It’s 6:25 pm. We just finished a special meeting of the City Council. The purpose of our special meeting was to consider the final approval of a development agreement for Walmart. Walmart has been working on a plan for a major upgrade of their Eden Prairie retail store. Tonight, they got their final approval on a vote of 4-0. With any luck, they’ll start their project soon and be completed before the start of the holiday shopping season later this year.
The construction of a new Walmart store on the edge of a small town can set off a firestorm in City Hall. It can be a very divisive event. But that’s not what happened to us. Walmart has been here for almost twenty years. Their store, according to them, looks a bit “tired.” They have a good plan to shape it up, expand it and improve its curb appeal. Who’s against improving the look and function of a major retail store in our community. Not me.
What has been taking awhile to work out has been a discussion about the future of the area around Walmart. The City wanted Walmart to commit to pay for the capital cost and maintenance costs of future streetscape improvements, things like trees, paver sidewalks, special street lighting, trash baskets, benches, etc. Walmart said they’d be willing to talk about their fair share of such things when a plan was actually in place to install them. At the moment, there isn’t a firm plan. So, we compromised. Walmart agreed to contribute a fixed amount of money into a cash escrow account for future streetscape improvements and the City committed to dialogue with Walmart more in the future before installing such improvements and to discuss the maintenance of the improvements with them more in the future.
Problem solved. Agreement approved. Look for construction action at the Eden Prairie Walmart soon.
