Edina planning commission tables Highlands Elementary parking expansion after neighbors raise drainage, light and scale concerns

The Edina Planning Commission on Feb. 25 tabled a request from Edina Public Schools to expand parking at Highlands Elementary, saying the record lacked enough technical detail and neighborhood outreach for the commission to determine whether the project meets conditional use criteria.

Planner Teague, who presented the staff report, summarized the proposal as a 54-space expansion on the 11-acre Highlands site and told the commission that staff recommended approval provided the applicant satisfies conditions addressing landscaping, lighting and drainage. "Given satisfaction of the issues I raised, staff believes that the conditional use permit criteria is met," Teague said.

The applicant team, represented by Sal Begley of Waldark Texan Engineers, said the district filed the request to reduce event and busy-period on-street parking and that revised landscape drawings have been submitted. "We really can't make people's choices for them," Begley said when asked whether added parking would change parent pick-up behavior, but he added, "we're really here trying to solve a problem." Mert Woodard, identified as the district business manager, said the parking effort grew out of persistent feedback and interest from the district's finance and facilities committee.

Neighbors who testified urged the commission to require more analysis. Joe Corbett, who lives on Doncaster, said the expansion "feels like a solution looking for a problem," pointing to comparative parking ratios and the potential for increased drainage and snow‑storage impacts. Tara Corbett, another nearby resident, said expanding parking will not change short drop-off behavior: "The move to add more cars ... is not going to address that need," she said.

Multiple residents submitted or said they would provide video and photos showing existing drainage and erosion problems. George Watson and Jeff Shusta described chronic backyard flooding and soil erosion near the school's northwest corner; several speakers worried that shifting drainage or piling snow could worsen conditions for low-elevation properties.

Staff and the applicant told the commission that city engineering had rejected an original outlet to the north and required the proposed parking's drainage be reconfigured to direct runoff to the south and east and that an underground stormwater (UGS) system is planned under the new stalls. The applicant said that work is in the design phase and that construction is currently envisioned to take place across two summers, 2026 and 2027, with attention to maintaining the site as a polling place in August.

Commissioners said the record did not provide enough quantification of the overflow problem or enough visualization to judge impacts on neighbors. Commissioners asked for: documented overflow counts (how many cars and how often they spill into the neighborhood), a detailed stormwater mitigation plan or hydrologic demonstration from city engineering, 3-D renderings or sight-line models showing how new parking, lights and plantings will appear from neighbor properties, and evidence that the district has met with affected neighbors. Several commissioners also suggested short-term mitigation options such as fencing to reduce headlight intrusion while trees mature.

Hearing those concerns, the commission voted to table the application to a future meeting to allow the applicant to provide the requested additional information and to engage with neighbors. Chair Bennett closed discussion by noting that conditional use permits go to the City Council for final action and that commission recommendations and conditions often inform the council's decision.

The commission's tabling leaves the record open for further written comments and for the applicant to return with the supplemental materials the commission requested.