Maple Grove Sets Forward Legislative Priorities Around Intersection, Gravel Mining, and Community Center Needs
Maple Grove city leaders will seek bills in St. Paul to address funding and expansion of existing programs to allow for more development this legislative session.
View of Brooklyn Boulevard bridge over Highway 169. Maple Grove city leaders want more state money to rebuild the 40-year-old interchange.
One priority is to seek state funding to match existing funding to pay for an overhaul of the interchange of U.S. Highway 169 and Elm Creek Boulevard/Brooklyn Boulevard right along the border with Brooklyn Park. The 40-year-old design of the intersection can not handle the amount of traffic there every day, said Heidi Nelson, Maple Grove’s city administrator.
“Another issue that’s come to light is this summer that bridge experienced a bridge strike, and so now there’s some weight limitations and lane restrictions on that bridge,” said Nelson. “We’re really urging MNDOT to let’s do the project and let’s fix the interchange, change the interchange there versus do a repair there.”
Nelson said the total cost of the project should be around $20 million, and there is already about $7 million to put toward re-doing the interchange, which is close to the development that the city continues in the gravel mining area. The city was granted status in that area for tax increment financing in 2014. It was amended in 2017, and now Nelson says they’re seeking an extension.
“We’d like a little bit more time,” she said. “There’s about 60 acres left north of Boston Scientific project that are available for development, so we’re looking for extending that timeline another five years to get get more projects into the district and then about another five years to collect increment there. So hoping to get some extensions.”
The expansion of the community center was one project Maple Grove leaders hope to keep moving forward with some help from state lawmakers.
Work continues on the expansion at the Maple Grove Community Center, and the city is looking for some help with amending how it can use some of the state bonding money its already received. Nelson said the city got about $6 million in 2023 from bonding, and that is earmarked for planning and design. The city recently reached an agreement with Lifetime Fitness to take over its existing building and incorporate some of its facilities into a city-operated health and fitness center as part of the second phase of its Community Center project. Nelson said that design cost is about $4.5 million, so the city would like to ask the state if it can use the remainder of that money for construction costs.
“Hopefully (it’s) a little bit of an easier ask for the legislature to go back and amend some bonding language,” she said.
Additionally, Nelson said the city wants to get an exemption on sales tax for costs on the project related to materials and labor, and she hopes that can be part of a tax bill the legislature approves this year.
