Author: Mark Weber

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…

Opposition to the controversial Noble Hill development project in southern Eden Prairie has been dealt another setback. The Minnesota Court of Appeals on July 31 affirmed a lower court’s decision to dismiss a challenge by a citizens group, Spring Valley Friends, which said the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District acted improperly in granting a permit for construction of the 50-home project on 28 acres near a city-owned, freshwater spring. The group’s lawsuit was undone on procedural grounds, with both the Hennepin County District Court deciding last fall – and the appeals court affirming the decision this week – that…

Eden Prairie has prohibited the use of tobacco in its city parks for more than 20 years, but park signage is being updated to make it clear that smoking or vaping cannabis is off-limits as well. Why it matters: The 2023 Minnesota Legislature legalized adult use of cannabis effective Aug. 1, and communities are scrambling to determine whether their local regulations and policies on public smoking need to be adjusted. City Parks Director Jay Lotthammer said Wednesday that no-smoking signs in city parks are being changed to read, “smoking or vaping any substance, or use of tobacco, is not permitted.”…

Supply chain issues and COVID have contributed to delays in the project, now expected to be operational in 2024.

THC-infused beverages are expected to be sold at EP Liquor stores by the end of the month. An informal discussion with Eden Prairie City Council members Tuesday, July 11, cleared the way for city staff to begin making plans to sell the new beverages alongside beer, wine, and spirits in the city’s three liquor stores. Jaime Urbina, liquor operations manager, said the products would probably be available in stores on Friday, July 21. Until then, he said, staff will be finalizing internal procedures, checking with other municipal stores to learn what’s selling best, and arranging delivery of the product. No…

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…

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.…