St. Paul Park residents to see new streets -- and assessments

Talk about it

Residents living along stretches of eight St. Paul Park roads would be affected by a proposed street and utilities improvement project next year.

The City Council last month approved the scope of a proposed $3.2 million project that will reconstruct roadways and make water and sewer system improvements across pockets of the city. It includes stretches of Broadway, Portland, Holley, Selby and Lincoln avenues and 10th, 11th and 13th streets.

Final approval of the project will follow a public hearing at the council’s Dec. 20 meeting.

Noise, dust and torn-up driveways aren’t the only hassles those homeowners would face, however, if the project goes forward as expected. They’ll have to pay for it, too.

According to the city engineer’s feasibility report on the proposed improvements, street and storm water assessments would pay for roughly $800,000 of the estimated $3.2 million project. Sanitary sewer and water service assessments would pay for around $44,000, and funds from two of St. Paul Park’s tax increment financing (TIF) districts would cover about $2.4 million.

TIF dollars would go for the most part toward paying for a new water main on 13th Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets, said St. Paul Park City Administrator Kevin Walsh. He said funding constraints shrunk what had originally been planned as a larger improvement project.

St. Paul Park’s assessment policy calls for benefiting residential properties to pay for 33 percent of public improvement projects, and commercial properties to pick up 40 percent of the tab. Based on the estimated cost of the project, homes impacted by street and storm sewer in residential areas would owe almost $54 per foot frontage; homes along Sixth Street and 13th Avenue would owe more than $83 per front foot; and homes on Broadway Avenue would owe $117.

According to the city, businesses along Sixth Street and 13th Avenue would pay $102 per front foot and those along Broadway would pay $144. Properties impacted by water main work would face assessments of $1,800 per unit and those affected by sanitary sewer improvements would owe $2,200.

Tags: daily updates, st. paul park, local government