Author: Mark Weber

Preliminary approval of the City of Eden Prairie’s 2024-25  budget and tax levy is among the items on the city council’s Tuesday, Sept. 7, meeting agenda. The regular city council meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Eden Prairie City Center, 8080 Mitchell Road. The preliminary budget and levy for 2024 specifically need to have final approval from the council by the end of 2023. Proposed by city staff is a budget of about $60.3 million and a property-tax levy of just over $47.1 million. The proposed budget for 2024 is up $2.9 million over 2023,…

In Eden Prairie, public transit is in transition. SouthWest Transit has been rocked by COVID-19-related drops in express-bus service, buoyed by the popularity of small-trip Prime, and challenged by an aging population, the pending arrival of light-rail service, and the need to electrify its bus fleet. Erik Hansen, the newly hired chief executive officer who began work on June 5, is responsible for navigating that transition. He’s a former city administrator, county commissioner, and local government executive. And, oh yeah, he’s filling the shoes of former CEO Len Simich, who retired after guiding SouthWest Transit for a quarter century and…

All of the usual pain associated with infill development, and then some, was on display Monday, Aug. 28, at a public hearing for a 42-unit townhome development proposed southeast of the corner of Pioneer Trail and Dell Road. In the end, the Eden Prairie Planning Commission recommended over the objection of neighbors, on a 4-3 vote, that the city council approve the Kinsley townhome development by Pulte Homes, including a Valley Road extension that’s being urged by city staff. The project in southwestern Eden Prairie is considered “infill development” because it’s on a vacant parcel, just 6.13 acres, and bordered…

A grand opening of Paravel Apartments on Thursday, Aug. 17, serves as a reminder of how new apartments continue to dominate home construction in Eden Prairie. Last year the city issued building permits for 28 single-family homes compared to 271 multi-family homes, mostly apartments. The Paravel ribbon cutting held by developer Timberland Partners this week signals the addition of 246 luxury apartment units at 8300 Commonwealth Drive, next to the Flagstone senior living complex and near new commercial such as Chick-fil-A restaurant and a Bank of America branch. Together, all of that redevelopment where Castle Ridge Care Center and Broadmoor…

As expected, the Eden Prairie City Council on Tuesday, Aug. 15, approved a cooperative agreement with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources that will have the DNR replacing the aging fishing pier on Staring Lake’s north side. Under the formal agreement, the DNR will fund and deliver the fishing pier, and the City of Eden Prairie will install and maintain it. A city staff memo reports that the DNR has identified the Staring Lake pier as being in the worst condition among surveyed cooperative fishing piers in the metro area. As a result, it was prioritized by the state agency.…

The Eden Prairie City Council and Eden Prairie School Board met informally Tuesday, Aug. 15, a gathering they try to hold annually to improve communication and collaboration. Most of the hour-long meeting held in the Heritage Rooms of the Eden Prairie City Center was devoted to sharing results from each entity’s latest resident opinion survey. Imagine it as the “Battle of the 90th Percentile” and, in the end, a tie. Put another way, these report cards would make a parent proud. For example, results of the city’s every-other-year Quality of Life survey, held in February and March by a company…

The Metro Green Line Extension is about 75% complete, with most progress on the 14.5-mile light-rail transit (LRT) project being on the southwest suburban end, including Eden Prairie. But, don’t expect any southwest-end, partial opening anytime before the full line between Eden Prairie and Minneapolis is expected to be operational in 2027. “I know there’s a lot of questions about getting ready for service out in the west before everything’s all done,” Project Manager Jim Alexander told the Eden Prairie City Council in an LRT update Tuesday, Aug. 15. “We just really can’t accommodate that, because the vehicles do need…

An agreement that would have the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) replace the aging fishing pier near the Staring Lake Outdoor Center is among items on the Eden Prairie City Council’s regular meeting agenda for Tuesday, Aug. 15. Under the formal agreement, the DNR would fund and deliver the fishing pier and the City of Eden Prairie would install and maintain it. According to a city staff memo, the DNR in surveying cooperative fishing piers in the metro area found the Staring Lake pier to be in the worst condition seen, and was prioritized by the state agency. The…

Jay Lotthammer, at age 56, is retiring as the City of Eden Prairie’s longtime director of parks and recreation. And so, on Thursday, with the shackles of diplomacy now somewhat loosened, he finally set the record straight on that age-old EP question: Do people move here mostly because of the good parks or mostly because of the good schools? “Well, I always hear parks AND schools,” he said with a laugh. “And maybe it’s just how it rolls off people’s tongue or the alphabetical order, but I hear parks AND schools. Maybe there’s a semicolon after parks.” Lotthammer’s final day…

As a strategy to avoid a ton of hillside lawn mowing, Jeff and Linda Rotschafer’s backyard prairie has worked amazingly well. As an escape from an otherwise noisy and hectic world, it has worked even better for the Eden Prairie couple. Before retiring, Jeff would occasionally do work presentations and include a slide with a yellow swallowtail butterfly perched on a purple coneflower. His words for the slide were, “Meet my psychiatrist.” Their little house on the prairie was documented by the local newspaper in 1994, and 29 years later their prairie patch is still going strong. It’s a place…