urbanMSP

It’s not even next to single family homes, it’s next to apartments, medical offices, and a credit union offices. The single family homes are up over the apartments and medical offices parking.

How many apartment residents showed up to oppose?

It’s not even next to single family homes, it’s next to apartments, medical offices, and a credit union offices. The single family homes are up over the apartments and medical offices parking.

But you can *see* it from SFHs.

Oh, Edina.

I call BS... Kids love skyscrapers.

I’m assuming residents were more concerned about the 20% of affordable housing..... Edina is still practicing its exclusivity!


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So annoying! I was looking at the rendering on finance and commerce, and I think it looks absolutely beautiful. The materials on the outside look really nice.


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I’m assuming residents were more concerned about the 20% of affordable housing..... Edina is still practicing its exclusivity!

To be honest, I see little evidence of this.

Sure, there are some very exclusive enclaves in the city. But don’t let that cloud your judgment—the majority of the city is middle class to upper middle class. Teachers, writers, small business owners, middle managers, librarians, and other ordinary people live in Edina, in addition to the sports stars and industry titans.

If anything, many middle class Edinans are worried that they—or their kids or grandkids—could no longer afford to buy a house or condo there, as property values rise.

For me, the question is: do these people protesting at city council meetings represent the average Edinan, or are they just a loud minority who dislike change? How much weight should city council members give to these vocal protestors? It’s a difficult question, if you want to keep your job.

Are they the same people who don't want a sidewalk in front of their house? I guess Edina can consider itself the birthplace of NIMFYism.

Are they the same people who don't want a sidewalk in front of their house? I guess Edina can consider itself the birthplace of NIMFYism.

Ha ha ha!

After a tax was introduced, that spread the cost of new sidewalks to all residents rather than just the people whose house it was in front of, the resistance decreased considerably.

Eh, I think the objections are silly, but people are freaking out about less in Minneapolis, so...

Are they the same people who don't want a sidewalk in front of their house? I guess Edina can consider itself the birthplace of NIMFYism.

Ha ha ha!

After a tax was introduced, that spread the cost of new sidewalks to all residents rather than just the people whose house it was in front of, the resistance decreased considerably.

Going to city-wide funding was a big improvement -- but there does seem to be a contingency who are really tied to a "rural" aesthetic, including opposing curbs as "too urban" (apparently a real complaint on the 54th St project).

Going to city-wide funding was a big improvement -- but there does seem to be a contingency who are really tied to a "rural" aesthetic, including opposing curbs as "too urban" (apparently a real complaint on the 54th St project).

Yep, a contingency.

Every city has different groups of people, who live in different neighborhoods, who hold different ideals. Even suburban cities are not completely homogeneous.

As life-long residents move out and new people move in, interests and demands change.

Fair point -- just because a few people have a preference doesn't mean it represents an entire community. I just found that particular objection so bizarre, since I have really never heard it in any other context. I have heard of many communities finding controversy with sidewalks, but I always assumed curbs are welcome (except maybe the cost associated with them + storm sewers).

Yeah, I recently heard that a neighborhood that opposed curbs a few years ago is now regretting that decision. I wonder if part of that is turnover of residents in the neighborhood.

I’ve seen a lot of For Sale signs on streets directly adjacent to proposed new multi-story, mixed-use buildings, and those houses sell very quickly. So somebody wants to live there and embrace the future, but often times not the resident who moved there 40 years ago to escape the big, bad city.

New Renderings along with a proposed promenade.

http://www.startribune.com/france-avenu ... 489987371/

I hope to see some plans of the promenade described.

The 7200-7250 France Ave. project passed the Planning Commission tonight.

Goes before the City Council Nov 7th.

Nice. I hope the Council goes with your recommendation. That west side of France could use a little love. Since Aurora, the only new thing built has been that little strip retail thing at 70th. It's a big improvement over BP, but it's not nearly as substantial an improvement as this could be!

Tabled until next month, with the main requests having the developer show what four stories would mean for the site, and demonstrate proof of parking if they got more parking-intensive uses in the retail.

I watched (listened to in the background!) the whole public hearing. Some interesting takeaways:

1. Neighbors cited The Finn in Highland Park as an example of an appropriate, neighborhood-scale apartment building. As a Council member pointed out in response, the apartment/mixed use portion of the 7200/7250 development is about 400 feet from a single family home. The Finn is 30' away. Although it is shorter than 7200, it seems more obviously imposing to the single-family neighbors.

2. One neighbor cited Minneapolis 2040 reducing much of the Corridor 6 designations to Corridor 4 as an example of what Edina needs to do more of. This also seemed very odd, since I am 99.99999% certain that if the Southdale District were in the City of Minneapolis, France would be designated at *least* corridor 6, if not much higher.

3. Council member Brindle had some very specific assertions about ceiling height and building quality. According to her, any decent new home in Edina has 10-14' ceilings, and even the proposed 9' is poor-quality. Having lived almost my entire life with 8' ceilings, this assertion surprised me. And maybe more to the point: this seems like a weird area of concern, since nobody other than the tenants has to live with this. Presumably the developer can choose cost vs. amenity value of higher ceilings.

4. No Council members seemed outright opposed, but it was a little hard to read. Their words suggested the development was fine, but they were not willing to approve.

5. There is a significant delay tactic surrounding the Southdale Area guidelines, which have been in process for 2-4 years. Many community members, and some council members, seemed to want to take no action until after they were final and approved. The design of this development conforms with the current draft.

6. There were two neighbors who spoke with clear support for the project, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear their commentary. Resident Hope Melton gave particularly great testimony: https://twitter.com/sdho/status/1060548205526609921

7. The only sense of urgency was created by a crumbling parking ramp and a requirement to process land use application by January.

8. Apparently, everyone thinks 71 France is ugly.

My prediction is that it will be approved in December with minor changes. The developer will create a concept showing how 4 stories is bad, will have revised the 6-story plan to slightly reduce height.