Chaska approves preliminary site plan, zoning change and easement vacation for Auto Pros expansion

Chaska city council on Monday approved a preliminary site-and-building plan, a zoning ordinance amendment and an easement vacation to let Auto Pros expand its service facility at 1601 and 1603 Old Audubon Road.

The council adopted Resolution 2025-56 and Ordinance 10-71 after hearing a staff presentation and comments from the project team. The expansion would add about 3,000 square feet and four service bays to the existing Auto Pros facility, expand the parking area and require adjustments to existing drainage and utility easements.

Staff member Liz told the council the proposal includes a 3,000-square-foot, single-story building addition that would increase the sites service bays to nine and expand the parking lot from 19 to 25 stalls. She said a 36-inch sewer pipe along the west side of the properties requires a 40-foot maintenance corridor (a drainage-and-utility easement), which reduces buildable area and creates a pinch point on the east property line. To accommodate that layout, the applicant requested a zoning amendment to allow a zero-foot parking setback in the pinch-point area and asked to vacate the typical 10-foot joint drainage-and-utility easement along the Lot 3/Lot 4 boundary.

Peter Hilger, representing Rylar LLC and the project applicant, urged the council to approve the preliminary plan while giving the project team additional time to resolve a cross-access easement with the neighboring property owner. "We've been making progress or trying to make progress with [the northern property owner] ... but in spite of our efforts ... he doesn't see a need to sign it," Hilger said. He told the council the project team will continue to pursue an agreement and suggested language that would require "best efforts" to memorialize the cross-access easement before final approvals.

City staff said they found no buried utilities in the 10-foot joint easement and that the additional easements proposed for the sewer pipe and over the power line would leave adequate utility corridors if the 10-foot easement is vacated. Staff also noted the applicant must complete wetland review and coordinate any work near the East Creek Diversion Channel with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before final submittal.

Council members asked whether the project would affect the regional trail or emergency vehicle access. Liz said the trail alignment would not be affected and that the fire department had no concerns about turning radii. Council members also confirmed the overhead power lines are city-owned and were told burial of those lines is planned but not imminent.

The council approved Resolution 2025-56 and Ordinance 10-71. The approvals include conditions: final engineering and utility easements must be finalized; additional screening and landscape plantings will be required along the east property line to buffer the regional trail; and the cross-access/prescriptive-easement issue must be addressed at final submittal. The council and staff noted the applicant expects to start construction in spring, pending Corps approvals and resolution of soils and drainage issues.

Mayor Mara Hubbard and all council members present voted in favor of both measures.

The project now moves to final site-plan review, where the cross-access easement and the Corps wetland determination must be resolved prior to any building permit.