A 10-year blueprint for the City of Eden Prairie’s capital projects has emerged. Among the projects is the $26.5 million remodeling of city hall to create a bigger police station, which has been in the works for about seven years.
Other large-cost projects on the list, which is updated every two years, are the $9 million reconstruction of a segment of Dell Road in southwestern Eden Prairie and the approximately $7.2 million purchase of five replacement fire trucks over the next two years.
The list makes up the city’s 2025-2034 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), a 262-page list of planned expenditures over $25,000, including audio-visual upgrades, vehicle purchases, park playground improvements, and more expensive items.
Finance Director Tammy Wilson said the CIP helps the city provide consistent investment in equipment, facilities, and infrastructure.
There are many different funding sources for the projects, including state aid for roads, franchise fees charged to utility companies that use street rights-of-way, municipal liquor store profits, excess year-end revenue, and property taxes that repay bond debt.
Wilson said the city confines long-term debt borrowing to projects that don’t have another funding source, and it pays back the bonds over the expected useful life of the project.
State and federal grants are also funding sources for capital projects. For example, the city’s recent purchase of a mobile command center for the police and fire departments received a $963,000 federal grant.
The list OK’d by the city council on Tuesday, Dec. 3, includes $367 million in projects and expenditures over the next 10 years. However, most will return to the council for specific approvals, and some may be altered or not completed. For example, the previous CIP called for an indoor court facility at Miller Park, but the council opted for a less expensive option: outdoor courts.
Bond financing for police remodeling project
As part of its capital-project planning, the city council voted to sell bonds to finance the $26.5 million city hall remodeling project. That will be implemented over the coming months unless citizens petition the city to hold a voter referendum on the bonding plan.
State statute allows cities to finance capital improvements such as city hall renovations without holding a bond referendum unless a petition requesting a vote is signed by at least 5% of the number of voters in the last municipal election, in which case the city must hold a public vote.
In Eden Prairie’s case, a petition would need to be filed with the city clerk by Jan. 2, 2025, and if the petition were valid, the referendum would be held sometime in 2025. Its outcome would determine whether the city would finance the project with long-term debt or need to find an alternative financing method.
While acknowledging that $26.5 million is a large amount, Mayor Ron Case said he believes a distinction can be made between a police station remodeling that is “incredibly necessary” and hypotheticals such as a public golf course or city swimming pool, which would be more discretionary.
“For me, this doesn’t rise to that (referendum) level. This is essential to do this,” he said.
Council members have also pointed to surveys of resident opinion and the city’s low debt relative to several other nearby cities as reasons to proceed with the remodeling project and finance it with bond debt.
In the city’s 2023 Quality of Life survey, 90 percent of surveyed residents rated Eden Prairie police services as excellent or good, and the council has made public safety one of its priorities.
The city’s projected debt levy next year is about $2.4 million. In 2026, about $1.3 million in debt from a Community Center project will end. But, with the remodeling project’s debt adding $2.2 million per year, the city’s total debt levy is projected to be a little over $3 million in 2026 and between $3 million and $3.5 million thereafter for the foreseeable future.
By comparison, Edina’s 2024 debt service is $7.88 million, Bloomington’s is $7.4 million, Minnetonka’s is about $1.5 million, and Chanhassen’s is $2.8 million.
Project bids due in a few weeks
The remodeling project’s architectural plans are complete, and the project is out for bid, with the bids due in a few weeks, according to Joyce Lorenz, the city’s communications manager. The plans outline 98,000 square feet for police use – including indoor, lower-level storage of vehicles. Also being remodeled is 23,000 square feet of offices and meeting space elsewhere in the City Center.
Once the construction bids come in, city staff, the architect, and construction manager will begin the process of reviewing them. Their goal is to have a winning bid selected and presented for approval by the city council in early 2025, Lorenz said. Construction will begin within a few months of council approval and continue through 2025. The final construction schedule is dependent upon the approved contract, but it is anticipated the Police Department will move into the remodeled space in early 2026.
Downstairs space that is now taken up by police, other city offices, public meeting rooms, and the Garden Room will be offered for lease, according to Lorenz. The Garden Room will be moved upstairs.
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