Eden Prairie residents have been rattled by four major house fires resulting in two deaths over the last three months. But, while the severity of fires is up significantly over previous years, the overall number of structure fires is not. Structure fires – just a small portion of the total number of fire calls – number seven so far in 2023. This indicated that Eden Prairie is on track to surpass the total of nine structure fires in all of 2022, but perhaps not the 19 structure fires in 2021 or the 27 in 2020. And yet, the extent of…
Author: Mark Weber
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Mark Weber
Mark joined the Eden Prairie News as a reporter in 1979, just five years after its start, and spent the next 34 years in various roles including editor and publisher, as well as general manager of the parent company, Southwest Newspapers. He also published Edible Twin Cities magazine. His encore career was serving the nonprofit Eden Prairie Community Foundation as executive director. Mark is now retired. He and his wife, Roma, have two grown sons and a daughter-in-law, as well as a grandson. They have lived in Eden Prairie since 1984. "I hope the many words I have typed over the years have helped people understand the world around them."
Eden Prairie city officials have approved a pair of development-friendly initiatives, including a new zoning district and relaxed parking requirements for some new projects. Why it matters: Residents could eventually see more retail and other services in locations that have an outdated industrial history, and might also see less parking-lot asphalt outside new buildings. The new Flex Service Zoning District OK’d Tuesday, July 11, by the Eden Prairie City Council would provide developers with more flexibility in two areas where industrial buildings exist: the Martin Drive area north of Highways 5/212 and west of Mitchell Road, and also the northeastern…
The name “Eden Prairie” evokes paradise, but one with prairie. There’s no sense in looking for the Garden of Eden here, but what about prairie? Is there prairie still to be found in Eden Prairie? The answer is absolutely “yes.” Eden Prairie has several examples of native or remnant prairie. The 55-acre Prairie Bluff Conservation Area overlooking the Minnesota River is the crown jewel, but there’s also a small, installed prairie near the Staring Lake Outdoor Center. They are distinctly different from each other but valuable and rare nonetheless. After all, prairie habitat once covered one-third of Minnesota, according to…
A 39-year-old Bloomington pet clinic will move to new, larger quarters in southeast Eden Prairie, thanks to Eden Prairie City Council approval of its plan on Tuesday, June 13. Bush Lake Pet Hospital, which its website says was established in 1984, will be the main tenant in a 5,074-square-foot commercial building planned by Highland Ventures for a 1.19-acre lot along Hennepin Town Road, north of Pioneer Trail. Why it matters: This would boost commercial development in what’s known as the Bluff Country neighborhood of Eden Prairie, where retail has been slow to arrive because of traffic issues and neighborhood concerns.…
An Eden Prairie office building’s conversion to another use – not likely to be the last change of this kind, in the current soft market for office space – was approved Tuesday, June 13, by the city council. Given the green light were plans to transform a two-story, 25-year-old office building at 6216 Baker Road, owned by ARAAZ LLC and valued at $2.348 million, into 24 assisted-living units for seniors. Also approved was a potential second-phase, four-story addition containing 81 additional units. Its timing is uncertain. The existing, 16,309-square-foot building is located on heavily wooded property immediately south of Crosstown…
Eden Prairie city officials are creating a new zoning district they hope will spark but also control redevelopment in some aging industrial areas, including the Martin Drive area north of Highways 5/212 and west of Mitchell Road. Why it matters: The city’s proactive approach means residents could eventually see more retail and other services in locations that have an outdated industrial history. They call it the Flex Service Zoning District, and the city intends to apply its flexibility to the Martin Drive area and also the northeastern corner of Flying Cloud Drive and Pioneer Trail – kitty-corner from Flying Cloud…
A pair of proposed developments – an assisted-living facility and a pet hospital – will be considered by the Eden Prairie City Council at its Tuesday, June 13, meeting. Both projects were endorsed in May by the city’s planning commission. One is a two-phase project called Baker Road Assisted Living, where an office building exists at 6216 Baker Road, which is across Baker Road from the Life Time Crosstown facility and immediately south of Crosstown Highway 62 on EP’s northern boundary. A first phase involves renovating an existing two-story, 16,309-square-foot office building into 24 assisted-living units with 31 beds. A…
Buckthorn is the persistent, fast-spreading, nuisance shrub that has sparked an Eden Prairie movement. Like that neighbor from hell who tinkers with motors and whose lawn just keeps sprouting dilapidated car hulls and rusted lawnmowers – that’s buckthorn. Unless there’s an intervention, it’s just going to get worse, choking out anything of beauty. But Glenn Olson, a 48-year Eden Prairie resident, is a buckthorn super slayer and so is Bridget Beyer, who moved here just two years ago from Duluth. Together they are leading a new Friends of Eden Prairie Parks group that sees buckthorn, garlic mustard, and other non-native…
Local officials may be at least halfway to solving a major erosion of the steep, fragile bluffs along the Minnesota River in southeastern Eden Prairie. Included in the $2.6 billion infrastructure bill passed by the Minnesota Legislature on Monday, May 22, is $2.75 million to the Lower Minnesota River Watershed District (LMRWD). The funding will help the watershed district correct a 60-foot-high, 700-foot-long gouge in the bluffs and stabilize the banks where the river makes a sharp bend below Riverview Road, east of Flying Cloud Landfill. But, since that’s only 50% of the estimated overall cost of the remedy, put…
An Eden Prairie office building said to be “underutilized” in the current soft market for office space would be transformed into an assisted-living facility for seniors under a plan endorsed Monday, May 22, by the city’s planning commission. Recommended unanimously for approval was a two-phase project called Baker Road Assisted Living, where an office building exists at 6216 Baker Road. It’s located across Baker Road from the Life Time Fitness Crosstown facility and immediately south of Crosstown Highway 62 on EP’s northern boundary. Why it matters: The Baker Road project would add to Eden Prairie’s complement of senior care facilities.…