Author: Mark Weber

The 50th anniversary of the Eden Prairie Police Department will be noted Tuesday, Jan. 3, by the city council. The department began on Jan. 1, 1973, when Paul Redpath, Eden Prairie’s mayor at the time, christened the first squad car in front of his home.  Eden Prairie was much smaller at the time – the 1970 U.S. Census put its population at about 7,000. The initial department had six police officers and one clerk. Today the department – which serves about 65,000 residents – has 72 sworn staff, 32 civilian staff, and 35 volunteers, according to a proclamation expected to…

Two high-profile development projects in Eden Prairie have stalled, and their futures appear uncertain. One is the Burger King rebuild at Highway 5 and County Road 4; the other is a presumed Amazon Fresh grocery store near Flying Cloud Drive and Prairie Center Drive, near where Chick-fil-A is being constructed. Plans for a new Burger King fast-food restaurant to replace one that stood vacant for several years southeast of the Highway 5, County Road 4 intersection were approved by the city in August 2021. But the final step – approval of a developer agreement – has been delayed by the…

Research into the history of the Minnesota River on Eden Prairie’s southern boundary has uncovered more knowledge about the Indigenous people who were our earlier residents. But, it’s also a reminder about how little is known and shared about this portion of EP’s past. Paul Thorp, a member of the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC), related to his colleagues this fall that, while reviewing 1854 government survey records to document the river and its precise path, he had uncovered additional information about Native American Minnie Otherday and her family. Minnie is said to have been born July 24, 1877, on…

The Eden Prairie City Council on Tuesday, Dec. 6, approved a 2023 city budget that is 3.2% higher than this year’s and a 2023 city property tax levy increase that is up 4.5%. But, because of variables that include a steep rise in home values as a result of a red-hot housing market in 2021, the 2023 city tax on a median-value Eden Prairie home, $513,200, will actually go up 7%. For a city budget that is $57,395,407 and a property-tax levy of $42,432,263, that’s a 2023 city property tax of $1,524, up $100, for the $513,200 home. Of the…

The trial on a lawsuit by Rebecca Prochaska and the Spring Valley Friends, already continued several times, was scheduled to get under way Nov. 18. Hennepin County District Court Judge Edward Wahl’s order Nov. 16 further postpones its start pursuant to “agreement of the parties.” A jury trial for a civil lawsuit claiming the City of Eden Prairie acted too hastily in approving the construction of homes near the Minnesota River Valley bluffs and the historic Fredrick-Miller Spring, has been continued to March 20, 2023. James Peters, the attorney representing Prochaska and Spring Valley Friends, said the main reason the…

Cities are apparently facing inflation like the rest of us, and it’s evident in the construction of a new building at Round Lake Park. The Eden Prairie City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 15, approved a bid of $3,001,990 for the construction of a 4,293-square-foot building that will replace the smaller, 40-year-old structure that now exists and serves as restrooms and an ice-rink warming house. That’s higher than estimates of $2.1 million, $2.5 million, and $2.725 million that have been cited by city staff over the past year or so, although there have also been some changes to the building plan…

If you thought the Eden Prairie City Council’s approval Tuesday of a five-year strategic plan for its Community Development Department was only about looking ahead, you’d be wrong. The council and especially Mayor Ron Case on Nov. 1 said they preferred to think of the five-year plan as a continuation of the city’s 54-year-old history of mapping out in detail how Eden Prairie should be developed in an orderly and attractive way. The new plan takes development-related goals from the city’s latest long-range plan, called Aspire 2040, and outlines a phased approach to initiating those goals.  But, the city has…

Discussion of a 2023-27 strategic plan for community development is expected to be part of the Tuesday, Nov. 1, meeting of the Eden Prairie City Council. The plan outlines the priorities for the city’s Community Development Department for the next five years within its wide range of responsibilities: redevelopment as well as “infill” development on small vacant parcels, but also initiatives in the areas of affordable housing and economic development. Stimulating investment and development near Eden Prairie’s future light-rail stations is an example of ongoing initiatives that are part of the plan. Tuesday’s city council meeting begins at 7 p.m.…

They sometimes called him The Bürgermeister – which translates to “town master,” or mayor – as a nod to Wolfgang Penzel’s Eden Prairie elected role and his German heritage. “I used it affectionately and humorously,” recalled Dean Edstrom, who served on the Eden Prairie City Council when Penzel was mayor. “He was a really good mayor, in my view. A strong mayor. He would exercise his authority to the max, and I think that was good.” Penzel, who served as Eden Prairie mayor in the late-1970s and early ‘80s, passed away on Oct. 7 after struggling with kidney and heart…

Developers of the Asia Mall in Eden Prairie say they are planning for a Thursday, Nov. 10, opening of their 100,000-square-foot project, an Asian-themed mix of grocery, restaurant, retail, and office uses in the former Gander Mountain building along Technology Drive, east of Costco. The opening comes 15 months after the City of Eden Prairie approved the project in August 2021. It’s been a long and tough process, said co-owner Amor Zhao, primarily because supply-chain problems slowed down the project. “We’ve tried the best we can to get it done,” he added, noting that Asia Mall will be about 75%…