Pond purchase could be the last-ditch effort

Hoping to head off a major development, a group of neighbors has offered the city of Minnetonka $15,000 for a drainage pond behind their homes to try to block construction of a parking ramp on the site.

The unusual bid is a final effort by the neighbors to stop Opus Northwest from building a 14-acre office complex with two three-story buildings and two parking ramps at Hopkins Crossroads and Interstate Hwy. 394.

"We are trying anything we can," said Julie Cole, of the Oak Knoll Terrace neighborhood. The City Council is set to take a final vote on the project Monday.

Opus is optimistic that the proposal will be approved this time, after revising an earlier proposal due to the residents' opposition, said Dave Menke, vice president of real estate development for the company.

"We have worked hard, together with the council and neighbors, to find a project we can ultimately support and be good neighbors."

If the project is approved, construction would begin in the spring and the first office building would open in mid-2009, he said.

The neighbors won the first round of the battle. Late last year, they started a website to communicate with other Minnetonka residents about city issues, airing grievances about their dealings with city officials and warning other residents to beware similar treatment. They were especially critical because the city was receptive to a development that would be bigger than city codes normally allowed.

Opus returned with a new plan that complies with city codes. It has cut a fourth story from one of the office buildings, trimmed 130 parking stalls from the adjoining parking ramp and moved it the required 50 feet from the property line. The only variance Opus needs now is permission to bury the bottom story of one of the ramps, something the neighbors favor.

So the neighbors came up with a new strategy: Trying to buy a key component of the project, the city-owned pond site that Opus needs for one of the parking ramps.

It's a long shot. The idea is so unusual there is no procedure for residents to make a bid for city-owned land. The offer was tucked into council information packets for the meeting Monday. On Friday, City Manager John Gunyou recommended against it, saying "the existing drainage pond is not needed, since the storm water plan for the proposed redevelopment would provide even greater protection to area residences than is currently provided."

Neighbors are hoping their bid for the pond will draw the attention of the Bassett Creek Watershed District.

Resident Roger Friesen said Opus' plans for handling storm water runoff from the site will not work as well as the existing pond to prevent flooding and clean pollutants from water before it before it goes into Minnehaha Creek and Crane Lake near Ridgedale.

"Deeper doesn't help us one bit," Friesen counters. "They could dig it to China. It's how the flow system goes" that matters.

The residents also see screening problems with the revised plan. Gordon Olson, whose home would have a direct view of one of the parking ramps, said: "For me, all that changed is that they moved the ramp 25 feet to the west and 7 feet to the north. Otherwise, nothing really changed. But legally, there is no room left to fight. "

Olson said, "I never went out and celebrated [after the initial win] because I knew this would come back."

Olson and his neighbor Jim Fredkove are still urging the city to ask Opus for better screening between the parking ramp and his property.

Two council members who voted against the project last time said in interviews that they are inclined to vote for the project this time because it meets city codes and would develop an area the city has zoned for commercial development for 20 years.

If the scaled-down development conforms to city codes and neighbors still feel they don't have enough protection, then the council may want to talk about whether there is a need to change city codes, said Council Member Tony Wagner.

Ellingson noted that Opus is not asking for a tax subsidy to build the complex, and that it will pay for street improvements. In the process, it will be adding a business that will bring more jobs to the city, he said.

"It makes Minnetonka a desirable place to live if there are a lot of employment opportunities nearby," Ellingson said. "It is a good project and I think Opus is a good developer."

Traffic is also an issue for residents. The revised plan cuts the projected number of trips to the site by 331 a day, to 2,597. Opus would be required to reduce trips further by encouraging bus riding and carpooling, Wischnack said.

But if Opus dropped one of the parking ramps from the plans, as neighbors desire, the complex would not meet city requirements for parking, she said.