's climate and resilience goals, and the unusual depth of the boulevard created during street reconstruction. Councilmember Coleman said the Council must apply current law fairly but supported the legislative hearing officer’s crafted variance and committed to pursuing broader boulevard-garden policy review in committee. The Council adopted the recommendation unanimously.