Emmitsburg plans $5.2 million rebuild of North Seaton Avenue with green-street features

Emmitsburg officials on Monday laid out plans to reconstruct North Seaton Avenue from Main Street toward Northgate, a project they said will replace the roadway, water lines and storm drains while adding sidewalks, curb and green-street stormwater features.

"It's going to be a complete reconstruction of the road, water line replacement, storm drain all new storm drain," said Joe Cici, the project engineer with Fox and Associates, describing an effort that will also include structured parking bays, stream restoration near Northgate and additional street trees where feasible.

Town manager Kathy Willets said the project is "roughly estimated to be about $5,200,000" and described a mixed funding package: two loans from the Maryland Department of the Environment (about $860,000 and $2,500,000), an MDE grant of about $286,000, a community legacy grant ($350,000), an AHS Big Bay Trust grant ($175,000), a Frederick County community development block grant (about $98,000) and roughly $875,000 from the town. Willets said the exact annual loan-payment breakdown remains under negotiation.

The town emphasized that the package relies on multiple funds and that some construction costs will be charged to the water fund, the stormwater fund and the general fund. Willets said, and residents confirmed in questions, that the funding agreements require the town to provide a maintenance plan for the green infrastructure.

Contractors have proposed daytime road closures on parts of North Seaton to speed work, the engineer said; the town will review a contractor detour plan and seek State Highway permissions for traffic restrictions. "They would like to shut down the road during the day," Cici said, adding staff will attempt to limit closures to local traffic and preserve access for residents and businesses.

Residents raised several concerns at the meeting, including loss of parking on the east side of North Seaton and how plantings and new stormwater features would be maintained. The engineer said the project will create roughly 16–17 structured parking spaces in the redesigned area, and town officials said the town — not residents — will maintain stormwater features under the funding agreements.

On schedule, staff said the notice to proceed would be issued the week of the meeting and that a realistic start could fall in the first week of April; the contract allows about 18 months for completion, though the contractor proposed doing portions faster if segments can be closed to traffic.

Officials said they will post the engineering plans, the project manual and geotechnical reports on the town’s public-bidding webpage and urged residents to sign the meeting sign-in sheet to receive mass-text and email updates.

The town also noted the work is constrained in places by State Highway design requirements and said it will continue to press the highway agency for accommodations where feasible.

The town did not take any formal votes at the meeting; next steps include issuing the notice to proceed to the contractor, finalizing the detour and traffic-management plan with State Highway, and circulating detailed construction schedules to affected residents.