Extended lease for Flying Cloud Fields OK’d, even as airport improvements eyed

A six-year extension of the City of Eden Prairie’s lease of Flying Cloud Airport property for youth baseball, football, soccer, and lacrosse fields has been OK’d by the city council, even as the airport’s future needs are being studied by its owner.

Community use of 65 acres of airport property for what the city calls its Flying Cloud Fields complex is an arrangement that’s been in place for decades. Under the new agreement, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which owns and runs the airport, would get $30,000 from the city in 2024, with annual increases of 2.5% through 2029, according to a memo from city staff.

That’s an increase from the $17,821.50 that Eden Prairie paid in 2023, according to city staff. However, the new agreement provides a degree of certainty for the next few years – certainty that has been missing under the series of one-year lease agreements that have been in place since 2021.

Some uncertainty remains. The new lease agreement points to the northwesternmost eight acres – the approximate location of lacrosse fields next to Everbrook Academy – as the area most in jeopardy. Under the new agreement, MAC reserves the right to unilaterally amend or terminate the lease to facilitate the development of that property.

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“We could potentially lose that,” confirmed Eden Prairie Parks Director Amy Markle.”It could be next year; it could be 20 years from now. It’s really up to (MAC) and their long-term planning.”

The city has contingency plans for locating lacrosse fields elsewhere, should that portion of Flying Cloud Fields be lost, Markle said.

Airport improvements eyed

MAC is currently working on a long-term plan for Flying Cloud Airport. The agency is scheduled to have a preferred concept plan ready for public review within months. Longer runways are not expected to be part of the plan, but MAC, in a presentation last May, indicated that it is considering several other improvements, including: 

• additional space for hangars; 
• construction of a three-sided, open-top structure to dampen noise from plane engine “run-ups”; 
• relocation of the control tower; and 
• construction of an Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS) – an area at the end of a runway that would contain lightweight, crushable material able to stop an aircraft that has overrun the runway itself.

Markle said the lease agreement is a good deal for the city, with MAC having stated during discussions that the 65 acres likely has a leasable value much higher than $30,000 per year. She feels that MAC “sees the value of this space to the community. They want to work with the community and be a good neighbor,” she said.

The lease agreement provides for two, three-year extensions beyond 2029 “upon mutual agreement of the parties on terms and conditions to be determined at that time.”

The new pact was approved by the Eden Prairie City Council at its March 12 meeting. It was part of a lengthy list of “consent calendar” items that did not warrant council debate.

(Eden Prairie Local News reached out to the MAC for comment but did not hear back.)