Minnetonka residents push back on Eagle Brook megachurch proposal

Eagle Brook Church wants to build its 10th metro-area campus in Minnetonka, despite opposition from residents who don't want a megachurch in their neighborhood.

Eagle Brook Church leaders are proposing a 60,000-square-foot church on the site of a vacant retirement home near a wetland off Wayzata Boulevard, west of Interstate 494. The 19-acre development would include a 1,200-seat auditorium and a two-story, 550-space parking structure.

An online petition opposing the church's plans has drawn more than 900 signatures, following a virtual meeting hosted this week by church leaders and attended by dozens of concerned residents including Kristen Gildemeister.

"It's not about the church," she said. "It's the size and volume of traffic and displacement of wildlife."

Gildemeister and neighbors Greg and Ginni Greffin, who have lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, worry the proposal is moving too fast for residents who just learned of the project last weekend through the mail.

"People live out here because they like the wildlife, and it's quiet," Ginni Greffin said. "We hope it doesn't go too far with the city. We were shocked to find out about this."

Gildemeister, who has lived in the neighborhood for a decade, said deer and herons frequent the area. If Eagle Brook wants to grow, she said, "more power to them" — but her neighborhood isn't the appropriate location.

The redevelopment proposal and concept plan, about which the church first notified city officials in November, will go before the Minnetonka Planning Commission on Feb. 17.

City Council Member Brad Schaeppi, a real estate broker and attorney who represents the area on the council, said Eagle Brook needs "to first hear what the community thinks about the church's proposal." He said the church hasn't yet made formal application.

The primary access to the Minnetonka location would be off Clare Lane, a residential horseshoe street. According to the church's proposal, staff would direct traffic during peak time periods. The two-story parking garage is needed "to accommodate capacity as determined from historic data."

"We're worried about the traffic," Ginni Greffin said. "It's not meant for that. It's a small road with a dozen neighbors. … This isn't the right location for a huge structure. This is a tiny, tiny street."

When Eagle Brook made a similar proposal in 2020 to establish a campus in Corcoran, residents pushed back with 1,200 signing a petition opposing the project. Corcoran Mayor Tom McKee said the City Council rejected the proposal after "quite a big outpouring of people wanting to voice their concerns."

"The big concerns were the size and scope and location and how it fit in," McKee said.

The roots of the evangelical church are in White Bear Lake, where a small congregation called First Baptist Church began in 1948, according to Eagle Brook's website. The congregation built a second location in Lino Lakes in 2005, followed by another in Spring Lake Park in 2007.

Five more locations since have been added in the metro area — Anoka, Blaine, Ham Lake, Lakeville and Woodbury — and the church expanded to Rochester in 2019. It's adding another location later this year at the former Menards in Apple Valley.

By the end of 2019, Eagle Brook was reporting an average weekend attendance of 22,000 across all locations and online attendance of 13,000.

Eagle Brook delivers a live video service from its Lino Lake campus to its satellite campuses on Saturday evenings and Sundays mornings. The church currently holds mobile Sunday services at Wayzata High School in Plymouth, which Eagle Brook spokeswoman Karianne Langfield said will close once a permanent west metro location is established.

"We're thankful we could hear the concerns of the residents … so we know how to proceed with due diligence in determining how we can make a site like this work," Langfield said.

"We'll continue to look for a location in the west metro and if this isn't it, we're OK with that," she said. "We will continue looking for a space that is."