Eagan planning panel backs 22-unit ‘Veterans Village’ at 3920 Ron Road

The Eagan Advisory Planning Commission voted unanimously Nov. 26 to recommend a rezoning and related approvals for a 22-unit townhome project at 3920 Ron Road intended to serve veterans. The commission recommended approval of a rezoning from Public Facility to Planned Development, a preliminary plan development and a preliminary subdivision creating 24 lots; the three motions passed 7-0 and the application will go to the City Council in early December for final action.

City planner Pam Thomas told the commission the project would place 22 townhome units in six buildings on roughly 2.84 acres of the Mount Calvary Lutheran Church property and create a 24-lot subdivision for the larger site. Thomas said the applicant requests deviations from several city-code standards, including lot area, on-site recreation-area size, supplemental storage, parking-stall width and some setbacks, and that the development would remove a substantial share of significant trees — staff flagged tree-removal mitigation as a condition in the staff report.

Joe Jablonski, representing Veteran Village and the developer Lennar, said the proposal represents a public–private partnership with Mount Calvary Lutheran Church and Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV). John Lovald, chief operating officer at MACV, framed the project’s purpose: “Today in Minnesota, there are 200 veterans that are on the homeless registry,” he said, adding the organization provides permanent supportive housing and services rather than transitional shelter.

Thomas described site layout details: a new access from Ron Road, internal loop drive aisles, 11 attached garages and surface stalls for a total of 43 parking spaces, a stormwater filtration basin to meet city rate and volume control requirements, and shared-parking and cross-easement agreements to be recorded. She said the applicant has submitted updated renderings and that staff will require a photometric plan, final landscape plan, tree-mitigation details and other conditions as part of final plan development.

Commissioners asked technical questions about which units would have covered parking, whether units are rental and permanent supportive housing, traffic impacts and the scope of deviations from standard parking and setback rules; assistant city engineering staff estimated roughly 15% of residents would have vehicles and provided a low peak-hour vehicle estimate. Commissioners noted the project’s social mission as a reason to accommodate modest deviations but also required 46 conditions for preliminary plan approval to address outstanding technical and design matters.

The commission recorded three separate motions — for rezoning, preliminary plan development and preliminary subdivision — and approved each 7-0. The staff report identifies conditions and required documentation to be completed before the project goes to a final plan stage. The next procedural step is a City Council review scheduled by staff for Dec. 7, when council will receive the commission’s recommendation and the staff conditions.