The Eagan City Council voted on a contentious land-use amendment proposal late Tuesday.
Johnson Brothers Liquor Co., the third-largest wine distributor within the nation, is eyeing the previous Blue Cross Blue Shield site for its recent corporate headquarters and warehouse distribution facility and, after a vote from the Eagan City Council, the 55-acre parcel at 3535 Blue Cross Road is one step closer to being rezoned as “industrial development.”
Neighbors of the previous Blue Cross Blue Shield campus have spoken out against the proposal, citing traffic issues, air and noise pollution and the lack of green space. Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire said that the council had received 133 pages of piece of email regarding the proposal.
Tuesday night nearly 30 Eagan residents took to the microphone to echo those concerns and convey up others akin to potentially negative impacts to property values, outdoor recreation spaces, trees and wildlife.
The concept plan for the proposed distribution warehouse features a 550,000-square-foot warehouse with a future expansion potential of 161,000 square feet, relocation of the neighborhood’s soccer fields to the southern end of the location and repurposing the present child-care center into an worker training facility.
Established in Minnesota within the Nineteen Fifties, Johnson Brothers says it has outgrown its current distribution facility at 1999 Shepard Road, near Crosby Farm Park in St. Paul.
Bill Katter, a partner with Interstate Development who’s working as a consultant for Johnson Brothers, said Tuesday that the corporate considered moving to the previous Thomson Reuters campus, but at 180 acres it exceeded their needs.
Eagan City Planner Mike Schultz said Tuesday that the proposal will move on to the Metropolitan Council because it requires a change to town’s comprehensive plan.
Councilmember Cyndee Fields, who lives within the Blue Cross Blue Shield neighborhood, voted in favor of sending the proposal on to the Met Council to learn more, but said she will be able to’t speak to how she’ll vote further down the road. Councilmember Mike Supina was the one vote against the proposal.
Next steps for the project include an environmental assessment worksheet with review and comments from residents and other government agencies, a site plan review after which a possible rezoning, which might require 4 votes from town council to pass.
“4 votes tonight doesn’t guarantee 4 votes if you come back for final implementation,” Maguire told Johnson Brothers.
If the environmental assessment worksheet is accepted, the earliest a rezoning request would undergo would likely be in spring 2024, Schultz said.