HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017 10-24 Draft vision plan formed for Rice-Larpenteur corridor MAPLEWOOD REVIEW
Draft vision plan formed for Rice-
Larpenteur corridor
Submitted by admin on Tue, 10/24/2017 - 10:11am
Maplewood, Roseville, St. Paul and
Ramsey County are holding an Oct. 26 meeting to go over draft plans for the Rice-Larpenteur Gateway Area with the
public. courtesy of Google Street View
Maplewood, Roseville, St. Paul and Ramsey County are all coming together to design improvements to
the area of Rice Street and Larpenteur Avenue. The area, referred to as the Rice-Larpenteur Gateway
Area, spans from County Road B to Arlington Avenue and from McMenemy Street to Dale Street.
“There’s a lot of safety concerns in that area, so I think that’s one of the key points that I keep hearing in
this planning process,” said Shann Finwall at the Oct. 9 Maplewood City Council meeting. Finwall is
Maplewood’s environmental planner.
“From our collaborative funding agreement that was adopted by the three councils earlier this year, we
hired a consultant and have been working on this process since last spring,” she added.
John Slack is the project manager and senior landscape architect for the Rice-Larpenteur Gateway Area
Vision Plan, and represents the consulting firm Perkins+Will.
He explained that the project has two planning groups — one that is made up of area residents and one
that is made up mostly of city staff and elected officials.
While these groups have primarily been meeting separately, they did join together Oct. 5 to assess the
draft vision plan put together by Perkins+Will. Slack noted that the roughly 30 people from the two groups
generally liked the direction of the plans, which focus on improving connectivity, redevelopment and
public open space. He also noted that the draft plan includes no removal of housing, though it does
provide the opportunity to incorporate new housing in the area.
Interested community members can view the draft plans at one final public workshop, which is scheduled
for Thursday, Oct. 26. It will be held in Community School of Excellence, 270 Larpenteur Ave. W., St.
Paul from 6 to 8 p.m.
Comments made during this meeting will help inform the changes made to the draft vision plan before it
goes before the three city councils in January 2018.
For more information on the project or summaries of previous meetings, visit
www.riceandlarpenteur.com.