Some St. Paul Park residents to be assessed for road improvements

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St. Paul Park City Council members recently voted to levy roughly $380,000 in assessments against benefiting properties to help pay for a project that will repair streets and sewers in a residential neighborhood near Heritage Park this summer.

Assessments to homes and businesses will cover roughly 30 percent of the $1.25 million total project cost. City tax increment financing dollars will pay for much of the remaining cost, the city says.

The project will reconstruct roadways and make drainage improvements in a residential area north and west of the park. Standing water and icing on the roadway due to poor drainage “has accelerated pavement deterioration in the area,” said City Engineer Morgan Dawley.

Crews will also make sewer and water line repairs and complete water main improvements to prepare for a future trunk water main extension.

Streets included in the 2012 project include:

-- Summit Avenue, from Pullman Avenue to 14th Avenue;

-- Portland/Holley Avenue, from Pullman Avenue to 13th Avenue;

-- Ashland Avenue, from Pullman Avenue to 13th Avenue;

-- Laurel Avenue, from Pullman to 13th Avenue; and

-- 13th Avenue, from Summit Avenue to Lincoln Avenue.

The roughly 100 residential properties in the project zone will be assessed roughly 33 percent of the project cost, according to the city’s assessment policy. Assessments on property owners range from as low as $233 to as high as $9,138.

Assessments can be paid over 15 years at 4.5 percent interest, according to the city’s policy.

Included in the $378,000 in assessments is roughly $27,000 that will be billed to the city for improvements adjacent to the city-owned parkland.

“The city is contributing its fair share to the project,” Dawley said, “just like the surrounding residents.”

A similar road project in 2011 improved a number of deteriorating residential streets, repaired water and sewer pipes and also tore up St. Paul Park’s main commercial thoroughfare, Broadway Avenue, to repave the roadway and replace the old water main underneath.

Cottage Grove city officials delayed planned road improvements this summer after facing stiff resistance from some residents of the project area. St. Paul Park officials said they received no formal objections to the project.

Tags: st paul park, updates, government