Phase 1Grandview Small Area Guide Plan Process
April-May 2010 — Citizen Advisory Team meetings December 2010 — Final Report Phase 2Phase 33rd Community Advisory Team and Redevelopment Partner Process
July 2013 — October 2015 Grandview District Update page on City of Edina website See below for past updates and HOME for current updates.
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December 2014 Update Many of you have received the following announcement from the City regarding GrandView: "Community input is needed to identify the best combination of uses for this property. An interactive 'Exploration Session' will be held on Thursday December 4th from 7 to 9 PM. This is the first of several public discussions to be held over the 7 month planning period" (emphasis added). This statement is misleading. The general public is invited to participate in just ONE two-hour meeting (on December 4) before city staff and developers go behind closed doors and define development scenarios. The approved agreement between the city and the developer specifies just ONE ADDITIONAL public meeting before development alternatives are presented to the city council. The public will then be given the opportunity to react to the proposed development alternatives at an open house planned for April 2015. The public engagement portion of this process is so slight that only about 10% of the budget for this stage of the development process is devoted to it ($10,000 out of $110,500). Although city staff has recently said that all options for the site remain open (including a significant public use), we’re skeptical for a few reasons:
As the saying goes, it’s not what they say; it’s what they do. The city is seeking citizen input and saying all options are on the table, but their actions say something different. The fact that the city has partnered with a commercial real estate developer to define alternative scenarios for the site tells us all we need to know. Options for the site are already limited by the developer’s commercial interests and areas of expertise. Under the city’s agreement with Frauenshuh, significant public options for the land, including a community center, are highly unlikely. That said, we can’t be discouraged. The community of Edina has needs that can be met through public use of this land. Perhaps our elected officials can’t see it, but we can and we need to continue to tell them what is important to us. Please attend the December 4 (7:00 p.m., Edina Public Schools Community Center, Room 303) public input session and advocate for full community use of the site. Show the city council that the answers won’t change no matter how many different ways they ask the question. Be resolute in your support for the preservation of public land. Show them that, in a community that already has the 4th largest tax base in the state, we value community over profit, and community centers over high rise office buildings and apartments. November 2014 Update
On Monday, November 3, 2014 the City Council voted to approve a “collaborative development planning agreement” with the developer selected to redevelop the public’s land at 5146 Eden Avenue (the former public works site near Jerry’s). Although the work plan associated with this agreement mentions “robust community engagement,” the plan shows only two public “discovery sessions” and one public open house. This confirms what we have said all along: This is a developer-driven process that puts private development ahead of public use. No amount of “robust community engagement” conducted by the developer’s consultants is likely to change this fact. So, where does that leave us? It leaves us asking what it will take for the City Council to acknowledge and accept the “robust community” input they already have—all of which makes clear that Edina residents favor public retention and use of the former public works site. In 2008, over 600 residents signed a petition to stop private development on this land. In 2012, the City Council adopted the Development Framework, which describes a major new public realm amenity on the former public works site and specifies a community-driven process to determine programming for a new community center. In 2014, the Council received ample information from the public in favor of public use and retention of the former public works site:
The Edina public has already spoken. We have said yes to public use of the former public works site and yes to a community-driven process to determine those uses. We have said no to apartments, condos, and office and no to a developer-driven process. What will it take for the City Council to listen? How many residents have to sign a petition? How many have to write in and express their views? If 66% is not high enough, what percentage of residents needs to support public use of public land? If 73% is not high enough, what percentage of residents needs to support a new indoor community facility with the amenities they are most likely to use? Is there any number that will cause the City Council to listen, or will they continue to discount and ignore this information and hope that the next round of public engagement gives them different answers? Three people are determining the fate of our public land. Some decisions can’t be undone, and this is one of them. October 2014 Update
In September 2014, the City Council selected Frauenshuh/Opus as the development team for the public's land at 5146 Eden Avenue. The City Council also authorized City staff to apply for a $100,000 grant from Hennepin County, to be matched with $100,000 from Edina HRA funds, to study a concept that would create approximately eight acres of developable land at Grandview by reconfiguring the highway interchanges and putting a "lid" over Highway 100 between Vernon Avenue/W. 50th Street and Eden Avenue. This concept, which is not supported by the Grandview District Development Framework or the City of Edina Comprehensive Plan, shows 1.7 million square feet of residential/commercial space and 1,300 parking spaces. View the full grant application below. Pages from the Lid Concept Grant Application, Grandview District Development Framework, and City of Edina Comprehensive Plan are to the right, with important distinctions noted below. While some continue to assure residents that there will be a public process to define a public use for at least part of the former public works site, the Edina Park Board does not have the project on their 2015 work plan. This is significant because any public use of the former public works site would likely fall under the umbrella of the Park Board and Parks and Recreation Department. September 2014 Update
The City took another step closer to private development of the public's land at 5416 Eden Avenue. On September 2, the City Council interviewed four developers selected by City staff. To read each developer's response to the RFI, please click here. On September 16, the City Council met in a work session to discuss the developers selection That evening, at their regular meeting, they voted 4-1 in favor of the Frauenshuh/Opus development team. The City Council also authorized staff to submit an application for a $100,000 grant, to be matched with $100,000 in Edina HRA funds, to study a concept that would add greatly to the density of the Grandview area. This concept would create approximately eight acres of developable land by reconfiguring the freeway interchanges at Grandview and putting a "lid" over the highway. May 2014 Update
At the May 20, 2014 City Council work session, Council members Hovland, Swenson, and Brindle affirmed their intent to partner with a real estate developer to redevelop the public land at 5146 Eden Avenue. In doing so, they disregarded the input of Council members Sprague and Bennett, who advocated for defining public uses for the site before private development. They also disregarded the following:
The future of our public land at 5146 Eden Avenue is in the hands of three City Council members who have shown they will not be influenced by the advice of their city manager, their appointed advisory bodies, or the views of their residents on this matter. At the June 17, 2014 City Council meeting, these three Council members will likely vote to approve the RFI for a developer partner. They will likely disband the Grandview CAT (even though the work the CAT was formed to do is not done), having no need anymore for citizens whose views differ from theirs. Please write to Council members Hovland, Swenson, and Brindle before June 17, 2014 and ask them to honor the above input from the community, city policy, and advice of their city manager and not move forward with an untried process that will give a private developer outsized influence over future uses of public land. Let them know what's important to you--whether it's preserving public land for public use, constructing a community center, or exploring various options (whether public or private) before committing to a developer. Ask them to not approve an RFI for a developer partner or pursue a process to redevelop the former public works site until and unless they have first identified community needs and public uses for the land. Please write to the City Council at [email protected] or see our Contact page for individual contact information. April 2014 Update
Thanks to everyone who has written the City Council to support preserving 5146 Eden Avenue for public use. Some of you have received a response from a Council member assuring you that the City will not sell the land and calling into question the "wrong information" that is floating around the community. So, what's the real story? Read more here. |
A Brief HistoryThe City of Edina had been looking for years for a place to move its Public Works operations. In 2008, it settled on the former Con Agra facility at 7450 Metro Boulevard. At that time, a real estate developer had an option on the property. The City offered to swap the public land at 5146 Eden Avenue for part of the purchase cost of 7450 Metro Boulevard. The real estate developer would then own 5146 Eden Avenue and develop it for private use.
On learning that the City planned to dispose of 5146 Eden Avenue in this way, a group of citizens joined together to stop the deal. Over 600 people signed a petition to call for a referendum on the sale of bonds to finance the purchase of the Con Agra site and the construction of a new Public Works facility. The real estate developer backed out. The City went ahead and purchased the Con Agra site and moved its Public Works operations to this site in 2010. That same year, a group of Planning Commission members proposed a process to "engage the community in planning for the future of the former public works site and the area around it." This process, now referred to as Phase 1, included a series of citizen advisory committee meetings, the first of which produced a laundry list of potential uses for the former public works site. These ideas were not further developed. Phase 1 yielded a report promoting seven Guiding Principles for redevelopment of the 37-acre Grandview District. The City Council adopted these Guiding Principles in 2010. Phase 2 began in April 2011 and was a continuation of Phase 1. This phase brought together community members and consultants to craft a vision for how to bring the Guiding Principles to life. Although, during this process, there were two separate public conversations about potential public uses for 5146 Eden Avenue, the ideas presented were not further developed. Phase 2 resulted in the GrandView District Redevelopment Framework. The Council adopted the Framework in April 2012. A year passed and, during a joint work session of the City Council and Edina Planning Commission, the City's economic development manager, Bill Neuendorf, pitched the idea of using a request for interest (RFI) process to identify a real estate developer to partner with the City to redevelop the former public works site. Mr. Neuendorf opened the discussion by saying that he wanted to get the Council's input on two things. "Number one," he said is the disposition and redevelopment of the public works site." Number two was community input. Whether the City should dispose of and redevelop the site—the reasons for doing so, the pros and cons of alternatives—was not presented for discussion. Disposition and redevelopment of the site were assumed. The meeting ended without Council members verbalizing consensus to move forward with the proposed plan. Yet, the approved minutes of the meeting read: "Following discussion of the Council and Planning Commissioners, it was determined that in [Phase 3] the plan would be to send out an RFI (Request For Information) allowing developers to submit proposals for redevelopment of the public works site…." And, with that, Phase 3 was born. The purpose of Phase 3 is to prepare and distribute an RFI to the real estate development community, with the goal of identifying a developer to partner with the City to redevelop the former public works site. This process is led by the City's economic development manager, with participation from a citizen advisory team (CAT). The CAT began meeting in July 2013. In September 2013, the CAT sought guidance from the City Council on how to move forward. Half or more of the CAT members supported identifying and vetting community uses for the site before engaging a private developer. Consensus of a majority of City Council members, though, was to direct the CAT to continue to prepare the RFI and, concurrently, to gather data (in the form of a telephone survey) that could shed some light on potential public uses for the site. In January 2014, the CAT again sought guidance from the City Council on how to proceed. The data directed to be collected in September was not yet ready, and half or more of the CAT members still supported identifying and vetting community uses for the site before engaging a private developer. Council member Josh Sprague had a similar perspective. In an email follow up to the January 21, 2014 City Council and CAT work session, Council member Sprague shared his position: "At our work session, we met with the Grandview Community Advisory Team (CAT) to give some requested clarity on the current redevelopment process. Up to this point, there was a principled difference of opinion among CAT members about how much public use was envisioned for the site, and therefore what the best next step in the process would be. I stated that the presumption with publicly-owned land should be to retain all or most of it for public use (80-100% in this case), either for today or in the future, unless some countervailing consideration rebuts that, like: economic feasibility, design feasibility, lack of demand, lack of community support, etc. If you start with the presumption, then a better next step might be to investigate the community's preferred uses for the site, put together options for the building and outdoor space, and then run those through design and cost feasibility analysis. Then, once you arrive at a reasonable public amenity, go forth with the RFI process to determine how much of the site needs to be leveraged for private development to support an economically sustainable model. This would have the added advantage of more clearly communicating to the development community what the public realm will look like and, therefore, what private uses would be most complimentary and feasible." A majority of the remaining Council members, however, did not share this view. In fact, a majority of Council members stated that there are no identified and vetted public needs for the site. Council member Swenson said the only public need at Grandview is parking. Read a partial transcript of this meeting here. The consensus of three out of five Council members was to direct the CAT to continue preparation of the RFI and the process to identify a real estate development partner. Six years of process and very little has changed. The City sought private development on the former public works site in 2008 and seeks private development today. And yet there has never been an open, inclusive process specific to identifying and planning to meet current and future community needs through public uses on this land. As Citizens For A Better Grandview, we believe that public land in the heart of our community is an invaluable, irreplaceable resource that is needed to meet the growing and changing needs of our community. Our mission is to raise awareness, invite conversation, and join together as a community to save the public land at 5146 Eden Avenue for public use. Share your thoughts directly with the City Council at [email protected]. Development partner agreement
Learn more about the development team:
Frauenshuh Opus Reynolds Urban Design Confluence (Website not found. Note that only $10,000 of the proposed $110,500 needed to generate alternative development scenarios is devoted to Confluence, the firm being brought in to lead public engagement workshops and define the public use vision) DJR Architects Update: October 2015The development partner process quietly concluded this month. The process resulted in no agreement on a redevelopment scenario.
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