The Blog from City Hall

We have a strong local economy in Eden Prairie. We can be proud of the many businesses that call our city home. Here’s an update on Eden Prairie business news:

Life Time Fitness Goes Public
Life Time Fitness, Inc. went public last night with it’s initial IPO. There is a good story about the IPO in today’s Star Tribune. Prior to going public, Life Time was tied for 66th place in the ranking of Minnesota’s largest privately held companies. Life Time employees 7,500 people nationwide and had revenues last year exceeding $250,000,000.

Western Petroleum
Western Petroleum may be the biggest company in Eden Prairie that you’ve never heard of. They are in the wholesale fuel business. Western is the 7th largest privately held company in Minnesota. It had gross revenue last year of $1.9 Billion. In the June 25th edition of The Twin Cities Business Journal it was ranked, among privately held companies, as the #1 fastest growing company in the state and the #1 productive company in the state. It’s productivity ranking was based on the company’s total revenue divided by the number of employees at the company that it took to create that revenue. In the case of Western Petroleum’s 55 employees the amount of revenue produced per employee last year was $33,892,857/employee. For the second ranked company in this category, the same number was $2.9 million/employee.

There is a nice profile of the Western’s CEO Mr. James Emison in last week’s Business Journal.

Costco is coming. The grading for the new Eden Prairie Costco store is well underway. Here’s a view of the site:

Here’s another:

The new Costco store will be located on Technology Drive, just east of SouthWest Station. You’ll be able to see it from Hwy. 312. It will be 136,257 square feet of retail space. That’s a fairly good sized retail operation. Included in the 136,257 square feet is a 5,200 tire shop. It will also have a free-standing gas station on site with six pumps.

Costco is looking forward to a late Fall 2004 opening.

I would say that most city governments create and distribute some kind of community newsletter to inform citiezens about what has happened, or what may be about to happen, in the community. Our previous community newsletter was a multi-page document that was mailed to individual homes. Because it took months to prepare the amount of content needed to fill that newsletter format, it was only produced 4-6 times each year. The long preparation time also meant that by the time it got the doorstep of our residents, much of the content was dated.

And while the distribution of the newsletter as a piece of bulk mail meant that it reached every household in the City, the cost of a direct mail newsletter was relatively high, especially when compared to its readership, which we fear was a bit on the low side.

So my staff went about the creative process of figuring out how to produce a newsletter that could be produced more often; contain information that was more timely and relevent to citizens; and do it at a decrased cost. I’m proud to say they did all three.

The new newsletter uses a broadsheet format and is distributed as an insert in the Eden Prairie News. The new newsletter format allows us to print a newsletter every month, instead of every quarter. This allows us to provide citizens with information that is timelier and more useful. The new distribution method, while less comprehensive than the direct mail method, is expected to have the same or even better readership rates. And last, but certainly not least, we can provide this new community newsletter at about half the cost of the previous newsletter ($3,900/edition for the new way compared to $9,000/edition for the old way).

I think that citizens will read the new newsletter. The first edition came out on June 17th. We are collecting some positive feedback thus far. We’re already almost done with the second edition, which will come out in July 15th. Sharing information with citizens about the City’s current operation and future plans is one of the most important things that we can do as appointed representatives in City government.

Summer is construction season in the upper Midwest. We’ve got a couple of them around City Center that are causing disruption - but it’ll all be worth it when they’re done. At least that’s what I tell employees to chant as they are driving in to work every morning.

This is the current view (see above)of the former berm that shielded the view of the Police Department parking lot from the access road that drivers use to access our building off of Mitchell Road. The entire berm is being removed. The material is being moved to the far west end of our building to form a new playground for the school-aged children that use our builidng as part of the School District’s regular programs here. Here’s what that looks like now:

We removed their playground last November to make room for more parking stalls for the C.H. Robinson employees that work in our building. This project will create 30 new stalls for our Police Department employees.

This is the view of the parking lot area (looking west towards Fire Station #1) that is directly outside the primary entrance into C.H. Robinson.

Here’s another view of the same project only this one was shot from the roof of City Center (photo credit: March Thielman)

C.H. Robinson is managing this parking lot expansion this summer to increase the number of stalls for their employees. They should add between 45-50 new stalls in this area. In addition to the new parking capacity, they will also be adding a new access into the parking lot to Scenie Heights Road. This new access will be handy for everyone that uses our builidng.

Parking around City Center has always been tight. During the past year, we added 66 new stalls last year for C.H. Robinson. C.H. Robinson is adding 45 (or so) new stalls this year for their employees. And the City is adding 30 (or so) new stalls for the Police Department. Hopefully these projects will make parking more convenient for not only the people that work in the builidng (City, School District, PROP, and C.H. Robinson employees), but also for the citizens who use our building.

Here’s a sample of the feedback I get on this blog:

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Comment: Hi,
Good looking pictures from Waterloo, we so enjoyed your visit on Sunday. I liked that ear of corn picture, makes Ethan look like a farm boy. I did contact State Farm Ins. and they were planning to call you. Mom

[Yes. My Mom reads my blog and she says it’s the best blog on the whole Internet.]
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Comment: I like this form of communication, I wished all cities had this in some way.

[I get some inquiries from other cities, but none of them ever follow through.]
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Comment: Please do not allow the Eden Prairie Center Mall to become a human services facility.

[We went ahead and did this. Our new space opened for business last week.]
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Comment: Hello Scott,
Today a Belgian project about cities in the world has also started a weblog. Our aim is to create a multidisciplinary view on the cities in the world. Your weblog was one of the first that I met on my internet-search for cities blogs. I would like to write an article about your weblog as a communication tool for the citizens of Eden Prairie. So, if would be possible to write me about your experiences with the weblog, its successes and maybe also its shortcommings? I would be very greatefull if you could do so.

I hope you will forgive me for that, as for the English I use. Because I’m living in Antwerp (Belgium), Flemish is my first language. As for English, I’m trying to do my best. If it is ok for you, I’ll put already a little article about your weblog on our site.

Hope to hear from you very soon.

[I never heard from this person again.]
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Comment: Thank you for pulling out of the stadium proposal. With a city referendum coming and our schools in need of more funding it was a very wise move. EP taxpayers have much more important financial issues ahead. Thank you for not asking us to support this one.

[I think we will see an outstanding taxpaying development at the site of the former Best Buy HQ within the next two years.]
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Comment: When can we expect some property tax relief for Eden Prairie? Our taxes have got to be the highest in the state�perhaps the entire midwest. After speaking to friends with similar-sized homes in Woodbury, Egan and Plymouth, I was shocked at the difference! It’s time taxes in Eden Prairie returned to a more realistic level.

[Our tax rates are not even close to being the highest in the state. We’re in the middle. We actually compared the property taxes paid by this person, based on the assesed value of his home, to the other cities he mentioned. If he had the exact same home in Woodbury and Plymouth, his tax bill would be higher. In Eagan, it would be lower, but only because Dakota County’s tax rate is much lower than Hennepin’s.]
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Comment: I was stunned to see mature trees cut down west of Constitution Ave at Round Lake Park Tues May 25. Is this part of the widening of the Valley View & EP Road intersection? If so, this is a very curious way of road planning and park maintenance. I read no article stating that cutting mature trees would be necessary. And this from a city which so strongly worked to preserve Big Woods. So preservation is selective. Very curious, indeed. Thanks for your time.

[We had to cut down some mature trees for this project. The writer is right. We tried to avoid it, but it was impossible to leave the trees and expand the road.]
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Comment: Just read your blog. Great to hear that you are going to support your city on the backs of your taxpayers. When will you be forwarding a check back to the state for your transit funding?

[This one is from State Representative Dan Dorman, R-Albert Lea]

Rep. Dan Dorman
R-Albert Lea

The City Council and I received a verbal proposal at our June 15th Council meeting from representatives of the Eden Prairie Hockey Association who are interested in adapting the two outdoor ice rinks in Round Lake Park into two indoor ice rinks. Here’s what they look like now:

I am not sure what they might look like with a building over them. That’s what we are trying to figure out right now. I think the proposal is still in the developmental stages so it’s a little too early to say.

From the City’s perspective, we must balance the needs for indoor ice with the overall uses of Round Lake Park; the probable tree loss caused by the project; and the aesthetic comments of the neighborhood that lives close to the proposed site, as you can see in the photo (yes, those are homes in the background):

There are many interests to balance. If we can increase the supply of indoor ice in Eden Prairie with little or no negative side-effects, we ought to do it. I think that a more likely scenario, however, is that the Council will need to make a choice between balancing a potential community good with a set of community costs. It’s almost always a tough choice to make.

Yes, where else could a boy (my 14 year old son Ethan) stand next to an over-sized novelty ear of corn? Minnesota? Well, maybe.

I visited my Dad for Father’s Day yesterday. Ethan and I joined my brother and his family in Waterloo for lunch and helped my parents do some small home projects and furniture rearranging. We also did a little touring around Waterloo.

My parents live down the street from a predominantly Bosnian neighborhood. Here’s a sign you don’t see everyday….

…..unless you live in Waterloo, or Sarajevo.

We also jogged into Waterloo’s nice neighbor to the west:

Waterloo and Cedar Falls are the beneficiaries of a nice new soccer complex, care of John Deere (for the land) and the community for more that $500,000 in cash donations to develop the site:

It was nice to see my parents and have a quiet Father’s Day with my Dad.

Now, back to work. It’s Monday.

Here is a sign of the times:

In case you can’t quite read it, the sign says “Pioneer Trail Closed starting June 21″. In case you didn’t know, Pioneer Trail will be closed, starting June 21st, for the better part of the next twelve months to allow for the construction of a bridge. The bridge will take Pioneer Trail traffic over Hwy. 169 traffic, which will turn (almost turn, anyway) Hwy 169 into the bona fide freeway that it ought to be.

I say “almost” because there are two more projects that must also be completed before we can drive Hwy 169 unabated by traffic signals in the Hennepin County. One of those projects is just up the road a piece from Pioneer Trail at Anderson Lakes Parkway. Next year, MnDOT will build a bridge at this intersection to take Anderson Lakes Parkway traffic over Hwy 169.

The other project to enable Hwy 169 to become fully freeway-ized is at its intersection with 494. The project needed at this intersection (including Highwood Drive in Bloomington) is truly massive. There is a design for it. There is money appropriated for it. It’s on the calendar to do, but the year for the project is not yet set. We’re working on making that sooner rather than later.

And in case you’re wondering if the Pioneer Trail project will really get started on Monday, take a look at this:

This is a photo looking north at the NW quadrant of the Hwy 169/Pioneer Trail intersection. If you look really closely into the background you’ll see a bulldozer already at work.

Let’s Get Things Started, indeed.

First, The Not So Good:

Mervyn’s Departs

May Department Stores recent purchase of Marshall Fields included Marshall Fields’ Mervyn’s stores. Now May has announced that they will close the Mervyn’s stores will close, including the store at the Eden Prairie Center. May has not yet announced how or what they will do with their Mervyn’s store locations. Let’s hope they fill it sooner rather than later.

Now for The Good:

Cima Labs

Cima Labs is an Eden Prairie success story. They manufacture, among other products, a coating that can be applied to pills to make them easier to swallow. Last year Cima announced that it had agreed to be acquired by Cephalon. Cima stockholders approved the $515,000,000 merger yesterday. The early word on this merger for Eden Prairie is that it will have no negative impacts on the company’s plan to continue operations in Eden Prairie.

High Expectations for Stellent

Stellent Inc. is a successful software company headquartered in Eden Prairie, not too far from Cima Labs in the Golden Triangle business park. Stellent’s stock price popped up yesterday by 5% when Wall Street analysts raised their expectations of the company’s earning potential following its recent merger with Optika.

American TeleCare
The Golden Triangle is also home to our third (& final) good business story of the day. This one is about American TeleCare. American TeleCare is involved in the telehealth industry. Their goal is to “enhance key health care customer applications, such as clinic-to-clinic, provider to patient home and doctor-to-doctor.” They are in the business news today because they received the 2004 Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Innovation for the development of their Care-Tone telephonic stethoscope.

Here’s a good article about one of the many issues swirling in the bowl of state politics waiting for a special session to be called, or not.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/politics/8883831.htm

City officials in Minneapolis and St. Paul are characterizing the decrease in state aid they are scheduled to receive in their upcoming budget years as a “glitch” in the State Legislature’s 2002 tax bill. Glitch my eye. With all due respect, they are giving the House Tax Committee too little credit for the bill they produced. The decrease in Local Government Aid to cities, including the 100% reduction in all Local Government Aid to Eden Prairie, was not a “glitch”. It was completely intentional. It was a political outcome in the Governor’s search for a balanced State government budget by forcing the necessity of increases in taxes down the line to county and city governments. The wisdom of that policy choice is up for debate, but the intentionality of it is not.

While Minneapolis and St. Paul city government may want a special session to fix this so-called glitch, I am beginning to favor the current stalemate, as far as the City of Eden Prairie’s direct financial interests are concerned. Our city has nothing at stake in legislation not enacted. I fear the only things that could happen to us in a special session are negative. For example, we are scheduled to have our Market Value Homestead Credit returned to us by the State in our 2005 budget. This is worth approximately $850,000 to us. If the legislature goes into special session I have a feeling that this money will be put at risk. Someone will grab it for some project somewhere else. That’s what can happen in a special session.

Glitch or no glitch, let’s call it a year at the legislature and commit to have a better session next year.

Lake Riley has had a couple of tough weeks here recently.

The City of Chanhassen notified us on Tuesday that their sewer system suffered a sewer line break adjacent to Lake Riley. Raw sewage leaked into the lake. Signs have been posted at the beach and boat ramp locations advising people not to swim in the lake for awhile.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are working with the City of Chanhassen to sample the lake water and determine the potential health effects due to raw sewage. A Hotline has been established for further messages regarding this situation; the number is 952-227-1317. Chanhassen will be updating this hotline as new information comes in.

I will be talking next week with the City Manager Todd Gerhardt of Chanhassen about a number of issues of mutual concern. We’ll talk about this issue and about the potential of establishing a Surface Use Ordinance for Lake Riley, among other things.

Todd is a good guy. We work well together. I think that’s good for both cities.

On May 11th, the City sponsored a public referendum seeking citizen approval of a $22,500,000 bond issue to fund park and recreation improvements for the community. Voters turned down to referendum 57% to 43%.

Since then, we (i.e. - City staff) have been asking ourselves the question: Why did this referendum fail? And the follow-up: How could we redesign the package of improvements in such a way that citizens would approve it?

To be sure, everyone has an opinion about these two questions. But we’d like to know with a bit more scientific precision what the best answers are, so we have begun the process of soliciting public opinion consultants to provide us with some data. As we have been proceeding down this line we have run into an issue that tugs at the fundamentals of the secret ballot. I’d like to pose it to my readers and solicit your feedback.

One way to do this survey is to get a printout of the names of those Eden Prairie citizens who voted in the referendum. You can get this list from the County. Voting is a public act. The fact that you vote is a public record. Who you vote for is a secret. It really is. We could get this list of names and then use it as the pool of people that we would survey. The thought is that by polling those people who actually voted, the results of the polling would be more telling to us as we decided how, or if, to proceed with a future referendum along similar lines.

We could, of course, do the same survey with a random draw of citizens. Some of them would have voted in the referendum, but because our voter turn-out was only 16%, my guess is that most of those polled in a random sample would be non-voters. I’m not sure if this information would be as valuable as the information drawn from the first scenario. I might be wrong about this. I’d be interested in feedback on this too.

Now how does all of this sound to you? Does it sound too intrusive for a polling consultant working for the City to call you, for example, and say “I know that you voted in the last election, now can you tell me why you voted the way that you did?” The pollster would likely be a bit more polished than that, but that would be the basic question.

We are seeking this information to build a more a supportable public policy option for our citizens to once again (perhaps) consider at a future referendum. Is that sufficient justification for potentially pushing the sanctity of your secret ballot?

That’s what I want to know.

Beautiful Riley Lake. Indeed. Recent rains have filled it to capacity, and then some. In the photo above, you can see the dock just barely above the water level at the City’s public access point.

High water can create problems around the lake. Docks can be damaged. Shorelines can be eroded. Swimmers and boaters can encounter conditions they are unfamiliar with, creating problems of a potentially tragic nature.

Riley Lake has an outlet. The outlet allows water to escape the lake in a controlled manner to proceed through a creek downstream. This is a picture of the culvert that helps drain the lake when it gets too high.

The culvert is running at full capacity in this photo, but sometimes it can get plugged up by debris floating in the lake, like tree limbs, old life jackets, etc. When the culvert becomes plugged, or when the water level reaches an even higher threshold, it will spill over a weir and dump directly into the creek bed. You can see the water spill over the weir in this photo:

What you also see in this photo is that someone has reduced the flow of lake water over the weir by installs dimension lumber in the flow direction of water. The lumber reduces the rate of flow, thereby reducing the natural reduction of the level of the lake. The lumber was installed by neighbors around the lake, not by the City. My staff met with some of them today, and with representatives of the local Watershed District, to discuss what to do about this situation.

The result of the meeting was that the lumber should not have been placed in the weir. But, the reduction in the flow did allow for the more frequent cleaning of a bar screen that discouraged lake debris from getting into (and plugging up) the collection end of the culvert that drains the lake. So that was a good outcome.

End result: The Watershed District said “don’t do it again, but don’t take the lumber out yet either.” We expect the lake to drain down to normal level in another week or so.

This is Dan Carlson. Dan is our Chief of Police.

Chief Carlson is the newest City of Eden Prairie blogger. Dan will write about his experiences in life and the criminal justice system, and perhaps how the two intermix. Dan is an interesting guy and a pretty good writer. If you enjoy reading this kind of stuff, you’ll enjoy Dan’s blog for sure.

That’s right, we won!

The City of Eden Prairie did alright for itself at the recent “Best of Eden Prairie” awards bestowed by the readers of Eden Prairie magazine. That’s me holding the awards for Best Historic Site (Smith-Douglas-More House) and for Best Bike Trail (LRT Regional Trail), which I actually have to pass on to the Three Rivers Park District because they own the trail. I accepted it on their behalf, and because the Eden Prairie magazine people called me to the front of the awards ceremony to accept it.

The City also won the awards for Best Beach & Lake (Lake Riley), Best Live Music/Concerts & Park (Staring Lake Park), and for Best Community Event (Fourth of July Celebration).

Now I must admit that in a couple of those categories our competition might be a little on the slight side, but there are certainly other community events not organized by the City, and there are other non-city parks around, and there are privately owned historic sites, and there are other public and privately owned lakes and beaches. So, on behalf of the City, I’ll say that we are honored to be so honored this year.

If you don’t know what Eden Prairie magazine is, you’re missing out. It is a high quality magazine with interesting feature articles and advertising from the Eden Prairie area. It is all about Eden Prairie. The magazine finished its first year recently. They have had a successful year and look forward to publishing not only Eden Prairie magazine, but also new community-focused magazines in Woodbury and Plymouth.

For more information about Eden Prairie magazine you can call their offices at 952.844.0400 or e-mail their circulation manager at coreym@edenprairiemag.com.

Enjoy!