Lake Elmo planning commission votes against new school site

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
Updated ·5 min read

Lake Elmo’s planning commission voted Monday night against recommending the approval of two key measures needed for Stillwater Area Public Schools’ proposed new elementary school to proceed.

The planning commission voted 3-2 to recommend that the City Council not approve a zoning change – from agriculture to public facilities – or a change to the regional sewage treatment system boundaries to include the proposed property.

The school district wants to build a new 148,000-square-foot elementary school on a 47-acre parcel on the northwest corner of Lake Elmo Avenue and 10th Street North — kitty-corner from the Cimarron Park mobile-home community.

“I think the site is wildly impractical for an educational institution,” said planning commission member Dennis Geffre, one of the three members who voted against recommending the changes. “I don’t even want to see the ball rolling on this one. I think the long-term ramifications from that location are not fully understood by some of the people that are planning this, and I can only imagine what will happen in the long term.”

Planning commission member Thomas Rehkamp, who also voted against recommending the changes, said the school district should consider sites within the existing metropolitan sewer service area.

“What sites were looked at?” Rehkamp said. “Why did we end up here? We’re not in a (service area)? How did the school end up here down south where it’s not connected to anything? I’m in favor of other locations because I think a school is an important part of downtown Lake Elmo. I believe there are locations available within the existing (service area).”

People who spoke at the public hearing brought up concerns about the loss of trees, an increase in traffic on 10th Street and the site’s proximity to the Oakdale Gun Club.

‘Pursue other options’

The current elementary school, built in 1920, is already near capacity and enrollment is expected to grow by more than 200 students in the next 10 years; Lake Elmo is one of the fastest growing cities in Minnesota.

The district’s $175 million bond referendum, which would fund a new school to replace Lake Elmo Elementary School, passed in November with 57 percent support district wide and 70 percent support in Lake Elmo precincts.

Voters in Lake Elmo “approved the bond last fall knowing the location of the new school as we were transparent from the start,” said Superintendent Mike Funk.

“We continue to be disappointed as we attempt to partner with the city to meet the needs of our students,” Funk said. “We are hopeful that the Lake Elmo City Council can see the bigger picture and support the needs of the district.”

The district’s purchase agreement on the undeveloped property is set to expire at the end of February, Funk said. He said he would recommend to the school board that the district let the purchase agreement expire “unless we see support from the city before then.”

“We have no intent to build elsewhere in Lake Elmo,” he said. “We will now pursue other options in other parts of the district, with a community that is interested in having a school.”

Other options include Baytown Township, West Lakeland Township and Afton, district officials said.

City Council vote next

District officials last summer entered into a $4.5 million purchase agreement for the land at Lake Elmo Avenue and 10th Street North contingent on the passage of the referendum; the land is owned by Tom Kindler.

The proposed parcel was recommended by city officials a year ago, Funk said. “It is on a major road — which is required by city ordinance — has the capacity for a large school and is near the greatest population growth of the district,” he said.

Other sites that officials from the district and the city considered were either “too small, in a poor location to address growth or cost prohibitive,” according to Funk.

“There were also some options the district did not pursue as they would have made us beholden to land developers to finish building roads,” he said. “We did not want to get into a similar situation with our bus garage in Lake Elmo where we had to wait for a developer to finish the work on their timeline.”

The Lake Elmo City Council is expected to vote on the measures at its Feb. 22 meeting.

Mayor Charles Cadenhead said Tuesday that he intends to keep working with school district officials to make sure that students in Lake Elmo “have a viable safe place to learn and grow.”

Cadenhead stressed that that the city’s planning commission is a “recommending” board.

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“I appreciate the work and collaboration that is being done between the city and the school district,” he said. “The planning commission, as a recommending body, indicated their apprehension with the site for the new elementary school by a 3-2 vote. There was some good discussion at the planning commission meeting that people should be aware of and items I’m sure that the school district and the city will strive to mitigate moving along.”

City staff had recommended approval of the proposed amendments, stating that they “appear to be compatible with both existing development patterns, goals established by the comprehensive plan and intent of the public-facilities district,” according to the staff memo.

Former City Administrator Kristina Handt’s contract with the city was not renewed in November. Handt had previously expressed concerns about the site of the new school because of issues regarding access to city water. Lake Elmo is dealing with a multitude of water issues, including PFAS contamination and restrictions on pumping as a result of a court order regarding the water levels of White Bear Lake.