Stillwater riverwalk won't go between Dock Cafe and St. Croix River

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
·1 min read

Dec. 11—Stillwater officials are moving forward with the construction of a riverbank stabilization project and a riverwalk south of downtown along the shores of the St. Croix River.

The riverwalk, however, will not go in front of the Dock Cafe, Stillwater officials said Friday.

The Stillwater City Council voted 3-2 in Nov. 16 to remove the trail section in front of the restaurant, which has been closed since early 2020. Greg Seitz, founder of the St. Croix 360 website, broke the news in a Dec. 10 post.

The council found that the "cost risks associated with acquiring easements for the Dock Cafe segment outweighed the benefits of installing that segment of trail at this time, said City Administrator Tom McCarty.

The city still has an easement on the river side of the Dock Cafe, he said, but it's not wide enough for the city "to construct a paved trail on it without acquiring additional easements."

The project made the news in 2020 when the city revealed that plans called for five trees to be destroyed near the Dock Cafe. The plan outraged the owners of the popular restaurant, who said the trees shaded its brick patio.

After months of negotiations, the trees were spared the chopping block, McCarty said.