McMenemy Street Project

Project Summary

The project is slated for a 2022 start date. The plan is for a full reconstruction with curb, gutter, utilities, and sidewalk. Maplewood is using engineering firm Bolton and Menk.

McMenemy Street is in Maplewood’s 5-year Capital Improvement Plan, slated for improvements in 2022. A grant opportunity for roads like McMenemy became available recently. As such, the City partnered with Bolton and Menk, Inc. to prepare a grant application for the project. As a part of that process, Bolton and Menk reached out to key stakeholders to seek support for the project, which aids in obtaining such grants.

Maplewood is in the very early stages of this proposed project, so they don’t have a detailed breakdown of the project improvements at this time. As the project moves through the public improvement process, the City will be reaching out to the area with additional information. Maplewood will also host neighborhood meetings to present the project to the area and obtain feedback on the project. That process will likely begin this fall (2021).

The project encompasses McMenemy Street from Larpenteur Avenue to County Road B. Maplewood anticipates this project to be a full street reconstruction. This means they would be making repairs to the sanitary sewer system, significantly upgrading and expanding upon the storm sewer system, and likely replacing portions (if not all of) the watermain. Maplewood would also look at adding water-quality features such as rain gardens and infiltration systems to reduce runoff and remove excess sediment and nutrients from the remaining runoff. The street would be upgraded to include concrete curb and gutter and a new pavement section. The City would also be looking to install a sidewalk along McMenemy street along with the potential for an on-street bike lane.

The City of Maplewood does utilize special assessments to benefiting properties as a funding source for public improvement projects. This is just one of the funding sources, with the majority of the project costs being financed via the general tax levy, the City’s utility funds, and (hopefully) a Local Road Improvement Grant. For purposes of estimating assessments during the feasibility stage of projects, the City sets a front-footage assessment rate each year for commercial properties. That rate is currently $132 per front footage along the improved street. Ultimately, Maplewood bases their assessment rates off of an independent appraisal. That appraisal won’t likely happen until sometime in the spring of 2022