Author: Mark Weber

A car culture created the suburbs, so perhaps it’s only fitting that the automatic car wash has a place of honor in the pantheon of suburban buildings. In Eden Prairie, one of those places of honor may be a busy intersection – Flying Cloud and Prairie Center drives, near Eden Prairie Center – where a Mister Car Wash may be built on property once home to a Burger King. The Mister Car Wash plan was endorsed 6-0 on Monday, Oct. 9, by the Eden Prairie Planning Commission, which advises the city council. There’s currently a Mister Car Wash that’s been…

A Mister Car Wash business is proposed to be built at the corner of Flying Cloud and Prairie Center drives, a prominent corner near Eden Prairie Center mall that formerly held a Burger King restaurant. The proposal will be reviewed by the Eden Prairie Planning Commission, which advises the city council, at a 7 p.m. meeting Monday, Oct. 9. There’s currently a Mister Car Wash operating just a block north of the corner site, at 8280 Flying Cloud Drive. The Burger King restaurant stood empty for many years, and the corner lot was cleared last year. This is one of…

Two court foes this week moved closer to being allies on an Eden Prairie land-preservation issue. The board of managers for the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District on Wednesday, Oct. 4, voted to take additional steps to acquire and protect from development the 28 acres along Spring Road, near Fredrick-Miller Spring, that were approved in 2021 for a 50-home project called Noble Hill. That would put them on the same side as a citizens group named Spring Valley Friends, which wants the land preserved as open space and has sued the watershed district over its earlier Noble Hill approvals. “There…

The Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District is looking to acquire and conserve land that was approved in 2021 for single-family homes when the controversial Noble Hill development plan was OK’d. The local watershed district’s board of managers will consider that land purchase at its Wednesday, Oct. 4, meeting. Up for consideration during the 7 p.m. meeting are resolutions that would authorize the watershed district to enter into a purchase agreement, and also establish a process whereby the managers would take public comment Nov. 16 before formally amending their 10-year management plan to reflect the purchase. The district is asking…

If you are waiting to play volleyball, tennis, pickleball, or basketball at Riley Lake Park, or just taking a break, your comfort level may soon go up. Included on the Eden Prairie City Council’s meeting agenda for Tuesday, Oct. 3, is the purchase of two structures that will provide shade near the volleyball, tennis, pickleball, and basketball courts at the southwestern Eden Prairie park. The contract up for approval by the city council calls for a $21,884 expenditure for the shade structures, which will be installed over a concrete plaza expected to be built this fall, according to a city…

It will be the largest project that Facilities Manager Rick Clark has overseen in his 10 years with the City of Eden Prairie: Remodeling of city hall’s west end to accommodate larger quarters for the Police Department. Another early step in that process was given the green light Tuesday, Sept. 19, by the Eden Prairie City Council. Its members agreed to hire Kraus-Anderson Construction Co. to manage the project, oversee the bidding, and guide the work, which is expected to be completed in spring 2026. Why it matters: More office space and a garage for dozens of police vehicles now…

Neighbors who objected to a 42-townhome plan for southwestern Eden Prairie won on some, but not all, of their challenges Tuesday, Sept. 19, as the city council voted 4-1 to approve the project. The council attached several conditions to their approval of the Pulte Homes project called Kinsley Townhomes that would be built southeast of the intersection of Pioneer Trail (County Road 1) and Dell Road. But, they decided not to have Pulte Homes extend Valley Road – which now dead-ends in the neighborhood of single-family homes to the east – as part of this project. City staff wanted Pulte…

A townhome development opposed by many neighbors and the hiring of a firm to help construct new quarters for the Police Department are among items on the Eden Prairie City Council’s regular meeting agenda Tuesday evening, Sept. 19. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Eden Prairie City Center, 8080 Mitchell Road. It includes a public hearing on Kinsley Townhomes, a Pulte Homes plan to construct 42 townhomes on a 6.13-acre “infill” piece of property southeast of the intersection of Pioneer Trail (County Road 1) and Dell Road in the city’s southwestern corner. The parcel…

Eden Prairie may have a larger median household income than Minnesota overall, and a much smaller percentage of the city’s population lives in poverty. But the numbers of Eden Prairie individuals and families seeking social services are significant and, in many cases, growing, nonprofit leaders told city officials this week. Among the numbers shared Tuesday, Sept. 5, with city staff and Eden Prairie City Council members: Similar stories of help were shared by leaders of Bloomington/Eden Prairie Meals on Wheels and by Senior Community Services. The five nonprofits serving Eden Prairie residents in need – and in some cases, residents…

A cadet program designed to help build a more diverse police force by helping pay for law enforcement schooling is among new initiatives in the City of Eden Prairie’s proposed budget for 2024. Also included is funding for a study to help determine whether the Eden Prairie Fire Department should modify or abandon its duty-crew model, in which paid volunteers work assigned shifts rather than remain on-call all the time. For many fire departments, the duty-crew model is a step before resorting to all part-time or full-time firefighters. These and other projects are part of a $60.3 million total city…