More in Maplewood Line up Against South County Connector

Maplewood city staff, elected officials and business community members are lining up in opposition to the proposed South County Connector.

The project proposes two routes, and both go through the newly developed Deer Creek Center, which has tenants moving in this spring and summer.

The city of Maplewood released an opinion on the project’s draft environmental impact statement (EIS) in the end of May, stating the project costs are underestimated, and that it would kill Maplewood’s new Deer Creek Center.

The Maplewood Chamber of Commerce announced in its June newsletter it opposes any plan that that “displaces or eliminates Maplewood businesses.” The chamber also stated it “does not think that the project is feasible in the near or distant future.” 

St. Louis County hosted an open house on the project May 30 in Shrewsbury, and Maplewood Ward 3 Councilman Barry Greenberg was there. He said Maplewood’s staff, mayor and council feels that certain elements in the EIS are inaccurate or slanted.

“There’s a lot of variables in the equation that haven’t been solved, that are very important to the whole thing working, and the costs are grossly underestimated,” Greenberg said.

He said the economic loss to the city of Maplewood, with the loss of Deer Creek, and the taking of property, for both Deer Creek and Big Bend Industrial Court isn’t warranted.

Greenberg said continuing Highway 170 south was dropped 10 years ago, but the need didn’t go away. 

“Why didn’t we do something back then? Brentwood developed that intersection and it became unavailable. Well, we’ve developed Deer Creek, but they don’t feel that’s undevelopable, and that’s a real problem,” Greenberg said.

He also said the plan doesn’t encourage alternative means of transportation. 

“They call it a connector. Apparently connector only means cars. To me, connector means being able to walk, to bicycle, to take public transportation across these barriers and boundaries, and I don’t see it doing that at all.”