Maple Grove Starts Planning Process for 2013-2017 Street Rehabilitation Program

With the 2012 road construction season underway in a few months, Maple Grove is starting to look forward to possible future road projects. 

The City Council directed staff at its Jan. 10 meeting to conduct public informational meetings concerning the street reconstruction program, funding policies and to prepare a draft for the 2013-2017 street rehabilitation program. 

“Since the inception of the city’s street rehabilitation program, city council has adopted multi-year project programming based on input from residents directly impacted by the projects. This process has worked quite well in that, as with funding, resident input provides for a partnership between the city and its neighborhoods,” Maple Grove Director of Public Works/City Engineer Ken Ashfeld said in a memo to the Council.

The city plans on providing information about the street reconstruction program to specifically impacted neighborhoods, conduct informational meetings and add information to the city website.  An objective is to develop a five-year program “so that residents can anticipate the projects from a standpoint of funding and other repairs that they would anticipate such as driveway replacements,” Ashfeld said.

After the information has been distributed, it is anticipated neighborhood surveys will be conducted.

“This information has been very helpful in to the Council in the past in determining whether a neighborhood is scheduled early or later within that ‘window of time’ for resurfacing,” Ashfeld said.

For a five-year street reconstruction projects in Maple Grove are estimated to be about $20 million, according to Ashfeld’s memo.

“The city’s funding policy is that 50 percent of this cost is special assessed with the remaining costs funded by a combination of city funds,” he wrote in the memo.

About 3,600 properties are included in the proposed 2013-2017 street reconstruction project area with approximately $10 million of the cost funded through special assessments.

The planning process received full City Council support at the Jan. 10 meeting. The 2013-2017 draft, proposed road reconstruction schedule for Maple Grove is anticipated to be presented to the Council this spring.