Infrastructure
No other suburb in Minnesota has Edina's unique character. Fifty-five distinct neighborhoods comprise our city, each containing exceptional families. Centrally located, our City was fully developed years ago and continues to evolve.
Our infrastructure challenges: undersized intersections, lack of broad thoroughfares, disjointed access, are the very characteristics that define us - they are a part of our city's DNA.
Given our infrastructure challenges, future development of Edina requires careful planning with thoughtful development. An organic growth approach is paramount, outside influence requires careful consideration by our elected leadership.
Rather than develop our city as needs and wants arise, our elected officials have chosen to create a "vision" for what they want our city to look like and they will develop Edina accordingly. The problem is, the City's "vision" includes a plan to grow our population 25% by 2040. In comparison Edina grew just 7% between 1970-2010. .
Source - Edina's 2018 Comprehensive Plan
This top down approach, setting population goals and forecasts, building housing before there is a need, with goals to attract a large number of additional residents is in stark contrast to prior strategic plans. Prior plans took a bottom up approach, building in areas where a need arose organically.
City growth
Our city leadership has developed a vision for Edina in conjunction with the Met Council. This vision is promulgated in our city's 2018 Comprehensive Plan.
A city's comprehensive plan guides development and redevelopment within a city. Minnesota state law requires that every city update their comprehensive plan every ten years. Met Council develops growth forecasts for each city. Respective cities, in turn develop their comprehensive plan around the Met Councils growth forecasts.
Met Council guides and reviews housing elements within communities' comprehensive plans. Met Council members are not elected. They are a 17 member board appointed by the Governor, guiding the strategic growth of the Metro Area.
Edinas 2018 comprehensive plan is based on the thresholds identified by the Met Council and in concert with Thrive MSP 2040 - the Met Councils vision for Twin Cities metropolitan area over the next 30 years.
Edina's leadership has the right to push back against the Met Councils forecasts. Unfortunately our leadership requested more aggressive growth than that called for by the Met Council.
Edina's 2018 comprehensive plan was voted on by our mayor and city council. Only city council member Ron Anderson had the foresight to vote against it.
Forecasts determine what the city will build.
Development within a popular, attractive, centrally located city like Edina is guided by forecasts:
"If you build it, they will come"
How does a fully developed city like Edina, increase city population? -By increasing housing density. According to Edina's 2018 comprehensive plan Edina citizens overwhelmingly favor single family housing. Despite this, city leadership has focused on developing multifamily housing. This focus on multifamily housing development is necessary to accommodate city leaderships vision of 25% population growth.
Edina's roads and intersections are already overcrowded, here's what a 25% population increase will look like:
Road segments that will operate at maximum capacity or over capacity with the population increase proposed by our City under 2018 Comprehensive plan:
Capacity:
• Interlachen Parkway – Maloney Avenue to W 50th Street
• Interlachen Road – TH 169 to Lincoln Drive
• Vernon Avenue – Hansen Road to Eden Avenue
• Tracy Avenue – Valley View Road to Valley Lane
• West 70th Street – Cahill Road to Metro Boulevard
• Edina Industrial Boulevard – Bush Lake Road to Metro Boulevard
• West 50th Street – Halifax Avenue to France Avenue
• France Avenue – North City Limit to West 58th Street
• Xerxes Avenue – West 54th Street to West 60th Street
• West 70th Street – France Avenue to Xerxes Avenue S
• France Avenue – West 70th Street to South City Limit
• York Avenue South – West 66th Street to 70th Street
• York Avenue South – West 76th Street to South City Limit
Over Capacity:
• Vernon Avenue – Gleason Road to Hansen Road
• Gleason Road – TH 62 to Vernon Avenue
• France Avenue – West 58th Street to TH 62
• Xerxes Avenue South – West 60th Street to TH 62
• West 70th Street – TH 100 to France Avenue
Traffic!!
City leadership seems to be pursuing a vision of urban utopia they would like to see fulfilled here in Edina.
Our city does not have infrastructure necessary to support irresponsible urban development. To compare Edina to large metropolitan areas for the sake of vertical growth is misguided. Our roads, our schools and natural environment cannot support massive scale development over a short period of time.
Edina citizenry's quality of life has once again been adversely affected as traffic levels surge in areas where high density development has begun.
Eden Avenue Bridge
With Perkins site development beginning,
The Eden Avenue bridge has been temporarily closed, eliminating access to Southbound Hwy 100 via Eden Ave. As a result, westbound traffic East of Hwy 100 has been rerouted to 50th Street requiring a left turn across traffic to access southbound Hwy 100. Eastbound traffic on Vernon now has only one Hwy 100 access point rather than two: right hand turn at Vernon past Interlachen.
As a result traffic is backed up at both the Southbound Hwy 100 access ramp and the Vernon/Interlachen intersection. Have trouble getting into and out of Jerry's? Have trouble getting through the Vernon/Interlachen intersection- navigating cars trying to access the gas station and Caribou at Vernon/Interlachen? Are you aware that the only way to get into and out of the entire Sunnyslope neighborhood is via 50th street? With the increased traffic that neighborhood can no longer make a left turn onto 50th street at rush hour. At times it takes in excess of ten minutes to make a right turn out of their neighborhood.
Keep in mind, according to City of Edina's comprehensive plan, traffic on Vernon East of 100 is forecasted to increase 28% annually. Vernon avenue traffic between Interlachen and Hwy 100 is forecasted to increase 29% annually.
Closing the Eden Avenue bridge presents a significant quality of life issue for every Edina resident. This closure is scheduled to be permanent.
TIF= Tax Increment Financing
Tax Increment Financing is complex tool used by the city to generate funding for a project or district. Problem with funding a development with TIF is that receipts or taxes generated by the TIF financing go back to the development or developer rather than going back to the city and its residents until the term of the TIF are expired.
TIF funding was originally developed and typically used to redevelop blighted, poverty stricken areas. More recently TIF has been used by economically advantaged cities as a subsidy paid to developers.
*Projects seeking TIF funding are supposed to have public benefit attached to them.
Case Study: 70th & France
US Bank Site
Project Cost: $251 Million
Developer seeking +$22 million tax subsidy *TIF* funded by the tax payers with a term of 15 years. Developer citing rising construction costs, worker shortages, civil unrest following George Floyd incident as reason for tax payer subsidy.
Use:
267 High-end "luxury" apartments
Six story office building
Eight-story parking ramp
US Bank Building
*UPDATE: creation of TIF district at 70th and France was approved by Edina City Council by a vote of three to one. Mayor Hovland, Council member James Pierce and Council member Carolyn Jackson voted to approve 22 Million TIF funding to the developer. Council member Ron Anderson voted against the measure. Council member Kevin Staunton was absent.
Case Study: 5421 France Avenue
St. Peters Church
AbleLight seeking to develop three story, approximately 40 foot high, 48 unit building. This site sits in the middle of the Edina Creek Knoll neighborhood, currently zoned single family residential.
-Amendment for current city comprehensive plan required
-Church sanctuary to remain, current church gym to be demolished and replaced with forty foot high building
-Single parking spot allotment per unit
-Six foot street setback planned
-25% affordable housing for use by individuals with IDD's