White Bear Marketplace: Redeveloping for Water Quality

By Paige Ahlborg

As a local unit of government, the Watershed District is tasked with stormwater management and ensuring the quality of local water bodies. Two ways RWMWD accomplishes this are by implementing a permit program and a cost share program. 

• Through our permit program, new and redevelopment construction projects must comply with the District's stormwater management rules. These rules require that development which disturbs over one acre of land must provide water quality best management practices (BMPs) onsite.
• Our cost share program offers technical and financial assistance for stormwater BMPs that surpass those required by any city or District permits.  

  

Construction began in April of 2015 for the White Bear Marketplace development

The former Kmart building located off I-694 and White Bear Avenue in White Bear Lake is currently being redeveloped into a retail center known as White Bear Marketplace. The property owners and project engineers easily complied with our permit standards, but from the start the developers were interested in going above and beyond these requirements by installing additional BMPs on the site. 

This property drains to a series of wetlands which flows to Willow Creek and eventually Kohlman Creek. Kohlman Creek is on the state impaired list for water quality so is a high priority area for District stormwater improvements. The RWMWD Board of Managers was thrilled to see the improvements proposed for this site and unanimously approved District funding of $100,000 through our cost share program towards the stormwater improvements. In total the site will install three filtration basins, which will help reduce the volume of stormwater and the pollutant load that leaves the site. The basins will capture stormwater that runs off the roof and parking lot every time it rains.

 

The District is excited to work with White Bear Marketplace on this project and is happy to see developers committed to taking the extra steps to help improve water quality.

 

Learn more at the White Bear Marketplace redevelopment project website and visit the District website for additional permit and cost share information. 




Breaking ground at the White Bear Marketplace in April 2015 were,

Joe Ryan, Oppidan; Curt Craig, Cub Foods; Mayor Jo Emerson; Mike
Stigers, Cub Foods, Nicole Soderholm, RWMWD; Samantha Crosby,
associate city planner;  Drew Johnson, Oppidan; and Paul Tucci, Oppidan.
Northern Tool also submitted an application to anchor one end of the center.

- Photo by Debra Neutkens