St. Louis Park initiative aims to remove pavement, increase vegetation in the city

An initiative in St. Louis Park aims to green up the city by removing pavement on certain properties throughout the city and replacing it with a variety of greenery, and some who participate may be eligible for a partial refund.

According to the city, the initiative — called Depave SLP — will help reduce flooding by adding plants that absorb rainwater, improve air quality, keep areas cooler and lower winter maintenance costs.

Eligible properties must be within St. Louis Park and meet the following requirements:

• Be a property used for commercial use, industrial, nonprofit or multifamily housing,
• The applicant must own the property,
• Project elements can have rain gardens, native plants, trees, pollinator plants, permeable pavers, or other elements that are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

City officials add that only work done after being approved by a cost share committee will be eligible for partial reimbursement for their project.

Anyone interested in participating can apply by CLICKING HERE. Color photographs of the current conditions, as well as a landscape screening plan and a completed W-9 form will be needed.

Those that are preapproved for a project have a year to complete it. After that, multiple documents will be needed.

A list of those documents can be found by CLICKING HERE under the “program process” section, and information regarding the partial refunds can be found under the “cost sharing amounts tab” on that same page.