Eden Prairie Valley View Road apartments receives formal denial

While the Planning Commission had recommended approval at its meeting early last summer, the council ultimately was not interested in moving forward for a variety of reasons. Certain concerns mentioned by both the public and the council included parking, the size of the complex, encroachment on the nearby wetlands as well as potential increased traffic issues in the area.

Members of the Eden Prairie City Council voiced their concerns during its August meeting where many residents also came forward during the public hearing to voice their own disapproval.

At the time, Ryan Companies President of the North Region Tony Barranco attributed the denial to “a failure of process across the board” and would have preferred more communication about the project to the neighbors. No one from Ryan Companies spoke or was in attendance during the denial, with no word on future complexes planned for the property.

The original proposal included a five-story apartment complex with 211 units that would have offered studios, one bedroom and two bedrooms. The property in question is situated at the northwest corner of the Valley View Road and Topview Road intersection in Eden Prairie, a highly trafficked area of the city.

During the time of discussion, Ryan Companies had also requested eight planned unit development waivers for density, building height, total parking stalls, a wall sign, wetland structure setback encroachment, off-site parking, parking stall size and proof of parking.

“There’s been quite a bit of discussion at the council level and several public hearings. Tonight is simply your action that’s needed to make a motion on a resolution of denial for the project,” said City Manager Rick Getschow.

Mayor Ron Case spoke on the depth of the council’s involvement in the proposal as a means of concluding the matter.

“We’ve done our due diligence and we have had two neighborhood meetings and a planning meeting and a council meeting and a council workshop. There’s a lot of action going on. I’ve studied this and have been involved with this,” He said, adding that six months of work had gone into the motion.

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